Despondency - Konstantin Interview 2026

Hello!  Who are we speaking with?  How are you doing?

Hi, what's up?

I'm Konstantin Lühring, vocalist for Despondency.  I'm doing well, I hope you are too.

Can you tell us the story of the beginning of Despondency?

The full, long version can be found online... but I'll summarize it briefly.

In the mid-nineties, Steffen Ilm (guitar) and Dirk Janssen (drums) started jamming together, playing brutal stuff in the style of bands like Suffocation, Incantation, Monstrosity, etc....and since they were looking for a vocalist, and knew my work with my band Gallery of Darkness, and because I was looking for a band that plays really brutal stuff, we rehearsed together a few Times and the rest is history .After several lineup changes, I am now the only founding member in the band.

Is the band currently working on new music?

We're gathering ideas and such, but we're not actively working on a new album at the moment. However, Keiran, Eduardo, and I have recorded an album with Flo's other band, "Mastication of Brutality Uncontrolled," which will be released soon. It's incredibly brutal!!!

Which album would you tell a brand new Despondency fan to listen to?

Since the band has existed for almost 30 years and we've released relatively few albums during that time, each one stands on its own. My favorites are "Womb of Shit Promo 2002," 

 "Excruciating Metamorphosis EP 2019," 

and our current album "Matriphagy"... 

our most well-known album is probably "God on Acid" from 2003.

Who are some of your biggest influences and favorite bands?

We were obviously influenced by bands from the early nineties, such as Suffocation, Morbid Angel, Gorguts, Immolation, Sinister, etc. Later, of course, also by bands like Internal Bleeding, Deeds of Flesh, Embalmer, etc.

I could talk for hours about my favorite death metal bands, but that would take days. There's so much great music from Death, Autopsy, Sadistic Intent to Suffocation, Monstrosity, Immolation to Disgorge, Malignancy, Gorgasm, etc.

I also listen to at least as much other music as traditional metal, hardcore (from the eighties/nineties), jazz, prog rock, and much more. However, this has no influence on Despondency's music.

Is Despondency still on New Standard Elite?  How has that relationship been?

So, since we didn't have any big plans with Despondency, we signed the deal for just one album... But I could imagine releasing another record on NSE. Working with Ryan went great.

What record label will the new MoBU album be on?

The Mastication of Brutality Uncontrolled album will be released by Show no Mercy Records and is called "The Epoch of Anthropogenic Deities".

How old are you guys?  Do your families support you making such brutal music?

I'm 46 years old, Flo is a few years younger but also over 40, Remo must be 37, Eduardo is 28, and Keiran should be about the same age as Eduardo.

Yes, absolutely. At least my family has always supported me. When we started Despondency in 2015 after the hiatus, the condition was that we would only play shows if it worked for everyone. As you may know, I was the vocalist in Defeated Sanity, and DS is a band that tours constantly, which unfortunately no longer fit into my life plans... even though I love the guys and the band, and Lille will always be one of my best friends...Anyway, I wanted to continue playing death metal, but I now have a child, a wife, and a house, and that wouldn't have been possible with Defeated, so I continued with Despondency, but under the aforementioned conditions. So it was my own decision...no argument, no musical differences, and no pressure from my wife; she always supported me and even encouraged me to continue with Despondency.

Konstantin, I love love love your vocals!!!  Your vocals in Resection were some of the first vocals I really got inspired from!  Can you speak a little about your journey with extreme vocals, when you started, and who are your favorite vocalists?

Thank you so much, I'm honored and really appreciate it. The Resection album isn't exactly one of my favorites; at the time, I didn't even want reverb on the vocals so they would sound as natural as possible. That's why I find them sound a bit dry (the same goes for Revelation IV).But I'm glad you like them. Around '93, I started my first death metal band with a few friends... (that band evolved into the black metal band Funeral Procession in 1995).Of course, I wanted to sound as brutal, deep, and sick as Chris Barnes, Frank Mullen, etc., and let's just say... that didn't quite work out, at least not at the beginning.I have been influenced, in one way or another, by: Chris Barnes, Frank Mullen, Mike van Mastrigt, Ross Dolan, Craig Pillard, Rick Fleming, George Corpsegrinder Fischer (Monstrosity), Joe Ptacek, Martin Schirenc...Some of my favorite vocalists are Danny Nelson, Fernando Avila, Matti Way, Erik Lindmark, Rich Lipscomb, Johnny Paoline, and many others.

Alright, I guess that is the end!  Thanks for taking the time!  Any last words???

Thank you so much for your support and the interview. Keep supporting the death metal underground!!!

Cheers. Konni

LINKS

Despondency

Mastication of Brutality Uncontrolled

New Standard Elite

Show No Mercy

Diphenylchloroarsine - Mats/Benny Interview 2026

Yo Mats, thanks for sitting down to answer some questions!! 

 How have you been? 

Hey man, I've been doing good, you know.. Busy with life and playing slams all over the world , haha. 

It's been almost 5 years since we heard from Diphenylchloroarsine, but we know it's members have other shit going on. Can you tell us about other musical projects you guys have been working on? 

