DEINONYCHUS – Interview mit Marco Kehren

DEINONYCHUS – Interview mit Marco Kehren via Mail

Das Interview wurde geführt anlässlich der der neuen Scheibe „Ode To Acts Of Murder, Dystopia And Suicide“, die am 08.12.2017 bei My Kingdom Music erscheinen wird. Das Werk (siehe meine Review!) ist wirklich verdammt einzigartig. Also: Reinhören und genießen!

1. Sometimes you insert a disc. And then it happens. You are packed, something unknown, ab big rock on your chest, mocking laughter, a rope around your neck, pulled up, you fidget in the air and feel how the air, the life, the soul slowly escapes from you. This is DEINONYCHUS. Translated that means „terrible“, and rarely I have heard a more appropriate band name.

Deinonychus means literally “Terrible claw”, which was the name of a dinosaur. I took the name for no other reason than that I liked the name and the meaning of it. Sometimes things can be just that simple;)

2. Hi there. I hope you are doing very well. Congratulations to your great new album. Please describe the reactions to the CD so far.

I can’t tell really as the album isn’t released yet, but the feedback from people who already have heard the album is really uplifting. Especially it’s nice to hear that anytime people see or hear a vast progression in Deinonychus’ music. That does matter a great deal to me as the other way round things wouldn’t make any sense.

3. Damn, where were you the last 10 years, where was DEINONYCHUS?

After I recorded the album “Warfare Machines” back in 2006-2007, I felt quite demotivated with the whole music thing….. I sensed this already with the composing of the “Warfare Machines” album. But still decided to record that album which luckily turned out very well. It was a solid piece but the album didn’t have that typical Deinonychus vibe as with previous releases. It was yet harsch, but rather soulless….So, for me the decision was easy made to put things on pause for a long while and concentrate on other things in life….. I tried to revive things in 2011 but still didn’t feel ready for it at that time, until early 2016;)

4. What did you feel deep inside you when you created „Ode To Acts Of Murder, Dystopia And Suicide“?

That is quite hard to answer….. I always was used to compose Deinonychus albums pure by heartfelt emotions, and things came as they are….. with this album it was different…. I used more of rational thinking in it…. Combined feelings with given thoughts. But as we speak of feelings, I rather tend to say that indifference and some anger where the mere ingredients…

5. If „Ode To Acts Of Murder, Dystopia And Suicide“ a carries a message, which is that? Is it the atmosphere, the mood, the aura of your music? Is this the one who speaks to us and should listen to us, with the heart, with our soul?

The album is a cry out of the murdered, the ones lost their lives by losing any perspective, the ones craving for vengeance, the ones grieving in pain…. It is the knife piercing your emotional well-being….

6. When I hear your music, it calls out in me words like: vicious, abominable, vile, broken, demon, skinned, mangled, ghoul, disgusted, waxy, dislocated. Can you understand that your music can translate into such words? Was that your intention?

Yes I can relate to that, and having said that, I think the album perfectly transports that feeling I wanted to achieve. It is vile, vicious and hideous and probably leaves some listener pretty much fucked up….;)

7. The music is poured into notes, from instruments to life, no, to death, awakening desolation, pure nihilism, the essence of fear, hopelessness, loneliness and loss. Do you find yourself or your music in these words and feelings?

Yes you just said it all….:)

8. My favourite is „Dead Horse“. It starts wonderfully morbid, with floating vocals, before it explodes flesh-smashing. And before it ends, the guitars form fat, massive riffs that press, push, and create a hypnotic groove. Can you tell us something about this song and it’s history?

That is quite a surprise to me you saying that! Dead Horse was quite a difficult song for me to sing, as the lyrics to that song where written by Shane Davison, and I had to arrange the words into the song on the very spot which was not easy at all! You must know that I never rehearse my vocals, but merely improvise on the spot, and adapt to the emotion derived from the song. Dead horse was composed purposely as a monotonous piece in order to reflect a rather hypnotic but yet vile atmosphere, some might refer to it as Burzum-ish…. It took me some time to really get into that song. However…. It was composed in less than 15 minutes;)

9. I also really like „The Weak Have Taken The Earth“, this mood, a melancholy melody peels out of a wall of curdled blood, wonderful, hopeful, and then, finally, the Confidence and trust buried by your barbaric voice. I feel, Your voice is the barbs, the claws, the rusty blades, that fillet, eviscerating, disembowel our existence, our being, and at the same time she hold together everything you create with DEINONYCHUS. Is my feeling for you a compliment or a total bullshit?

It is an utter compliment! “The Weak Have Taken The Earth” is quite special to me for some very inconsistent reasons…. First off, as I composed the song, I thought it was the weakest song of the album, but then as we recorded it, it grew and grew, and with finally doing the vocals on top…… It was for my liking a killer song (if not the best). Especially the atmosphere derived in that dong is unquestionable the most heart taking one of the album! It really takes you in a downward spiral…..

10. I very like your Voice. For me, It is unique. This ilamentation, this despair, yet full of aggression, anger and hatred. How do you use your voice? Do you see it more as an instrument or is it the transporter of the lyrical content for you?

I use my voice in both ways….. as some sort of instrument but also as a transponder of the given message in the lyrics. The voice in Deinonychus is also the most tricky part to do so, as all is improvised on the spot!

11. Your singing sounds like he’s trying hard. How much does singing hurts physically, but also mentally, emotionally, when you descend into the deep, your inner deep, with your voice?

I actually do stress my voice quite a lot, I think there’s no way around it if you want a legit emotion expressed as it is. It is quite hard working for me to do the vocals, physically as well mentally. Like I said before, I do improvise my vocals on each album, so I never really know how things sound in the end, and that obviously pushes stress levels high. But for me this is the only legit way to do things as they are….

12. Which one is YOUR favorite song from the album and why?

“The Weak have taken The Earth”, as it transports so much emotion, it is the song that is closest to my heart, as oppositely it was the weakest when I composed it!

13. Are there some lyrics that are special to you? Tell us something about them.

After 10 years of silence with Deinonychus I’d chosen to write the lyrics with a different approach and make them less personal but yet more intense for my liking. As well I’d chosen again to work together with Shane Davison from Australia, which also wrote lyrics for me on the following Deinonychus albums “Ark of Thought”-1997/ “Deinonychus”-2000, and “Mournument”-2002. For this new album Shane wrote the following lyrics; “Buried under the Frangipanis”/”Life Taker”/ “Dead Horse” and “Silhouette”, I rather say that those lyrics mean more to me as my own, as I know that those lyrics mean a whole lot to Shane as he wrote them, and that they are very personal to him in whatever way. They mean a lot to me as they sort of crown our long term brotherhood over the last 25 years or so!!!

Mr. Kehren, Many thanks for your informative and emotional words. Best whishes to you. And, I like to repeat, please do not let us wait so long again.