Rising from the ashes of the almighty CONQUEROR, the members have resurrected themselves through the vitriolic, anti-human campaign known as DEATH WORSHIP. I conducted this interview with Mr. Ryan Förster, the man of the hour, a serious individual that gives articulate and insightful answers relating to his violent art and passion for the music.
Infernal hails! What sparked the flame that led to the crude formation of Death Worship, and how does it differ compared to the apocalyptic hellnoise of Conqueror?
I started to have the idea to do my own band since about 2003ce, but I set the bar very high for myself. I notice that a lot of people will shit out something sub par in order to just have something/anything released. My view on the other hand is that I would rather NEVER release music again unless it is something that meets my personal strict standards.
I was satisfied with being in Blasphemy and also contributing guitar parts and ideas to bands that I had contact and respect for. You can see me appear on releases from Revenge, Black Witchery, Diocletian, etc. And I also put energy into my Ross Bay Cult label in support of some other bands that I am into. But the urge to put my own ideas on tape was always on my mind. Finally in about 2012ce/2013ce I was speaking with J Read (ex-Conqueror) and he was telling me that he had some time freed up if I wanted to get something going with him! That was the key! J Read is probably the best drummer in this style of music. I knew that with J Read I would be able to unleash music at that high level that I wanted to achieve!
The mission of Conqueror was what I call ‘Total Attack’! With Death Worship I also wanted to introduce a strong presence of evil! Of course Conqueror had evil intent as well, but there was not as much of a focus on that aspect as I have with Death Worship.
Prior to Death Worship, you mostly performed live with Blasphemy, and haven’t really done much studio-wise since the Conqueror days. Did the recording process for “Extermination Mass” come naturally? Were there any expectations that you felt were mandatory in regards to what you aspired to achieve?
We went to Fiasco Bros Studios in the Vancouver, Canada area because it was the studio that some of the bands that influenced me the most recorded at! Len from Fiasco Bros recorded all of the Blasphemy studio material as well as Procreation and Witches Hammer, etc! All of the legends from the Ross Bay region! So I knew that he would be familiar with what we were going for with Death Worship. Recording was really easy going there. The songs were already written prior to us entering the studio, so it was just a matter of getting a devastating drum sound and a crushing guitar sound. After that it was no problem. It is much easier to record with today’s technology than it was in 1996ce when we recorded ‘War.Cult.Supremacy’.
When you and James previously played together in Conqueror he was the one performing the vocals, now it’s the other way around. What prompted the shift, and how did that affect the experience?
At first it was planned that J Read would only do drums on the Death Worship recordings and I would do just the guitars and then we were thinking of getting Black Winds of Blasphemy on lead vocals. But then I decided that I wanted to keep Death Worship more separate from the overall Blasphemy sound, and also it would sound way too much like Revenge if James was on vocals. So this prompted me to take over the lead vocal duties as well. Black Winds adds some apocalyptic backing vocals though! It never ceases to amaze me watching that guy bark! Imagine a rabid grizzly bear defending his territory! Incredible power!!
Can you share any memorable anecdotes with us from shows you’ve played with Blasphemy over the years, particularly those in Brazil? How was the overall experience, and what were the reactions like from the South American audiences?
With Blasphemy we were fortunate enough to go to South America on 2 occasions! The first time was a killer show in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and then the 2nd time was a mini tour of 5 cities in both Chile and again Brazil! Both times we went there were made possible by the hard work of Brazilian Ritual Records! And for the Chilean shows they had a team of great guys there that put their resources together to get us over.
The audiences at all of those shows were amazing! There is a certain die hard attitude down there that I have not experienced anywhere else (except for in Thailand). We hung out with the audiences every night before and after the show and made some good contacts that we still keep to this day!
Not to put down any of the other shows, but the one we did in Belo Horizonte was particularly memorable with some legendary bands on the bill with us! The bill feature alongside Blasphemy: Goatpenis, Holocausto and SexTrash!! That to me was a line up that could only be in a dream! I did not think that could ever happen until Brazilian Ritual made it come true!
Some cool things were the restaurants in Brazil serving us perfectly cooked meat off of swords, and visiting Cogumelo Records! And then of course we hit the Bonfim Cemetery where Sarcofago did the photo shoot that appeared on one of my favourite LPs of all time: ‘INRI’!!!
In Chile we went a little crazy and almost got stranded in desolation in the Andes Mountains!! We were lucky to make it back to civilization! We went exploring on an off day and got a little reckless and got our vehicle stuck in deep mud caused by a flash flood! The only thing that we could do was make the 40 kilometer walk back to the nearest town. Luckily a construction crew happened to be passing by and was able to use their machines to lift our vehicle out of the mud that it was stuck in!
