“In August and September 2004, Usipian entered Starstruck Studio - along with producer Anders Lundemark - to record a debut full-length. Shortly after finishing the recording, Usipian signed a deal with Metal Fortress Entertainment. The album - entitled "Dead Corner of the Eye" (CD/LP) - consists of 11 tracks, has a total playing time of 48:39 and the cover is painted by legendary artist Dan Seagrave”. www.usipian.dk Drummer Nis was kind enough to sit at the screen and answer some questions I had by e-mail. And if you haven’t heard this one yet, you’re missing out.

J : First off, start by giving us a brief history of the band.

N : Well, Usipian arose in 2000 from the ashes of a band that was started by Toke (vocals) back in 1995. We recorded a self-financed MCD "The Human Spirit Massacre" in 2000 and it was released the year after. We recorded two tracks in 2003 that was released as a 7-inch EP by Swedish Metal Fortress Entertainment (MFE) in 2004. That year we also entered Starstruck Studio with producer Anders Lundemark (Konkhra) to record our debut album. It was released in July 2005, also by MFE who we in the meantime had signed a contract with. We are still awaiting the vinyl version of the album though. Many persons has been in and out of the band through the years, but we have achieved our best line-up ever with the current one. Usipian consists of Toke Eld (vocals), Jeppe Hasseriis (guitar), Tais Pedersen (guitar), Kent Værens (bass) and Nis Larsen (drums).

J : "Dead Corner Of The Eye" has been receiving some pretty good reviews. Are they as good as you wanted?

N : It sure has and also from Metal Warrants I noticed. Thanks for that! The reviews are generally as positive as I had hoped for, let me put it that way. Of course it's not to the liking of every damn reviewer on this pathetic planet, but the overall response has been very positive, and I would be a liar if I claimed that positive response didn't mean anything to me at all.

J : How have the sales been so far?

N : I have no idea actually.

J : Usipian have been in existence for 5 years? Why so long for a full length debut?

N : Is that a long time? Anyway, we simply weren't ready to record a full-length until we did. Also take into account that we recorded the album almost a year prior to it's release. If we had been signed on the basis of "The Human Spirit Massacre" in 2001 (and we did negotiate with a few labels), then I'm pretty certain none of us would have been satisfied today of how the result of a debut album would have turned out back then. Actually I can't listen to the MCD now without crumbling my toes. It shouldn't be a goal in itself for any band just to get an album out at any cost. A band has to mature and become fully ready. I also believe it's important for a band to experience setbacks and to be made aware that what you are doing as a band simply isn't good enough (yet) in order to thrive and to take every aspect of your band to a higher level.

J : In your words, describe the album for us.

N : "Dead Corner of the Eye" is pure death metal worship. It's fast, mid-paced and even slow. It has aspects of brutality, complexity, tempo shifts and sinister atmospheres. It also holds some melodic parts but it's not an overall melodic album. When we use melody we do our best to avoid cute and gayish sounding melodies. In my opinion the album is true to the roots of death metal. It's dark and heavy and the music does not follow the trend of being played at 280 bpm all the time. We have used the expression oldschool to describe Usipian. However it's not oldschool death metal in the same way as for instance brilliant bands such as Possessed, Onslaught, Autopsy and Sadistic Intent can be said to be oldschool death metal. It's based more in the tradition of the American scene of the early 90'ies and bands such as Immolation and Morbid Angel. There are probably 100 different opinions on this, so I can only recommend everyone that might be interested to purchase the album and make up their own minds about Usipian.

J : What about the lyrical content of the album?

N : As I understand Tokes lyrics, they hold an extremely negative approach towards the overwhelming stupidity of human nature and portray a world in utter decay. Naturally the lyrics reflect Tokes ideas and thoughts and therefore I'm not really too comfortable talking about the lyrical content. However, the lyrics are definitely not to be understood politically or humanistic, they are downright pessimistic. After all, it is death metal we are playing.

J : In terms of the song writing process, how does a typical Usipian song come together?

N : Well it's mainly Jeppe and Kent, sometimes also Tais, that comes up with riffs. Then all of us arrange the riffs into a song-structure we all think will work out well in the rehearsal room. This process takes place using a computer to record guitar tracks along with programmed drums. Often I will tell Jeppe which drum patterns and fills to use when he programs drum tracks. This way we can easy find out what works and what doesn't and we can easily change the structure if something is not right. When we all agree that a track seems finished we start rehearsing it together as a band.

J : Who are some of your influences?

