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D : Are you satified with your new album
"The Will To Kill" , because i imagine there is a big work behind.
P : Yeah, we are happy with the album, the sound came out really good, i mean, we had a lot of problems in the recording studio, so we are happy that it came out as good as he did, because the studio we are working was a little bit run down and they had problems with lot of computers and stuff like that. Over all we are happy with everything and with the songs. We will keep the same producer but we will look for a better recording studio next time. That will make things much
easier and faster.
D : You have collaborated with Kataklysm....
P : ...yeah the guitar player John Degenais produced the album with us and it was a
really easy working with him and i hope to do the next album with him too.
D : Can we say, that the last year was the year of Death Metal?
P : I dont know, but i think it's getting more popular as in the past when it was more undergroud and there are some good bands out there like us or Deicide
...and i hope that it come around again and people start to get really into it again.
D : How do you see the scene and in particular the underground scene in United States compared with that in Europe
P: America is real trendy and underground is pretty underground compared to Europe, well we tour more in Europe because Europe is just better, you know.. , better venues, better promoters, bigger crowds and
the fans are more into it. Europe is just metal, .. Death metal, Black metal,
Power metal, it's just cool that so many people love metal over here because it sucks in the USA.
D : What does it mean for Malevolent Creation doing Death without compromises?
P: We dont compromise anything, the whole purpose behind the band is to be trying to be more intense, you know.. we know we
can't sell millions of records. The only reason we keep the band together is this challenges us to try to make the next album
heavier and more extreme, you know.... it's fun for us,... we are a bunch of idiots (laughing) ... and this is the one thing we all
really like to do... you know, we really love music, so it's good for us.
D : The band has changed the vocalist and drummer, is it difficult to find a
stable line up nowadays?
P : No, it's not difficult, it's an old voice that there are problems with the drummer, but with our old drummer Dave we never had
really problems, we love that guy and we became best friends, it' is just that he has a family now,...
has wife, two kids, he bought a house and he has his own buiseness now, he has a
company and he makes a lot of money. He just told he was in to do the record, but we knew that he wouldnt be
able to do the tour, and so we decided to get a new drummer, but we are still good friends. As for the vocalist, we thought about this for a long time to get cut, you know i play in a band with
Kayle and Rob, you know, i have another band called Hate Plow ... they are more Grind and we never would rehearse with the old singer Brad coz he is just a drughead he never learned to rehearse and it was not fun anymore and we did another record with him but it was just a nightmare and we figured out to make the change now and now we feel more like a band ...
Kayle gives 100%: he loves music and for us it's a big plus coz we could not tour, you know it's hard to be on tour with someone under drugs all the time ... it sucks life , his voice was cashed and the only reason he toured was fucking party and it sucked for us,
so it was necessary for us to make that change.
D : Malevolent Creation has been engaged in a North American tour and now you are touring Europe and you will play
Open Air's here in Europe..
P : ... yeah, we will play at the Wacken Open Air and Party.San Openair one week after the Wacken and maybe some shows in between, we do a
South America tour with 9 shows, we do another US tour in August -September and in
November we come back to do a headlining tour here in Europe, we would never be
able to do this with the other guy in the band , so this is good .. as long as we stay focused to what we do.
D : I've read that it isnt a problem for Malevolent Creation to create new riffs or to write new songs coz for you and Rob every occation is good...
P : Well, Rob does his stuff at home and i do my stuff at home , and when we come together we can put it together rather fast and i think we are lucky for that!
i think that when we take too much time and trying to be too serious the songs
don't sound right, you know, we go with our first instinct ... thats it, the song is done and we touch it no more. Lot of bands takes years to do one album, and we do it in one month, ... we come together, rehearse and
the album is written. After we do a preproduction- demo and then we go to the studio when the songs are still fresh.
D : On the contrary, which are the hardest things and situations you have to face and to solve in order to go on succesfully? Which are the biggest problems you encountered?
P : Our biggest problems? well, to travel,probably to get on tour because it's hard for lot of guys to get up and leave wives,
families, girlfriends, kids or friends and stuff like that and thats why we figured out to tour as much as possible in this moment as we are free to do what we want, coz our bass player is separated and the other guys are free, i mean , i'm
single .... thats touring, you know, it's hard to tour in Europe and fighting and
screaming on the phone every day. It's a good time for us to play as much as we can and then take a break and work for the new album.
