Hailing from Krefeld, Germany, CORONATION is here to prove that their hometown should not only be famous for Melodic Metal like Blind Guardian, but also for killing Death Metal in the vein of the old Death Metal masters from the Florida scene. Knowing that brutality can not be reached by the single use of as many blastbeats as possible, CORONATION create a fresh blend of straight speeding old school Death, mindbreaking blastbeats, thundering grooves and the needed minimum of memorable melodies - everything played on a high technical level.
How has this Death Metal monster been created? In late 2001 the band Khaosick broke up and decided to make a new start with a new name and a new drummer - Italian Deather Ricci Creation was the missing link (now also playing in Night In Gales). The band wrote songs, recorded the “Skin Melting Terror” demo and started playing shows with numerous underground acts as well as bands like Adorned Brood, Battlesword, Blood Red Angel, Damnation, Final Breath, Fleshless, Hell-Born, Houwitser, Imperious Malevolence, Isacaarum, Krabathor, Master, Night In Gales, Resurrected, Soul Demise, Trauma, Viu Drakh and Xenomorph.
Now it’s time for “Ready To Feast”, the first 5-track MCD published by Doomforce in order to spread the word about this killing Death Metal horde that especially prefers to unleash the raw powers of Death on stage - the result is always the same: true Death Metal maniacs go crazy and create more hells in the moshpit of doom.
interview with Tom on 29-12-2003
Please give us a short introduction of yourself?
Hi, this is Tom from Coronation, responsible for acid throat molestation.
I have no dictionary at hand so please explain the name? So why this one?
The name means a “crowning”, but there’s no deeper meaning behind it. We wanted a name that has a typical Death Metal sound, which is nearly everything with -ation (like Suffocation, Immolation, Mutilation etc.), so when we looked for a name we had the strange coincidence, that at the same time while i stumbled over “Coronation” in the dictionary our drummer found “Coronation Of Our Domain” on an early Malevolent Creation album. So we took this for a sign and chose Coronation. It’s funny as a lot of people compare our sound to Malevolent Creation and other Florida bands.
What is the concept of Coronation? Or in other words why the existence?
There’s no special concept, just the need to unleash furious Death Metal upon mankind - shall it be on records or especially live. This music reflects the true rage inside man - no fake, no make-up, just sonic violence. Well, playing Death Metal is better than senseless violence against whatever. I think talking about cathartic theories would be too much over the top now, haha.
What is your defenition of brutal death metal? What must be in a song?
It must kick ass! There must be brutality, combined by blasting uptempo and thundering grooves. There’s no effect in playing highspeed or keeping it midtempo all the time, the sound must give you a punch in the stomach, grab your balls and tilt out your brain. Get down to the basics - if you feel the music without using your brain - it has a memorizing effect.
Name your favorit bands? Not afraid to copy their ideas?
Well, there are too many to mention as I’m a freak concerning music. I have the opinion that there is good music in a lot of different styles, so I’m open for a lot of stuff. But my favourite music was, is and will be Death Metal, so you know that there are a lot of killer bands out there. Though you might be limited somehow as Death Metal is not a new kind of music, I’m not afraid to copy anything as it depends on each band if they just let out what they feel the need to or if they create their music as a copycat of others - any true artist has his own vision of music and is not forced to wait what kind of impulses the next Morbid Angel or Cannibal Corpse album might bring.
Did you went to a circus when you were young? What is your favorit act?
What a strange question, man! Surely I went to the circus, but I was never that much fascinated. So I liked the circus idea itself, but I didn’t go crazy about certain acts. I enjoyed looking at the young performing girls when I was a kid myself, haha.
Why release the MCD under your own label? Difficulties to find a label?
No, we didn’t even apply for a deal before as it was clear to release “Ready To Feast” on my own label Doomforce. Most of the time young bands get ripped off with lousy contracts and I felt that it was better to rip myself off on my own than getting ripped by somebody else. So we kept the total control.
What is the benefit to release it by yourself? Ever being ripped off with previous contracts?
Fuck, I have been too fast in the previous answer. We haven’t been ripped off before as our first demo was also self-released, but I know some contracts other bands signed. It’s difficult to promote a new band anyway, so I wouldn’t sign a fucked up contract where I don’t earn a cent for my music but lose all the rights on it. Now I don’t earn a cent as well but I kept all the rights and control on our stuff which makes me sleep better.
Is it easy to get the band on stage? On tour?
