Pic courtesy of: Sludge "Sludge is the music that comes from my heart and guts, so we can say that it's the closest thing to my personal taste"

CR: Hey Makro thank you for the opportunity man! First off how are you?
Makro: I'm fine thanks, I'm still on tour for the moment, but I could take some time to get back to you with this interview.

CR: I think is safe to say that a lot of people know you from your work in Samael, what most don’t know is about this other band of your’s Sludge (one of those very nice surprises I may add!), this is actually your longest running project right?
Makro: Yes indeed. It's true that Samael is much more well-known band, but I've formed Sludge in 1994 along with the drummer Pud. And since I'm writing all the music in Sludge, we can say that it's my most personal project/band.

CR: How do you think the music of Sludge should be best described?
Makro: I know it's a quite difficult thing to describe or label Sludge's music. To tell the truth I like this idea, even if it's not a very pleasing thing for a record company, you know.. they like so much those "etiquettes" :) We just do the music we like to do, we have always liked or have been influenced by any dark, heavy, intense and dirty aspects of music and if it pleases people to call it doom, death or whatever, fine, I really don't mind..

CR: For Sludge I think and please correct me if I’m wrong here, you are the main songwriter, while in Samael you are part of a larger “entity”; if this is true, then can we understand that we can see your musical creation more pure in Sludge?
Makro: Yes, absolutely. In Samael it's always been Xy and Vorph in charge of the musical duties. Even if from time to time I get involved in the writing process. Sludge is the music that comes from my heart and guts, so we can say that it's the closest thing to my personal taste.

CR: After the official release of Lava, are you guys going to do some sort of promotion tour?
Makro: Yes, definitely. We're working on booking a full European tour and we're looking for playing as supporting band for a bigger act.

CR: It’s been 4 years since “Yellow Acid Rain”, that was the year you joined Samael, was that band the reason why Sludge didn’t released and album until now?
Makro: After I joined Samael in 2002, we had to take a break with Sludge since I started to tour quite a lot all around the world. Of course we build a fan base through the years and tours, but things are going fast nowadays and in order to keep the band "alive" you have to show yourself, do recordings, etc... a thing that I couldn't do much with Sludge due to the busy times I had with Samael and also because of the line-up changes we went through.

CR: How long did it take you guys to record this new album, and for how long were the songs for it in development?
Makro: It took us approx 2 weeks to do the recordings. Which is a bit longer than the time we took to record our former albums. And this was the first time where we fully conceived and recorded a song in a studio. I'm talking about the song "Idi na huy". Regarding the writing/development process, I had a couple of songs which were already on the way, and when it came to write some more, ideas came quite fast… then we discussed about it, and made a few changes. So it's quite hard to say how long it took to develop the songs..

CR: If one just listens to the first two tracks on Lava (by the way kick ass album name!!!), you’ll immediately jump to the conclusion that Sludge is just a fast death metal band, but as the record progresses, different songs, with totally different approaches transform the album into something hard to explain and label. Is the order in which the tracks are placed in the album, design to create some sort of “reaction” on the listener, you know first two heavy and fast tracks and then introducing some “doom” inspired songs?
Makro: Thanks :) actually every song of the album is hopefully made to create a reaction on the listener. My idea was really to make an album including diverse aspects of the music we like to do.. I wanted to make something, that would make me want to listen to it again through time… then when it came to choose the track-list, I tried to make the songs fit together, to build some kind of link, in order to create some kind of "trip"..

	Pic courtesy of: Sludge "My idea was really to make an album including diverse aspects of the music we like to do.. I wanted to make something, that would make me want to listen to it again through time"

CR: The sound of Lava, with the risk of sounding a bit stupid here, is very “Metallic” you know those militaristic, hard pounding drums, and the sharp guitars, really make this album an adrenaline rush, what sort of production arrangements did you guys wanted to infuse on the record? What elements do you think end up resonating more in the final product?
Makro: I think Sludge as always been a bit "Metallic". Even at the time where we weren't using fx's or programations, there's always been something a bit industrial in Sludge's sound.
Regarding the mix, we thought that due to the diversity of the music, that it would be a good thing to have something which doesn't sound like the typical metal productions. We wanted something a bit industrial, but trying to keep as much as possible the natural sound, something dirty and true..
To me, the most resonating elements of the production, is the energy and roughness of the band... heaviness and coldness as well..

CR: For Lava, Sludge had the first line up change in its career…Am I right here? If so, what would you say is the most “obvious” difference between the sound this new lineup has created from the one created in previous albums? Can line up changes “transform” the identity of a band?
Makro: Yes it's been our first line-up change in ten years .
I think one of the most important elements in a band is the vocalist. If it comes to change it, it can definitely affect the band's identity.
So, when we had that line-up change we really thought that it was a possibility that we shall change the band's name. But after we listened to the first songs with Odin, we thought it was just what we were looking for all this time... At our great surprise, we felt closer than ever from what we've always wanted to sound like...to be as an entity.

