The Brutal Stuff

I have been a big Debauchery fan since their Back In Blood. And it was a huge honour for me when the inspirer, songwriter and frontman of Blood Trinity – death metal band Debauchery, heavy metal band Blood God and German metal Balgeroth – Thomas The Bloodbeast Gurrath agreed for the interview with Metal On Loud Magazine!

Hi Thomas! Thank you for your time with Metal On Loud! First of all – congratulations with the new album Debauchery Vs Blood God “Thunderbeast”! It’s the bomb! We will talk about it for sure! Tell me how a teacher of philosophy has become a famous musician? I know that you were fired from school as…OK, let me ask directly: are you safe to talk with you, lol? And how does your primary profession reflect on your music art?

Hi, I was only an apprentice and they gave me the choice metal or teacher. I decided for Metal. And I`m not so famous I think. Angus Young is famous, haha, I´m just a guitarist writing songs. My Philosophy, history and politics studies have no real influence on my music. The lyrics are all about monsters and war in fantasy worlds. 

Can you tell us more about your philosophy or idea behind your Holy or Unholy 🙂 Blood Trinity? What made you founding three bands instead of one? We know that they are very different by music genres, what do they have in common? What band consumes most of your time and inspiration and why?

For me it`s only one “band”, just different facets. It was a process.I wanted to make Heavy Metal music from the beginning, something like Judas Priest. I began to play guitar because of Angus and AC/DC. And DEBAUCHERY was what I could do, it was the beginning. Over the years I learned to make different things too, mostly with my voice. But I did not want to change all the trademarks of DEBAUCHERY. So I added the new things. But I do not have the power to organize a second band. I tried and failed with Big Ball. So BLOOD GOD became the subsidiary to DEBAUCHERY. Like Warhammer and Warhammer 40k. The voice is the main difference. That`s it. Blood God has it`s main focus on the Hard Rock music, Debauchery more on the brutal stuff.  I just wanted to indicate that it`s another focus on a Blood God album. Balgeroth came into being in the recording session for Fuck Humanity.

I tried to sing in German, we thought it cool, and I wanted to give the bonus CD a name. I called it Balgeroth, based on the lord of Blood Gods from my Debauchery background world. That`s how it became a Trinity. Debauchery, Blood God and Balgeroth. For me it`s like the Marvel Avengers, sometimes they work together, sometimes they are on their own. It´s a Triptychon. Debauchery is the main part, and Balgeroth and Blood God are the smaller parts. For me it`s all one thing. It`s one “band”. The lyrics have the same topics and for example the new THUNDERBEAST album comes as a two CD edition, with one Debauchery and one Blood God version. 

How is the songwriting process built in the bands? Who comes out with a lyrics topic, with music, with arrangement? How do the bands’ members participate in songwriting?

I do it all myself mainly, I always try to get some input from the musicians I know, but they are not really interested to write so much. I made one song with my guitar player for Fuck Humanity for example.

As a die hard death metal fan, I am in love with Kings Of Carnage by Debauchery, it fuses many music elements not usual for death metal…I loved Fuck Humanity album too…What is your favourite child among your albums? Why?

For me it`s difficult to differentiate all the musical styles. I don`t really care if something belongs to Death Metal or not. If a part rocks I take it, if the part sucks I throw it away. Of all my albums I like the new album the most, otherwise I would not release it. If I had to choose one CD of the two CD version I would take the Blood God version. But the Debauchery voice is more popular.

Let’s discuss the new album Debauchery Vs Blood God. What gave birth to the idea of a split album? What are your favourite songs from this CD and why? And one more thing…imagine, you are to sell this album to metalheads who never heard about Debauchery and Blood God (though..I doubt that it is possible, haha), what would you tell them: why should they give a listen to it and buy it?

The other two Blood God records were split CDs too. But I think many people didn`t realize it. So this time it`s only a different marketing approach. And I think many people do not know what music I make. It`s Heavy Metal with monster voice. In the vein of Priest and AC/DC. But not a copy. It has its own style. The limited edition you should buy because of all the bonus CDs and stuff and all the artworks. Some songs sound this way better, some songs the other way. That`s the reason I released a Double-CD. To pick a favourite song it`s to early. Right now I still like all songs, but Crusaders is very strong, Bullet to the head and City of Bones. I have chosen Heavy Metal Monsternaut for a video because it`s the fastest song of the album. And Super Hot Vampire Lady is the song with the biggest hit potential.

Sorry for an intimate question, but…do you love metal? What metal bands inspire or influence over you? If not, what music do you love and listen?

Yes I love Metal and Hard Rock, and listen to it all day. I like for example Motörhead, Maiden, Saxon, Ugly Kid Joe, Six Feet Under and WASP. The biggest influences are Priest and AC/DC. AC/DC is the best band in the world. And Rob Halford from Judas Priest is the greatest artist in Metal. I mean, check out all this different stuff he made with Priest and Fight and Two and Halford band. He is just awesome. My first album was Appetite for Destruction from Guns`n`Roses, it`s still one of my favourites. Right now I listen to Fly on the Wall of AC/DC.

We know that you have great live shows, very spectacular…some bands just come out in a regular clothes on a stage, with music instruments…You organize a performance. What are live performances for you?

I mean there a tons of bands. Thousands. On a small festival play 30 bands. If you want to get the ear of the audience you have to be different. I have to work with all the things I have available. I like monsters,  fantasy stuff, Warhammer, Heavy Metal and Hard Rock. If you combine all this you have Debauchery. And I try to visualize all my ideas, for the booklet I paint some monsters and for the stage I make some bloody puppets. 

Everyone can find information about your future gigs and plans on your official site and on Facebook page, but I wonder if you have a secret or a secret dream…if yes, can you share with us?

Haha, if there would be a secret and I would tell it to you, it wouldn`t be a secret any more. But no, there are no secrets. Everyone can read all about Debauchery, Blood God and future plans on our facebook pages. Most of my plans go awry anyway.

Thank you very much, Thomas, for the interview! What would be your wishes to metalheads who read Metal On Loud Magazine? And, please, remind us where we can buy your latest Thunderbeast! Many-many thanks, many-many fans and much-much success to you! METAL ON LOUD! m/

You`re welcome. Thanks a lot and thank you so much for the questions. Check out Thunderbeast and play it loud. And you should get it everywhere, Nuclear Blast, EMP, Amazon, record stores…