—>You are relatively new in the scene (at least for North Americans!), so please give us a brief introduction on the "who's who" and on the formation of the band, etc...<—
"Well, where to start... SHADOWBREED started out two years ago and was originally founded by Rodg, Remigius, Oll and Dann. They have already been playing together in a band called MORGANOM for almost ten years but unfortunately, MORGANOM broke up five years ago. After their split, all members went separate ways; for instance, Rodg played with BIFROST for four years. But after being separated for five years, four out of five MORGANOM members started a new band two years ago.. SHADOWBREED was born! I myself joined six months after the reunion, on bass. I came from BIFROST too. Besides me, the other four are: Remigius on Vocals, Rodg on 7-string guitar, Dann on 6-string guitar and Oll on drums."

—>The band's name is really cool! Any special, obscure meaning for you guys? Why did you pick this name up???<—
"We had been thinking about it for a long time since we thought the name should represent the band... We had several others but after a selection, this one suited us the best. We consider ourselves as being a shadow breed since metalheads always stand in the shadow of the modern society and are being considered as outcasts. We thought it suited us perfectly and besides, that it is easy to remember and just sounds great in my opinion."

—>You have been described as a cross between BOLT THROWER and UNLEASHED, which is pretty much to the point... What are your prime influences? Were you ever consciously influenced by those two bands?<—
"We all have been into Metal for as far back as we can remember and basically grew up with bands such as BOLT THROWER / UNLEASHED, etc. I personally don't think we sound like both bands but of course, there are several things alike in our music. Sometimes Remigius' voice reminds me of Karl Wilets (BOLT THROWER) and also our moody parts in the music sometimes remind me of BOLT THROWER, but we are definitely not a rip-off or something like that! I don't think we are directly influenced by any band but we listen to a lot of bands. My own personal record collection, for instance, has something like four hundred different bands... So we listen to a lot of music..."

—>Right now, it looks like the pure essence of Death Metal is making a big comeback... Do you see it as such and do you believe in your chances of making it big in the actual scene?<—
"Well, all five guys in SHADOWBREED have been playing Death Metal for almost ten years, so we are definitely not a band that started playing Death Metal because it was getting more and more popular over the last years. We have always been big fans of Death Metal and SHADOWBREED simply creates music that we like... Some call it Death Metal, others call it Thrash... We prefer to just call it METAL! But of course, I am aware of the big comeback in the scene. A lot of new bands are getting bigger and bigger but I don't see it as a bad thing. I prefer Death Metal over Black Metal but in all sorts of Metal, you have good and bad bands and a lot of bands that start playing a style of music because they think they can get big if they do it... The wrong attitude if you ask me!"

—>Would you consider SHADOWBREED as a force behind the retro movement, considering you are practicing a more classic type of Heavy Death Metal? How would you describe the band's music in your own terms?<—
"As I said earlier, we simply play music that we like. I think we sound like old Death Metal in the vein of BOLT THROWER but then, with a lot of modern parts in it. We put the old Death Metal form in a new jacket... I prefer to simply call it METAL since we have a lot of different influences mixed through the Death Metal!"

—>What makes SHADOWBREED a good investment in your opinion? What makes the band different from the others?<—
"Hard question..! I think SHADOWBREED is a band that knows how it works and is willing to give it everything they have to get bigger and bigger! Also, our music sounds different than other bands; we have several sorts of Metal in our music and took the best parts out of it and put it into one..."

—>"The Light Of The Shadow", your debut MCD, was released under the Unveiling The Wicked banner, A division of Hammerheart... How's this going sales-wise? How did you hook up with this label?<—
"That's correct. Sales-wise, everything goes directly through Hammerheart's sources but UTW is mainly for bands that haven't released anything yet and by releasing a demo on CD or a mini-CD, they get the chance to release something through a bigger label to get the bands name spread and to get the ball rolling... After that, the bands get signed to Hammerheart to release their full-length debut album. When SHADOWBREED had played Live for a couple of times, we were asked by a small Belgian label called Painkiller to release a 7" for them... Of course, we accepted this offer and went to the studio to record two tracks for them. Those tracks sounded killer and were above all expectations. We gave a copy of those two tracks to the guys of Hammerheart, who had been visiting a few SHADOWBREED gigs too. They were completely surprised and asked us to get back into the studio to record some more for them. This resulted in our mini-CD 'The Light Of The Shadow'!"

—>Is this MCD the only thing that you will do with them?<—
"We don't know yet. After the release of the mini-CD, we have been getting great reactions from the press and other labels. We had an agreement with Hammerheart for one mini-CD and an option for a full length. We have several other labels that are interested in SHADOWBREED too, so we don't know yet if we will continue our deal with them or if we will sign to another label..? Only time can tell..."

—>I've heard you are touring a bit here and there... I've heard about a tour with ANCIENT... Tell us a bit about your touring schedule and your shows in general... Are you guys playing a lot Live?<—
"SHADOWBREED has done over thirty gigs in 1999 only. We think that playing Live is the best way to promote your band. This year, we have five shows lined up with THYRFING and PRIMORDIAL and next month, we will go to Denmark to support ANCIENT. We accept almost every offer we get to play Live! We fucking love it so we do as much shows as we can, not only in Holland but also Belgium, Denmark, Germany... We will go to Sweden too. After the release of our full length, we want to go on a big tour for like thirty days straight but right now, it has hardly any use. So we stick to the loose shows here and there."

—>What about new recordings? Anything planned for this year???<—
"Almost all the material for our full length has been finished. We have also booked the studio for September 2000 and we are going to record the album at the famous Abyss studios in Sweden. The working title for the new album is 'Only Shadows Remain' and it will probably feature ten tracks and one extra for the digipack limited edition! Thomas of THYRFING will be helping us out in the studio by doing some backing vocals for us. That is all I can say about it now..."

—>Kasper, what do you think of Canadian bands? What are your top faves right now?<—
"To be completely honest with you, I don't know to much Canadian artists. I would love to get to know some underground Metal bands! So if anyone is interested, do not hesitate to get in touch! Of course I know Devin Townsend and OCEAN MACHINE, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, etc. I think he is a great musician but besides him, I don't know that much about the Canadian scene."

—>Is Black Metal agonizing???? Are we really noticing a Death Metal revival??? What, in your opinion, is going to be the next big thing in the underground in the months, years to come???<—
"I don't know if Black Metal is agonizing but I hope that the good Black Metal bands will stay alive and the rip-off bands will die! Death Metal is getting bigger and bigger, it seems. Of course, that is pretty good for SHADOWBREED... ;-)) But as in all scenes, there are too many weak bands and I can only hope that the strong ones will survive! We have been supporting Death Metal for ten years and we will continue this... THE DEATH METAL AGE HAS ARRIVED!"

—>Thanks for taking the time my friend! Anything you'd like to add?<—
"Thank you for your interest in SHADOWBREED and I sincerely wish you good luck with your 'zine and your label. People like you keep the scene alive and hopefully we can work together in the future! For all you Canadians out there, if stores and distros fail, then don't hesitate to contact me to order our shit directly from me. If you want more informations, then simply check out our website at http://listen.to/shadowbreed or just send me an e-mail..."