Well I'm super busy with Kraanium as usual and we are working hard on booking shows for next year as well as writing a new album so we are busy as hell . As for other projects I have one named Cadaveric Necropsy in the work where we written and released a promo track so far and have an album planned for release through Rotten music some time next year. Going through some line up changes now so it's moving a bit slow. 

And a new project in the making and it's very exciting and will be very heavy and a lot inspired by the earlier russian slamming style. Benny is doing vocals on this one. Have written and recorded about half the album, including a couple of juicy covers as well. Still searching for a label with that one. 

Now can you get into the new album? How long have you guys been working on it, what stage is it in currently? 

We have been working on it since autumn. So far all music has been laid down, still polishing the final product. Also about half the vocals are done ,then we are also working on finalizing the concept and finding the right artist to capture our ideas for the cover art. Been a very fun and creative process with lots of slamming and late night drinking. 

Congrats on signing with Amputated Vein! How did that come about?

Well I was on vacation in Japan in April of 2025 and then off course I hooked up with my good bro Masa from Amputated Vein recs, He took me to a killer gig there and after that we hung out at my hotel , drinking and talk about shit and he said that he wanted to sign any of my bands or projects for a future release and off course i took him up on it. 

Have there been any line-up changes that we need to know about? 

No line up changes, still me ,Benny and Paul as always . Keeping it OG hehe.

So we know the theme of the album is decided, is there already artwork? Can we see?! 

Haha sneaky sneaky, no artwork yet as it's a work in progress to decide 100 percent what artist we will work with this time. But we will go for a cold and snowy theme with lots of colder colours this time around.

Any differences in the writing or recording process this time around?

Well this time we did all the recording and hanging out and writing process in my waifu inspired man cave rather than Benny's dark n gritty dungeon at Snuff chamber studios cos it was not possible at this time.

Other than that the process of writing the new material has been pretty much the same as always: We get together, have some drinks and just let the creative juices flow. 

When can fans expect to hear a single off of the album?  

That will not be possible this time around due to content I cannot disclose at this time, but we will tease with some snippets here and there before the album releases. 

Can you name 3 newer bands that people should be listening to?

-Deprecation 

-Krocophile

-Gyakuki

Thanks a lot Mats, anything else you'd like to say? 

Thanx for the interview and interest bro n also thanx to my bro Benny who also helped out with the answering. ! Hope everyone will enjoy our new release once it is out and stay underground! 

LINKS

Diphenylchloroarsine

Amputated Vein Reords

Kraanium

Deprecation

Krocophile

Gyakuki

Divulsive - Interview 2026

Divulsive is still a young band, and only has 4 songs in recorded existence, but their promo from last year was still in my top 3 releases.  It is relentless blasty gurgly goodness. Please read the interview and support this band!

Yo!  Thanks for being willing to answer some questions!  We have been jamming your 3-track promo pretty much every single day for the past 6 months or so.  It is one of the best of 2025!!

Who are we talking to?  Who is all in Divulsive and what do they do?

Hey whats up l'm Nate I play drums.

We have Beckett on Vocals, Manny and Thomas on Guitar, Gabe on Bass and me on drums.

Are you guys signed to Comatose?  How did that come about?

Yeah we are signed to Comatose and are super grateful for Steve helping us out being super supportive.

What is the story of how the band started?

We started as a online band mostly just an idea nothing serious especially since I had been a year hiatus from music. Isaiah and I had talked about making some music in the past but we never did anything until Isaiah flew out from Texas to meet up with Manny and I to hangout then wrote those 2 songs in a weekend. Jams fueled by colombian bam, spawn, tony hawks underground and halo. Since then we weren't sure what we would do with the band due to the fact we all lived far and life happens. Thats when Gabe, Beckett and Thomas joined the band we wrote the promo and are now working on finishing up the album.

How would you describe Divulsive's sound?

As far as Divulsives sound goes im not sure how to describe it, we just take inspiration from everything we like. The direction we've been going for is mostly colombian bdm, but everyone has there approach to it so its whatever we feel at the moment of writing as long as its fun to play.

Who are some of your influences?

Some of our influences are Internal Suffering, Blaze Inside, Infertile Surrogacy, Carnal, Amputated Genitals and Digested Flesh. There's a ton more but those are few just too many to list haha.

Who did the artwork for the promo?

The artwork is a mash up of video game art blended to look as one we did on photoshop.

Is a full-length on the way?!?  Please tell us everything you can!

The full length is on the way and we've been working on it when we can just these holidays slowed everything down. The songs we wrote on the album have more of the sound we've been going for and are excited to drop it just needs polishing. Not just that but we have a split coming at the end of year too with some homie bands so be on the look out for that.

Can you name some movies/books/art, anything NOT music, that you guys take influence from?

 A few movies would be like Predator, Terminator, Alien, The Thing.. just some of the classics even shows like Spawn and Transformers (G1) we really are into Bio-Mechanical Cybernetic Organism type of things, Things that are not of this world that can reap chaos. When we all get together to jam we play a ton of video games like Doom2, 3 and Quake 2. There's definitely a lot that influences us but these are a few memorable mentions.