N : If you mean the influences on our song writing, I would say that bands such as Morbid Angel, Immolation, Suffocation, Incantation, Angelcorpse and maybe to some degree Gorguts have had an impact. It's hard to say since we don't try to sound like any band in particular, but at the same time it's difficult not to get inspired by what you listen to. Anyway, I don't write the riffs. If you are wondering about my influences as a drummer, some of them I would have to mention are: Dave Lombardo (Slayer), Pete Sandoval (Morbid Angel/Terrorizer), Chris Witchhunter (Sodom), Brandon Thomas (Ripping Corpse/Dim Mak), Sean Reinert (Cynic/Death), Stephane Provencher (Gorguts), Chris Reifert (Autopsy/Abscess), Alex Marquez (Solstice/Malevolent Creation/Resurrection), Dave Culross (Malevolent Creation/Suffocation), Jon Allen (Sadus), Gene Hogland (Dark Angel/Death), Ventor (Kreator), Dennis the Menace (Macabre) and Donald Tardy (Xecutioner/Obituary), just to mention the ones I can come to think of right now.

J : From the start of your musical endeavors, had you always known that you would be playing death metal?

N : Actually yes, or at least some sort of extreme metal. I'm also heavily into oldschool thrash and black metal you see. Back in 1993 when I started playing the drums I asked my teacher already after two drum lessons if he could teach me to play with two bass drums. This fact also means that I never really learned to play any other type of music. Not that I really would want to play anything else than metal, but it can for sure be seen as a handicap as a drummer.

J : Would you ever consider playing a lighter style of music for monetary reasons?

N : No.

J : Who are some of the acts that you've shared the stage with?

N : We have played with acts such as Vader, Macabre, Aura Noir, Exmortem, Iniquity (RIP) and many more. All five mentioned bands are absolutely great live.

J : Any touring plans in the works?

N : Not a real tour, but we are planning some gigs. For instance some shows in Sweden, probably with Kaamos and Nominon, two killer bands. A real tour won't happen until after the next album I'm sure.

J : Has Metal Fortress been treating you guys well?

N : I think so. We are a small band and MFE is a small label, but they have given us a pretty good and fair contract for a debuting band. Of course we don't see adds of our album in all the big magazines and the distribution would be more far reaching on a big label, but then again we would probably drown among a large number of bands on a big label. On MFE we are one of the top priorities. We also get all the artistic freedom we need. There's no one telling us that we have to change this and that. That's very important. There's a mutual respect I would say and I believe that MFE helps us out as much as possible. I would like to see adds in some of the bigger English-written metal magazines though (for instance in SOD or Terrorizer), also not least for the sake of MFE. You see, we often receive mail from people telling us that they only got to know about Usipian by accident and that they really like our music. I have the feeling that many people never gets to know about Usipian but that they would have wanted to. That's about the biggest problem I can come up with and has to do with the nature of being on a smaller label. Anyway, a band yet without a contract should not at all hesitate to send promotional material to MFE. They are honest and hardworking people.

J : I see that they released a 7" of yours early of '04. Are you on board for another release? Or is it too early to ask?

N : I will not at all rule out that it will happen. However it is a bit early to say, but we have an option written into the contract to release one album more on MFE. If we can agree on the terms that is.

J : What are your plans, if any, for making the next Usipian record?

N : We are busy writing material at the moment. For instance we have a new track ready called "In Skinless Form" which is pretty fucking wicked. We will record an album as soon as we are ready to do so. We'll take us the time we need, but we would preferably want to see a new album out sooner rather than later. Within a year I think we should be able to enter a studio.

J : Is there anything that you'll want to do different next time around?

N : The next album will be shorter than "Dead Corner of the Eye". Almost 50 minutes is too much for a death metal album. Also the guitars will be more dominating in the production. I like my bass-drums loud and pounding, but it's slightly over the top on "Dead Corner of the Eye".

J : Can one still obtain the MCD, "The Human Spirit Massacre" or the 7" releases?

N : The 7-inch is still available both from us and our label. I also believe it's available on some American distros, for instance from Red Stream. The MCD has been sold out for several years now. Maybe some distro has it, but I haven't seen it for a while, except on e-bay actually.

J : Well, thank you for the opportunity to do this interview. And especially for doing it by e-mail. i know a lot of bands would rather not do it this way. Is there anything else you'd like to say, add or scream about?

N : You are welcome! Thanks a lot for the support and sorry for the delay. I was unlucky to break my hand recently and wasn't able to answer before I got the plaster off. To those of you who are interested, make sure to order the new Usipian logo shirt from our homepage before it's sold out. Kill!