CR: Lava begins explosive, fast, aggressive, sort of straight forward death metal, but after Carnivore the tone of the album begins to change into a more doom, dark, sort of depressive and atmospheric record, quite a harsh deviation from the first tracks, during the process of creating the album, did you ever tough that maybe the contrast between songs like 60MM and Inquisition could affect the album? Meaning, that some people might not be able to understand the sound of Sludge.
Makro: Yes, I believe that some people might reject the idea of listening to something which doesn't sound "familiar" or something which is "different". To be honest I don't mind much about it, since the purpose for me, has always been to do music my way, whatever it might sound like... but I do believe that people are more open minded nowadays to "difference", Opeth might be an example here...

CR: What do you think Sludge has accomplished with Lava?
Makro: It's hard to say right now... but I would say that I hope that we made something "refreshing" for the underground..

CR: I’ve seen the video for 60 MM, lots of footage from several wars, really like how the music fits the action, mainly because it’s real footage… what can you tell me about the song and the video, for example I presume the lyrics are all about war, but what was the intention of it… the song and the video?
Makro: 60mm can be interpreted as an extreme morbid attraction/euphoria to war elements, and it sounds true cause we can all feel such things... the video is here to show it, that's why we felt like using real war footages, and also to show that truth has a price...

CR: Lava because of the “variety” in the songs, can be interpreted in two different ways, extremely refreshing and complete, because of the incorporation of not only “classic” death metal elements, but the clever use of doom, atmospheres and tempo variations that makes it such a “unique” experience (that will be interpretation number 1). And it can also be view as a missed opportunity to have a brutal and fast death album, because of that same variety and not sticking to a more “regular” way of putting an album together (that was interpretation number 2). I guess you don’t care much for interpretation number 2, but I wanted to ask you is; If Sludge keeps writing and recording music as you guys did in Lava, do you think there can be a point were, because of the different mixes the music has, that it will no longer become a coherent blend?
Makro: I have to say that your first interpretation is pretty close from what we hope have accomplished with Lava, and of course it's very pleasant to hear that someone did get it (cool! :) Talking about the second option, I don't feel like we missed something, since we did it on purpose.. I'm not afraid of the future sound of Sludge, I look forward to it cause, since it's a quite new line-up, I think and hope that the best has still to come…

		Pic courtesy of: Sludge "Major labels are the most damaged companies by the illegal downloading. I have to say that personally I appreciate the fact of being able to listen to an album or an artist before buying it. But I know also that if I really like it, I will definitely buy it anyway"

CR: What are and were the main influences in your musical taste? What bands or artist do you think help you develop the sound that you are trying now to put out there with Sludge?
Makro: Any kind of material, which has intense, heavy, dark and dirty elements. So that makes a wide field of influences... I've never said to myself "let's do a Neurosis song..." or anything like that. We have influences but it's something which is more unconscious... If I have to tell a few names from bands or artists which did influence us, I can mention Neurosis, Celtic Frost, Entombed, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Laibach, Iron monkey...and many other non-metal artists, such as David Bowie for example..

CR: How’s the working dynamic of the band, I mean you are obviously busy with Samael also, so when do you actually take the time to rehearse with the Sludge guys, and how do you think they view the fact that you are involved in a band with the stature of Samael?
Makro: When Samael called me to join'em, I first told'em that I would have to talk to the guys of Sludge first. But I knew that they wouldn't say no, cauz we know each other from a long time, and they knew that it would be a good opportunity for me to gain more experience and to make a living of it. So, they were quite happy for me… of course there's been a period of adaptation in the beginning, and it's true that it's not always easy to fit both schedules. But since I'm making a living of it now with Samael, it became a bit easier for me to focus on Sludge, when I'm not busy with Samael. Also, since we're living in the same city, it's quite easy to rehearse as much as needed.

CR: Have you ever think about having some guest appearances from the Samael guys on a Sludge album?
Makro: Yes, and we thought about having some other "friends" as guest too... this we will see in the future.

CR: It seems to me that after all the debate, fight, and pursue of people who download music by the major labels, the bands themselves have learn and use to great extend what they have learn from hearing and understanding their fans, for example placing full tracks in big amounts on their Myspace or official webpage, like you guys are doing, don’t you think that the ones figuring out how to deal with this situation of illegal downloads are the wrong people that should be handling this… you know big corporate labels and lawyers?
Makro: Major labels are the most damaged companies by the illegal downloading. I have to say that personally I appreciate the fact of being able to listen to an album or an artist before buying it. But I know also that if I really like it, I will definitely buy it anyway… and I'm glad to know that most of metal fans are real amateurs of music, and that for someone who really likes an artist or a band, it doesn't mean much to have a downloaded copy. There's a cover, there's an artwork, there's is a full concept and creative idea behind a CD or vinyl...
So, I might sound a bit "punk", but if the music/artists that major companies are producing, were of better quality, they shouldn't "worry" so much.. :)
A company works like a bank, and labels are just made of financial people, so they react as such people do... they panic and try to change the laws at their advantage, but any way… so the question is more like "should that kind of people be allowed to make such business at the loss of people's real interest?"
And this works also for any other artistic and non-artistic domain.

CR: What’s on the future for Sludge?
Makro: First of all it will be to do a good European tour as opening band for a bigger act, and also start writing some new material..

CR: Well man thank you very much for your time! Please urge the Costarrican metal community to buy Lava, I know I will…
Makro: Thanks to you! it's been a pleasure answering your questions, which is not always the case I have to say:) Costa Rica Rules! :)
Take care