1. Big greetings to Holland, guys! Let me ask you how are you doing right now?

I'm fine thank you. Getting some work done before leaving here so nice and busy. Now it's time to present ourselves to the Czech audience.

2. Your fourth full-length album has been released this year. But to be honest, WELTBRAND is not well-known band in Czech Republic. From my view, the best will be to introduce you and your history, maybe in some untypical way…

I know we aren't well known in Czech Republic yet, so time to change that with this album. To sum up the history of the band: it was founded in 2002 by me and it has been a bumpy ride ever since. Sometimes a glorious trainwreck and at other times a totalitarian regime in all it's glory. We first released our first mini album Radiance of a Thousand Suns in 2003 in a limited edition of 250 copies that were quickly sold out. We got picked up by New Era Productions after that who wanted to release the album as a full length. So we recorded 3 extra songs for the album and it was released in 2004. Several live performances followed and in 2006 our next album was released on Sadolust Records called the Cloud of Retaliation. Again, some live performances followed and in 2007 the split ep with the German band Suicide Solution was released as a teaser for the next album. After this, we had some line up problems and I had my focus on some other musical projects so it took a while before the next album was recorded. Finally the work now is done and Control Division is released by W.T.C. Productions in the early summer of 2010 and it is our best to date, especially since we finally had a decent studio budget and had all the artistic freedom we need. Throughout the years we build up a live reputation and played alongside great acts such as Samael, Inquisition, Denial of God, Mortuary Drape, Hell Militia, Blacklodge and many others.

3. First thing that strikes my eyes was an artwork of the album. I'm asking about artworks pretty often, but now I feel this question is totally necessary. Could you please explain the meaning?

I was expecting that this artwork would raise a few eyebrows here and there since it is open for many interpretations. On this album we worked with a concept of the Totalitarian State and the Cold War. So you will find images, quotes and symbolism from different regimes that kept the world in it's grip throughout the 20th Century. We have all mixed it up with symbols of the Control Division according to Weltbrand's filosophy since we have no political message except our own. A lot of people will misinterpret the artwork on both sides of the political spectrum but that is fine with us. I always admired bands like Laibach or Carnivore for their great attitude on this topic.

4. The musical side of the album has caught me immediately during the first listening. Crude feeling, mad speed, and mostly drum sound is pretty untypical in the face of todays modern releases. Are you supporters of natural sound without any special embellishment and adjustments?

I don't know if our drum sound is that untypical, but then again, I haven't listened to many new releases lately. We just did what felt right in the studio and went for a somewhat full sound. We are supporters of a natural sound when the music asks for it. When I was in Funeral Winds or some other bands with a more old school feeling, that is what we went for. With Weltbrand it's different but even then we just go with what sounds best and in this case it was sampling the drums, record the guitars and bass via multiple digital pre amps and then add the industrial samples over it. That worked pretty well on this album. Next album we will use more beats and do the drums and guitars a little heavier and go a little slower at points.


5. Have you ever been compared with Funeral Winds? I don't know really why, but it was the first idea that came out in my mind during listening the album (I mean in fast tirades). But understand this only in positive way, please!

Well, I have heard it before that some riffs sound similar but that is only logical since I played in Funeral Winds until 2007/2008. I wrote riffs for both bands so yeah, some fast riffs that are on this album might as well ended up as Funeral Winds riffs if that band would be active and Weltbrand would not. But apart from that, Weltbrand is a totally different band, both in music and in concept.

6. I'm a big fan of industrial influences (not only) in black metal. So your work is of course enjoyable for me. There are many unique and strange noises that perfectly filling pessimism atmosphere. May we say you're protagonists of hatred against humanity, end of the world etc.?

We just support the Apocalypse and we want to deliver the soundtrack to the Terror Machine that cannot be stopped. The noises and samples that we use within the music are used to contribute to the atmosphere. Not only in words but also in dissonant sounds and visuals the message is spread and a certain image is planted inside mind of the listener. There is only so much you can do with traditional instruments so the use of samples and sounds is very important to us to complete the details. Let other bands invoke the Fire, we will invoke the Nuclear Winter and the Post Apocalyptic Wasteland.

7. Is lyrical side of WELTBRAND very important for you personally? Are you using WELTBRAND as some kind of a message, you decided to spread?

Like every serious band in our side of the spectrum, lyrics are very important to us. Weltbrand is the transmittor to our emotions and ideology and we are using not only lyrics for that, but also symbolism, visuals, samples and dissonant sounds. It should be clear that the message we spread is a destructive one in all it's forms and all forms that are a means to an end are of our interest. Death is reaping on many levels, whether it is spiritual, human nature, political, technological or on any other ground and there should be no borders for praising it.

8. I don't know why, but when I listened to the album and browsed through the booklet, I found one word that arise in my head; Communism. Is this only my wrong imagination or was that your intention?

The main concept of the artwork and to some extent the lyrics on this album was the Cold War. So yeah, It's no surprise the big C word comes up in your head since that was one of the key players in that divine comedy and the regime who was posing the largest threat to the rest of the world. But it was not the intention to praise Communism or any kind of Socialism for that matter. The booklet is filled with pictures of regimes and happenings of the 20th Century and is added with quotes from history's men of steel. It is up to the viewer to take up on it and see the underlying connection between all quotes and pictures but of course that will depend on each viewer and their location of course. People who live East of the former Iron Curtain will see things quite differently because of their historic perspective but the underlying message is the same for all. We came to say: Destroy!


9. Besides there are some things I wanna ask you, could you please make a short description about the words I wrote below:

War - Sweet for the inexperienced. Totally necesarry however to keep the balance. Safe grounds breed weak people.
Guns - Everyone should own a few and know how to use them.
Violence - Separates the wolves from the sheep.
Hatred - Natural emotion, a great catalyst to get things done.
Dominion - The use of power in my eyes.
Death - Inevitable. Hail the destroyer of worlds.
Black metal - Scene with great potential, yet in decline because of copycats and people who don't know what the fuck they are talking about. We need more out of the box thinkers like we had before.

10. I read at MySpace that you're preparing a tour! Do you have any special information you can spread? Is there a list where you gonna play?

No list yet, but we are booking some gigs here and there. The new album is out and we have a can of gasoline and a lighter and are ready to burn the world. We are in the middle of preparations and bookings now, so any interested promotors can contact us at [email protected]. We hope to have more details after the summer. Only thing confirmed at this point is the Fireblade Force festival in Germany in September. More is sure to follow. We are working on that.

11. That's all from our side. Thanks for the interview and all the best to the future. Hope to see you one day in Czech Republic. .

Thanks a lot for the questions, hope to come to Czech republic soon on the Control Campaign. Control Divison is out now via World Terror Committee.
Take Control!