Of course I don’t have to mention that the ‘indulgences’ down there are all top quality! These ‘indulgences’ definitely had the Blasphemy name written all over them if you know what I mean!
What is it about playing vile black/death/war metal that you find so appealing and do you still have that same burning, morbid passion for this music compared to 25 years ago?
I suppose that everyone can’t relate to the fact that I am still listening to this type of music for over 30 years now. Most people get bored of things or say that they have ‘outgrown’ this music. I have seen so many people come and go over the decades. Not many of them have remained alongside us over the years. For me, this is what I have always been looking for since I could remember. As a child I was always into the fastest and darkest sounding music that I could find in my world at the time. Then I discovered that an underground scene was creating the exact music that I was looking for! To this day I am searching around looking for those bands that are pushing the limits of brutality and evil, and it still gives me that spike in the deepest parts of my brain when I find these bands! And these last few songs that I have written over the course of the lockdowns are still unrelenting annihilation! So, yes! That burning, morbid passion is still there and probably won’t ever subside.
What’s your opinion on the current state of the underground, especially with the rise of cancel culture and the abundance of virtue signalling idiots plaguing metal today?
I think that this ‘scene policing’ has backfired on these self-proclaimed ‘do-gooders’. The backlash seems to be commencing now. I see people online are just making fun of these ‘social justice warriors’ and their shit disturbing. And promoters have found ways to avoid the often unjustified and sometimes even mistaken cancellations of their events. And I think that the results of all of this commotion just brought a lot of attention (ie: sales) to all of these bands that were on the cancel culture blacklists. So in the end it is all just a joke. There is a lot more that I can type about this subject, but why waste time on these confused, brainwashed people that have no business poking their noses where they don’t belong?
What would you say are 10 essential demos?
Hmmm…. I could probably list 50! Even 100! I come from the time where the demo days often seemed to be the best efforts from the bands that I was into. Let me try to cut it down to 10. No particular order:
- Blasphemy ‘Blood Upon the Altar’
- Beherit ‘Demonomancy’
- The Lord Diabolus ‘Down There….’
- Abruptum ‘The Satanist Tunes’
- Necrovore ‘Divus de Mortuus’
- Order From Chaos ‘Crushed Infamy’
- Von ‘Satanic Blood’
- Procreation ‘Coming of Hate’
- Morbid Angel ‘Thy Kingdom Come’
- Poison ‘Into the Abyss’
What do you think it is about Canada that allows it to spawn such menacing and hateful sounding bands? Does the environment contribute to this phenomenon?
I thought about this before. In Canada we have it quite good. There is no reason to struggle there. If you are in good mental health and physical form and are still struggling, then it is no one’s fault but your own. And I think that these easy times cause a feeling of emptiness in a lot of us that have the warrior/barbarian spirit within. Men are evolved to hunt, fight, protect and provide. In Canada, none of that is necessary. So maybe all of this is the pent up aggression and physicality that the establishment has tried to tame finally being unleashed?? Who knows?? It is just a thought that I had. Otherwise I think it’s great that Canada is known for this savagery! Better than being known for the most hipster and weak sounding bands like other countries are.
I understand you are currently situated in Germany. If I may ask, what prompted the decision to migrate there, and how do you perceive the German/European scenes compared to Canada? What are some of your favourite German bands?
I am never someone that can sit still. I have been moving around since I was a child and this lifestyle extended into my adulthood. I have dual citizenship between Canada and Germany. It was always a plan of mine to come to Germany. Only the fact that Blasphemy was going strong again since 2009ce kept me in Canada. But as time went on, the itching to move just became too strong to resist. I then realized that I could still join Blasphemy for any scheduled show just as the other guys in the band that aren’t based in Canada do. Moving to new surroundings keeps the mind stimulated!
When I moved here I planned to immerse myself in the live music scene! There was an interesting show within a 2 hour drive from where I am living every weekend! Unfortunately that came to a stop for the last 15 months. Just my luck! I move to the middle of the most frequented country on every metal band’s tour schedule, and everything gets shut down!
The one difference that I notice between the Canadian and German scenes is that they are spoiled here. A killer band from a faraway country could come here on a tour and no one will care. They saw everything already and so they don’t have much motivation to get off of their couch and to the venues. Hopefully this attitude changes when things open up again.
Lastly, what does the future hold for Death Worship? Thanks for your time. Long live Ross Bay Cult!!!!
The next plans for Death Worship are live shows and an LP in the future. For now I have a couple of other things going. There will be some new music unleashed by me in a few different projects! Beware!!