If you could tour with 3 other bands, active or not, who would they be?

 Man I think we'd tour with Goretrade, Internal Suffering and Infertile Surrogacy. Thats a tough one but definitely would love to tour with our good friends bands because its all about making fun memories with your friends doing what you love.

How did you decide on the name Divulsive?

We saw there's no other band named Divulsive so we decided to go with that since it's something that fits the sound but was inspired by the band Divulsive Impalement. It means to pull apart by force.

Sweet!!  thanks for doing this, I cannot wait for that split and the album!!!!  Any last words?

Thank you for having us and taking your time to interview us! We hope to bring the brutal jams to you all this year and maybe catch y'all at some of our upcoming shows! Stay Brutal m/

LINKS

Divulsive

Comatose

Hemorragia - Interview 2026

Yo!  Thanks for sitting down to answer a few questions!  How is it going?  What is your name?

Hi, my name is Marco Díaz, I just turned 18 on December 18th and i'm from Chile, specifically from Castro, the largest city in the Chiloé archipelago.

What is the story of Hemorragia?

I've played instruments and had a strong interest in music since i was a kid, so i've always had this desire to compose my own music. Hemorragia, as a solo project, was born out of the fact that where I live there aren't really any people my age who share the same musical interests and play instruments decently enough for a bdm band, considering it's a somewhat complicated genre.

During school, for at least two years, i used to draw ideas for logos and covers for "hemorragia", which at that time hadn't even started yet, so i'd say that i've had this project in mind for a long time.

What does Hemorragia mean?

Hemorragia literally means “hemorrhage” in spanish. I’ve always thought it was a cool word for this style of music, although i realized later that there was already a spanish band from the ’90s called hemorragia. By that point, however, i was already decided and wasn’t going to change the name.

What are the biggest challenges and advantages of working completely alone?

I feel the biggest disadvantage is that my virtual drums can sometimes sound very artificial, and I'm not fully convinced by them. I wish i had a real drum sound. Another disadvantage is that I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to play live shows. I know there are talented people like Shawn Whitaker who play live without any problems, but i haven't really considered that possibility for my project.

The biggest advantage is not having to depend on anyone else to work. This means I can record and play whenever i feel like it. However, that also has a downside, since I probably could have released this demo much sooner. I’m a bit disorganized and tend to work at a rather slow pace.

How would you describe your sound?

I think I'm still polishing my sound, but I always try to keep it kind of old school, not too blasty, and with some grooves here and there.

Who are some bands that influence you?

On one hand, the technicality of defeated sanity and disgorge (US) inspires me to create more difficult and unexpected riffs. On the groovier side, i see splattered cadaver, reincarnation, and suffocation as great examples of how to create good, meaty, and juicy slams. If I had to choose just two from all the bands i mentioned, suffocation and defeated sanity are the ones that I think best balance classic bdm technicality with slams.

Furthermore, effigy of the forgotten, merciless butchery, and all of defeated sanity’s albums have a production style that fascinates me, and I consider them strong examples to follow.

How did you get into this kind of music?

I started liking rock and heavy metal several years ago. I first got into more popular bands like pantera, SOAD, RATM, but over time my taste evolved toward death metal and later brutal death metal. I have to admit that at first death metal scared me a bit because of its twisted themes and disgusting album covers, but that fear faded as i grew older. I'd say sepultura was the band that got me hooked on metal in general, and deicide finally introduced me to death metal.

You are in Chile, how is the scene there?

There aren’t many bdm bands in the country. Chile is actually a country with a strong thrash, black, and death metal scene. There are usually very few bdm shows, although there is a festival in Santiago called Vomitous Brutal Fest that has brought well known bands like cephalotripsy and defeated sanity. However, I haven’t been able to attend any edition of VBF because Chiloé is over a thousand kilometers away from Santiago.

Some chilean bdm bands that come to my mind are NIHILANTH, HAIL CALIGULA, VISCERAL, DECREPIT CADAVER, DEFACING, DISMORLECH, WOUNDS OF CHRIST, PUTRESCENT, and REPULSIVE HUMANITY. It’s important to note that there are no bdm bands based in Chiloé lol

Do you handle recording and production yourself?

Yep, I'm self-taught in all of that. I must say that I still don't consider my production to be the best, but it's been a big step forward compared to how bad my first works sounded

What gear or tools are you using?

I use an ibanez RG350DXZ guitar, a  colt bass (i don't remember the exact model), and a marshall code 100. The virtual drums on the last demo were made using EZdrummer 3. So far, i’ve recorded the vocals with my phone, although for the next release i’ll be using my new Fduce SL40 microphone. I use audacity as my DAW, yes, i know it’s very limited and basic, but i’ve found it hard to learn more professional programs.

Well Marco, thanks a lot!  We really dig what you are doing and will be watching for more!!  Any last words? 

I just want to say that I'm very grateful to have been invited to this space. I truly appreciate the work you do for the bdm community, since we don’t usually get to know much about the bands we like. So keep up the great work, and thanks again, cerebral reviewment!

CHECKOUT HEMORRIAGIA HERE