Tremors are back in action with ‘Shores.’




After surfacing in 2002 with their debut album, the death metal band Tremors has been quiet for some time, only releasing an EP here and there but mostly seeming to remain inactive. Now, they’ve recently resurfaced with a new attitude and a new album- ‘Frozen Shores’- which has so far resounded well with fans, both new and old. Brutalism has been lucky enough to review their work, and even luckier to have a few questions answered by both guitarist, Sascha Isenmann, and vocalist Christian Scherer.

Hello there. Welcome back to the land of the living! It seems Tremors has been quiet for some time now… almost nine years since your debut!
Yes, our first full length album was “Recurrent Creation” in 2002, but we released our first EP “Forlorn Souls” in 1999.

How did Tremors start out back in 1994? Do you think you’ve come a long way since your first EP or did you consider that to be the ‘pinnacle of sound’ you wanted all future musical direction to go in?
Sascha: Unfortunately I was not there when Tremors started in 1994. But I think at that time the intention of Florian (guitar) and our former drummer Ralf did not to play death metal. Tremors today's sound is the result of a long way and many lessons learned. We are not at the end of the journey and no one of us can say how Tremors will sound in the future, so be prepared for some more surprises on our next releases :)

So why the long hibernation since 2002? Was there a hiatus or was songwriting a slow, ever evolving process?
Sascha: After “Klyst” we took many time to grow together with our at this time new drummer Marc and after that we took our focus on songwriting for “Frozen Shores”. In addition we all are employed in full-time jobs, so 5 years are passing by very fast ;) But we promise that you won't have to wait that long for our next album!!!

With such as long gap between albums, the band certainly had lots of time to see death metal evolve along with theme and change. What do you think are some of the greatest influences for your sound currently?
Sascha: That's very difficult to answer. We are six band members and everyone has his own music taste. I think you can hear many different influences in our songs and sound, but that's nothing we plan, it just happens.




What concept did you exactly want to go with regarding ‘Frozen Shores?’
Christian: The idea was to create a cold, wet and barren atmosphere, that goes with the sound of Tremors and fits to the album title. During the writing process I read a lot of stuff of H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allen Poe, who had a strong influence on the lyrics.

Any particular songs you think deserve special mention, either in their meaning or how the songwriting process came about?
Christian: Maybe no particular song, but the songwriting process itself.  Up to "Frozen Shores" we mostly wrote the songs all together by jamming or trying different combinations of ideas everybody brought into the rehearsal room. This time we split into "working groups" to get more different results.

So with ‘Frozen Shores’ out on the market, what is next on the agenda for Tremors? Any tours coming up?
Sascha: Touring would be great, but we have no detailed planning yet. Until end of this year we will
play at some concerts in Germany like Heavy Summer Break Festival in Munich on July 30th promoting “Frozen Shores” and are planning to start songwriting for the next album soon.

Has Tremors done much touring before, or is it still a new thing for you guys?
Sascha: We have played many concerts in the last 13 years but no classic tour where you are on the road for some weeks. You know we all have full-time jobs, so some times it is not so easy to get all together. But we can't wait to be on stage more often to promote “Frozen Shores” and to entertain all people in the audiences.

If you had the option, which bands would you tour with and why?
Christian: Well, if we had the option to choose bands fitting to our sound or the other way round, why not Hypocrisy, earlier Amorphis or Gemany´s The Vision Bleak …. Or all together, this could be a nice package.

Whether on tour or just out in life, surely you get in contact with fans either in person or through email who talk to you about your music. Do you think that fans’ expectations of yourselves and death metal has changed greatly since Tremors began, such as either certain expectations of a style in death metal or how often they want to hear a new album come out?
Christian: Since we started the whole metal scene went through a kind of evolutionary process. In the early 90´s, the fans wanted metal or in our case death metal as old school and true as possible, ´till the bands started to experiment with keyboards, clean and/or female vocals, electronic samples. So I think the expectations changed in that way, that the fans nowadays want to get more variety in the sound a band like us plays. Of course, we want this, too :)

Do you find listener demands sometimes too hard to follow or are they pretty reasonable?
Christian: Primarily we play the music we like and we´re lucky most of our listeners really like what we´re doing. So there´s not too much pressure in fulfilling someone´s expectations. It´s good to get input from the "outside", the longer you are in a band the more routine-blinded you get ;)  And we appreciate every critique as long as it is reasonable, so we can make things better.

Have there been any particular fan comment or actions that has really impacted the band, for better or worse, or do you just take it all with a grain of salt and continue pushing with what you as a band think is best for your sound or album themes?
Sascha: In the past we did things like we thought and recorded the songs like they were. But this time we changed the songwriting process like Christian described before and additionally we asked our two producers and good friends Dani and Connie to help us improving the songs and get the band on a higher level. Both are phenomenal musicians and did an awesome job. We all have learned so much and are very happy with this decision and the results.

How does the future of metal, and music in general, look for you? Do you think with the rise of MP3s and the fall of CD stores and sales that eventually Tremors will have to go fully digital? Any particular positives or negatives about that?
Sascha: That's really hard to say. Fact is that CD sales are degrading and digital media became more important. On one side digital media is a chance for smaller bands to promote and sell more their music than through classic distribution in stores with smaller costs. But on the other side the danger of illegal copying is very high. Most consumers don't think about how many work, energy and money a band has to invest until a CD is ready for release. Many of them are just looking where they can get music for free, doesn't matter if it's legal or not. I think bands will not be able to survive only by selling their music on CDs or other media. I hope concerts will become more important and people will spend their money to get the experience of live concerts.

Once again, I want to thank you for taking your time, and allowing BRUTALISM to review your music as well. Any last words for our readers before we part?
Sascha: We also would like to thank you very much for your great support!!! And to all fans of loud guitar music out there: get our new album “Frozen Shores” and come to see us live on stage!!!! ;) You can get all news and infos on our website (www.tremors.de), Facebook, Twitter or Myspace. Rock on !!!
Band:
Interviewer: devilmetal747
Jul 4, 2011

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