D : I personally find that your music is very impressive, because it's extreme and agressive, but behind of that, there is a kind of melodic structure...
P : yeah, there is... a little bit, but there is. We dont do it
intentionally, you know , we are not a melodic band, but we try a lot of things and there is a lot of fresh metal style and stuff in it.
D : Have you ever thought about to change in a more melodic style of music?
P : No, never, coz then we would be different band. You know, the day we started this band we were 16 years old, little kids, and it was a goal always to be faster than Slayer, faster than Dark Angel and Kreator, we love those bands so much, but we want to be more like that,
faster and harder, sing about more death and more murder and more war. We were little kids, you know, it's funny to think about
these years and say "wow cant stop doing that shit". But its cool.
D : what does it mean for you to be a veteran of metal?
P : Oh, it's cool to have a lot of memories to see people around in the world and it's
really a honor to do that stuff. Unfortunaly we dont make tons and tons of money... if me made a lot of money it would even be better (laughing)... but to being around that long is kind of cool, ... i feel like getting old (laughing).... but i'm still a little kid inside..
D : So, metal is something one must have in the blood...
P : It is. lot of my old friends they grow up with me are still listening to metal, it's something that, when you are into it, you cant stop it... it's in the blood...
D : I'd like to know your consideration about Doom Death, what do you think about?
P : I actually do like it, i used to like Doom a lot, there is a lot of heavy stuff... one of my favorite band is, i wouldnt consider it completely Doom, but i like
Bolt Thrower and Trouble, do you know Trouble, that was really cool, .. yeah, i can
handle Doom, important that the voice isnt gay, that i cant stand, i like heavy vocals, but i like rather Doom bands,
i'm into Doom, but i could never play it, because i like to make fast music and not to
fall asleep..
D : I'd like to speak a little bit about the cover art.
P : OK, for Europe there is an alternative cover, because some of the big stores has a big distribution and they thought that the
American artwork was a little bit too bloody, and they were worried about, they just want to sell records, but it's cool anyway, because here in Europe you can get both covers, The one you can see and the
American one underneath, and i like both of them.
D : What do you think about censorship?
P : That sucks! I mean there is nothing you can do about it, but i dont like it at all.
D : Are guitar solos important for you?
P : Me and Rob still like to do guitar solos if they are put in the right places, but, on the
other hand, there are a lot of songs that dont have solos, because the music is so fast, then it's
almost a damn guitar solo just playing the riffs, but we do like to create some
bastard Slayer style solos, some cool stuff here and there, and probably on the next album maybe there will be some more solos too.
D : Not speaking about music, what is the worse expression of violence for you?
P : ...violence,... the war is going on right now in Iraq, thats shit, ..thats senseless, i hate to see any people die for no reason, you know, a lot of fucked up shit is going on in this world right now. Thats realy wired, i'm from
America and i'm here and there is a war going on. My friends told me "are you crazy to tour over there, the
French people hate you guys".... ah, fuck it. I'm here now since two weeks and i know anything about what's going on with that war.
D : If you could be a journalist, where would you like to work? At a newspaper or television or radio station?
P : In a radio station, because i like radio a lot. I dont listen that much to radio except the talkshows, i like Howard Stern, because he is very
sarcastic and makes people say what they didnt want to say! that guy is great, and if i could do something like that ... i would like it.
D : this is our typical last question we do to every band we interview for the first time. It is called the game of the tower.
there is a very high tower and on top of this tower there are three bands waiting for you. You have to save only one and kick down the other two.
So for you Phil on the tower there are Anthrax, Helloween and Pro Pain
P : well, Anthrax and Helloween get the hell out of here and i keep Pro Pain. They are
really cool guys and i already toured with them. Pro Pain is a lot harder, Anthrax and Helloween is not for me,
their music is too happy for me ( laughing)
D : thank you Phil very much!!
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MALEVOLENT CREATION:
Interview with Phil Fasciana 
Niederrohrdorf
- Switzerland