Apart from that the band is on ice right now till I find new members for the guitar work, it is easy to get the band on stage for normal shows. Just get us an offer and we will hit any stage to bring sonic destruction. A full tour would be more complicated due to duties like work and family, but if there would be a chance to tour with a good band, fuck yeah, we could do it.
How do you keep your tour memories alive? Dairy? Video?
I keep the memories from shows in my head - I already thought about a kind of diary (or “war journal”, to keep it more deathy, hehe), but I didn’t find the time so far.
The most remarkable remembrances from your last tour?
What tour? On a show in Aachen we did some photos in front of a very old building. We stood next to some metallic sculptures of humans, but they had a strange glowing green colour, so they looked liked zombies from low budget 70s horror movies.
Is it difficult to sound as good live as in the studio? What problems do you face?
The question is if you have a proper PA system and the most important - if you have someone doing the sound who knows the music. He must not know your band in particular, but must know what Death Metal is about. The most common problems are to get a kicking drum sound and a clear guitar sound. A good mixer has fixed this within 5 minutes, a bad one hasn’t fixed it after 5 bands.
If you go on holiday which three albums would go with you?
Difficult... I would probably use modern technology to create personal best ofs of Morbid Angel, Slayer and Cannibal Corpse. And afterwards I would start mourning over the other hundreds of albums I would like to have taken.
Do you collect albums yourself? Do you buy, trade, tape or get them?
I used to collect albums like a maniac and I buy, trade and get them. But now with some thousands of CDs and a nice bunch of LPs from the early times I have reached the point where the needed space is missing and in the summer I will have to move to a smaller flat so after a long inner battle I decided to sell a part of my collections (music, shirts, videos, comics, DVDs). I keep my favourite stuff and keep some other stuff on digital formats, but my second hand lists will get updates regularly.
What are the topics for your lyrics? Where do you get inspiration from?
There’s no special topic but it should fit to the music - so it’s somehow aggressive and brutal shit. It’s all about the music, so the vocals must be vokills and not some flowering hippie shit, haha.
Are your lyrics important? And why are they not supplied with the CD?
The lyrics are only important for the voice to be a part of the music. I partly keep it in the tradition of Obituary’s John Tardy - sometimes I have lyrics, sometimes just fragments to improvise to. That’s the reason why there are no lyrics inside the booklet - only parts from ’Smile For A Hatchet’ can be read as a background to the band pic. This text is a description of a complete violently outbreaking fuck off to all the people who can put the booklet above their girlfriends bed to give her at least one fulfilled night...
Think death metal fans are getting kicks from the music or the lyrics?
I think it’s mainly the music as it’s hard to understand the lyrics anyway. Apart from that it’s a matter of age. If you are young, you might be fascinated by gore stuff because it’s far over the top of what society tells you is right for your age. Later on you might be interested to know more about what kind of opinions people may have. For me, it’s just about the music and the lyrics must appeal to the vibe the music spreads.
If you had money enough what would you do all day?
I would play in a Death Metal band, work on my label to release new killer bands and spend more time with my kids.
Say the most evil thing you can image to promote the MCD?
“Ready To Feast” is a brutal fucker. Okay, this has not been that evil but I would blush using phrases we all heard of too much before. If you are into brutal Death Metal with some Florida influences, check it out. You can contact me on all matters at info@doomforce.de or check my site www.doomforce.de. The site www.coronation666.de needs to be updated as well...
How would you like to see the future of the band?
I would like to quickly find fresh blood for the guitars, get it on stage again and record a full length.
What will you do and are you doing to get the band well known?
We will get naked, hijack private and music television channels and transform them into Death Metal propaganda machines. Maybe.
Who can write you for more info about Coronation?
Anybody is welcome except for so called trade partners who try to rip people off. This scum deserves to die as soon as possible and slowly. Or did you mean that I should have invited young beautiful girls to ask for a backstage pass?!? :)))
Can you remember the most stupid question ever asked to you for an interview?
Not really. Your circus question was strange, indeed. :)))
How glad are you now you appear on the BRUTALISM site? What will you do promote this intie?
I am very happy to appear on this very dedicated site. Now send me my shirt for saying this! Honestly, I’m very honoured to appear on BRUTALISM and of course I will tell anybody who wants (or doesn’t) that we did it!
Last rites?
Thanx a lot for the opportunity to appear on BRUTALISM, all the heaviest for 2004 and check my site for the probably lowest mailorder prices available. It’s about the music, death by metal!
