Multum in Parvo

Answered by: Ryan

-What does 'Compos Mentis' mean?

Compos Mentis means something like being at your common sense. I believe that it was Andreas, our drummer, who came up with the idea in the beginning of times and we thought it sounded OK, so we took it even though there is no deeper meaning.

-What can you say about your negotiation with Lost Disciple? Don't you think a European label will be better, so that it will be on the spot and the contact with it will be much better?

Lost Disciple seems like a very good record label, which can take us to the next level. Hopefully we will not need to have the record label to be at the spot. Lost Disciple can help promote us and from what we've seen they've done for e.g. Pessimist we must say that they do their stuff very well. Maybe there are big differences between USA and Europe, which makes it easier to have a European label. But then again, this way we get promoted much better in USA and we also have the possibility to do something ourselves to further promote our music in Europe, so we see it as a quite positive thing that the record label is from USA.

-In the beginning you played Metallica covers, but your music has evolved into atmospheric death metal, how do you see the future for Compos Mentis?

We have six new tracks, which are basically ready, and during this summer we will write a couple more and complete all the songs. We hope to record our debut album around August / September, so you'll have your chance to hear it yourself, but I don't think that Compos Mentis has changed all that much since our demo CD 'Quadrology of Sorrow.' Maybe we play a bit faster now and some parts are a little more atmospheric...

-'Quadrology...' is very melodic, almost hit, but at the same time it is aggressive, what bands have inspired you?

It's difficult to say as we listen to (almost) all kinds of music. But if I should mention the metal bands that have inspired us, then it must be: Cradle of Filth, Embraced, Withering Surface, Dissection and In Flames. These are some of the bands that we all listen to but besides from that some of us also listen to rock music or classical music and the drummer even likes techno!

-Aren't you afraid that some people would call Compos Mentis 'another imitator of At The Gates'?

No, actually not. As you can imagine, you're not the first to say that our music isn't all that original but we have both been told that we sound like Amon Amarth, Dark Tranquillity and now At the Gates. When people tell us that we sound as those three bands, there are two possibilities: Either they all sound the same or we sound like something in between. And I guess we can only take that as a compliment! The funny thing is that we almost never listen to the mentioned bands. On the contrary we listen quite a lot to In Flames.
But we just try to play the music that we like. And in our new material we have increased the amount of keyboards which makes our music differ from the Swedish guitar-based death metal.

-Are you satisfied with what you accomplish in the studio? What do you have to say about cooperating with Jacob Hansen?

Jacob Hansen is considered to be one of Denmark's best producers and we are fully satisfied with the sound of "Quadrology..." compared to other demo recordings. It's not just the production of the demo but he has also helped us a lot afterwards. And if it's possible we're also going to record our debut album with him.

-What do your friends and families think about your music?

Our friends have often showed up at our concerts and therefore I will make the assumption that they like our music. Our families are also very interested in our music, both of my parents have taken our demo CD and borrowed it to their friends and colleagues for instance, so apparently they are not embarrassed at what we do.

-Denmark makes me think of a film 'Olsen Band' ha,ha. What can you say about Denmark's metal scene?

The Danish metal scene has not much to do with 'Olsen Banden' although that would have been quite interesting, I guess, ha ha. Denmark's underground scene has a lot of good bands which haven't had their break through so far. But there are also some very good bands which have been signed recently, for instance Hatesphere and Raunchy - and us. Hopefully we will be capable of adding something to the Danish metal scene and promote Denmark as a place for metal.

-In your bio you wrote that you have played many concerts, which do you remember most of all?

That must be our most recent where we played with the Danish band Thorium at '1000 Fryd' in Aalborg. I had never thought that I could be so drunk!

-Do you play in other bands besides Compos Mentis?

Jesper (vocal and guitar) and Dan (bass) plays in a pop rock band in order to make money and score chicks - or at least that's what they say!

-Your lyrics are about a person who becomes insane after having experienced a huge sorrow. Don't you think the same can happen to us? Maybe only poor mentally people are sentenced to become insane?

I guess it can happen to everybody if you experience that your entire existence disintegrates. Then we all can lose our heads to a certain degree and carry out insane actions. History has also taught us that even extremely intelligent people have become insane, for instance Nietzsche, Van Gogh og Mozart.

-Is the music background for the lyrics, or vice versa?

We always write the music first as we consider it to be the essential. But the lyrics are written to fit the idea of the music as we felt it.

-Is the atmosphere in the music very important to you?

Yes. For us that's the main thing. None of us like music that's just brutal and not atmospheric and moodful (no offense).

-How is it in Denmark with metal's existence in TV? In Poland metal bands can't get any promotion in TV.

Here in Denmark (I guess it's the same almost all over the world) there isn't much metal either. Actually we don't have a single program on national TV or on the radio that is dedicated to metal. We know about a TV-program in Copenhagen and some local radio-stations sending metal, but we can't receive any of that. Both the national radio and MTV have had metal-shows but pop-music is apparently victorious!

-What do you think about the phrase 'sex, drugs and rock'n'roll', do you want to live like that?

If we could stick to 'sex, alcohol and metal', I guess it would fit better. In this genre it is of course very difficult to sell enough to stay alive so maybe 'sex, alcohol (in the weekends), metal and work 9 to 5' would be more appropriate.

-In some time female vocals are fashionable in metal. Aren't you planning to employ a vocalist, he, he?

We have tried to use female vocals once but we can't live with another member in CM. It would be too difficult to find time to practice (and drink!) but we have thought about using some clean male vocals. And it's not impossible that we have some chick to sing a little in a single song or something like that. I guess we'll just see about that.

-What would you call 'success' in relation to Compos Mentis?

Well, we have experienced a lot of successes until now because we didn't aim very high earlier. This whole thing with Lost Disciple has also been a success for us as 'Quadrology...' is our first 'real' demo and we are still a young band. But I guess you just keep aiming higher as you progress, so now our next aim is... hmm... maybe to play at a big metal-festival. And to beat Metallica in cd-sales, ha ha.

-What do you connect with Poland? How is it percepted through you and your friends?

Speedway, those pixies that you have in the garden and brutal death metal.... And Sirrah.....Bo (keyboard) and Dan (bass) have been in Poland twice. As they have gone there a second time as well, they must have enjoyed their stays. ...Oh yeah, not to forget, cheap vodka!

-Thanx for the interview, your last words?

First of all, thank you for your interest. Hope that you will follow us in the future and that some of the readers have become interested in Compos Mentis as well. That's all, but be sure to check our new homepage at www.composmentis.dk.