We actually recorded the majority of the album last summer, but it took us time to work out a few parts here and there and also find the correct producer. Whilst this process was ongoing we also kept ourselves busy playing shows and preparing for the album for release. We have also shot a video for the song The Ratcatcher which is a sort of hybrid of a performance video and lyric video.
2.You have a new album coming out in April, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
Overall i am very pleased with the production job that was done on the album by Ivy Skuratov. Someone who has heard the released described the production as being very old school sounding but also modern which i think sums it up well. I am greatly influenced by the scene from the 90s but at the same time wanted the release to sound fresh as well.
The songs are a little more varied than those on our last release. To me our previous release was an exercise in sheer frenzy. This time things are a little more experimental, don't get me wrong it is still a very hard hitting record. Its just that we allowed the music to go places that we haven't previously. Such as some of the black metal style riffs and also the more thrashy elements.
One other big difference on this album is that we recorded a live drum kit, on the last couple of releases our then drummer played on an electronic kit. As good as you can get electronic kits sounding there is no comparison to the sound of a real kit.
3.You refer to your music as 'snuff grind', can you tell us a little bit more about this term?
Its just a term that we came up with that seems to fit the band. Obviously we have a very visual element to our music and the back story is that all of the band members are serial killers. As such i just felt that we were playing music which was akin to a snuff movie, so the term came from that really. I think that the band is quite unique sound wise so I think it is good to label it as something a little bit different.
4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?
As always the songs are based around horror based murder stories. There is no references to real serial killers on this album. They are just twisted ideas that myself and our vocalist Beryl have had. We have also for the first time done songs about the band characters and provided them with origin stories. So the songs "There's Something About Beryl" "The Story Of T" (Herr Krauss, Arzt des Todes and "The Butcher Of Smithfield" are based specifically about the band members. "Abduction Torture Snuff Porn" links to the band members, the other songs are all unique stories. "The Ratcatcher" is a bit of a homage to Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho. If you know the book then you will recognize the passage that this song is inspired by.
5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Basement Torture Killings'?
When we first started the band we knew that we wanted to make it around serial killers, I also very much liked the name BTK which is of course the nickname for Dennis Radar. However we didn't want to just use this moniker so we played around with words that matched the initials Basement Torture Killings was born. I think it worked very well for us as BTK also stood for Bertrand, Tarquin and Professor Kenneth and now stands for Beryl, Tarquin and Dr Krauss. It also reflects what the killers do to their victims, drag them to the basement and submit horrific bloody tortures until death.
6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We have been lucky as we have been able to play lots of really great shows over the 10 years we have been in existence. From memory some of the best shows have been London Death Fest with Deicide, Belphegor etc, The General Surgery tour, Siege Of Limerick, Malta Death Fest , the tours we have done with Holocausto Canibal spring to mind as some really good shows.
7.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?
Yes we have quite a lot of dates planned for the future. We have been confirmed Dead Infection's 27th Anniversary show alongside Rotten sound in Poland in June, we are also going to XXXicken fest in Portugal. We have a bunch of Uk dates lined up and are also working on a full european tour for the summer.
8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death metal and grindcore?
Overall i am pleased with the response that we have had worldwide, I've done interviews for zines from Ukraine, South America etc so the name is spreading and people like the music. I think that with this new release we will get even more positive reviews and feedback and hopefully it will enable us to visit more of these places with BTK.
9.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?
Well we are all involved in other bands. Our main vocalist has a death metal band from Craniation which is very active, our bass player plays guitar in a band called Casket Feeder which kind of combines old school Swedish death metal with hard-core, our drummer plays in a tech death band called Anakim which is due to release their debut album. I am also a member of UK Black metal band Thus Defiled although that is very much a sleeping beast at the moment, i don't know when or if the band will become active again although I am very proud to be a member.
10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Its hard to say what the new songs will sound like, I think that we will now let the songs go in there own direction rather than sticking to a strict death/grind formula. As always i think there will be a lot of blasts haha but i really enjoy the more thrashy elements of the new record so I would like to work on some more of that. But it is of course early days and i haven't even started thinking about writing for BTK at the moment.
11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
I tend to list to the same music as always haha well at least with regards to metal. I very much like General Surgery, Haemorrhage, Impaled, Ghoul, Exhumed etc. I'm also really into all of the old 90s stuff so Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Deicide and of course Carcass. I listen to a lot of black metal as well and I really like Arkhon Infaustus, Osculum Infame, Marduk etc. I also really like Ghost and of course the classic thrash bands. The others have a very mixed bag of influences, i think the only artist that we all agree on is perhaps Doro haha
12.What are some of your non musical interests?
Away from music i am very involved in martial arts and this was a passion that was there long before I learned to play guitar etc. I also like films and to travel, horror and the macabre is obviously very pivotal to my life.
13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thanks for all of the support and helping us spread the news of our disgusting crimes.
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