Track by track commentaries to Rotting Paradise

1. REVERSING THE ORDER

Joel: Here's your kick ass album opener! For some reason I feel like Barney in Napalm Death when I start singing the first verse. The lyrics by Anders B were written very late in the process and the first time I sang them was when we recorded the vocals.

Oskar: This song contains one of the two "Vomitory riffs”, as I like to call them. The other one is found in “Seizures”. Anders B is very good at doing these easy, yet very seductive riffs that gets stuck in your head after hearing them for the first time. The kind of riff that you wonder why you didn't come up with yourself. The "in your face" intro made this one the obvious album opener. A really funny song to play!

Daniel: Not much to say here. This song is a sledgehammer in your face and an obvious opener for "Rotting Paradise".

Anders B: My favorite out of the songs I wrote for the album, I think it turned out pretty catchy. I wanted it to be an "in your face" song, intense and brutal. The lyrics sort of deal with the outcasts in society.

2. CITIZENS OF THE CYCLOPEAN MAZE

Anders J: This is one of the best songs I have written. Originally this song had a chorus which I wrote based on a drum rhythm and I never write music that way. However, in the end, the chorus wasn't right for the song (not actually a "chorus" part really) so I changed it to another, more sing-friendly riff. We tried to have the original chorus as an outro but it didn't work out, so that riff is saved in the vault - perhaps for future use. The main inspiration for this song was the intensity of Hate Eternal. Other than that I love Anders B's solo for the song.

Joel: I was reading H.P. Lovecraft a lot around the time we started writing the songs for the new album. He often used the word "cyclopean", and since it sounds cool I decided to borrow it for the lyrics to this track. My initial idea was that it would also be used for the song title. Anders J then suggested that we instead use a whole line of mine, "citizens of the cyclopean maze", and that title is admittedly even better! The lyrics themselves don't deal with anything lovecraftian (I saved that for "Seizures"), but are a bleak look at the horrors of urban life.

3. SYMPTOMS OF SICKNESS

Oskar: Anders B wrote both this song and “Seizures” at the same time, two-three weeks before we began recording the album. At the same time I was trying to get a song together and had the idea to do a riff that kind of moved around the drums. Anders B said that he would try to do that riff for me. I never managed to get my song together so the riff that Anders B came up with ended up here instead (as the break after the second chorus). The lyrics deal with addiction. The main idea was to write the lyrics neutral so that it would fit any kind of destructive addiction that we keep ourselves as slaves under. Drugs, sex, smoking... - you name it, whatever "obsession" you might have. It was quite hard so in the end some hints to drug and alcohol abuse were used.

Joel: Creatively, I had nothing to do with this song, but it's still my favorite on the album. I'm particularly fond of the crushing, yet catchy chorus and the awesome breakdown in the middle. Really fun to growl along to and should be great in a live environment. Anders B, Oskar and Daniel did a great job conceiving this bastard.

Daniel: Late 2007, at the end of the writing process for "Rotting Paradise", I got a severe ulcer and spent some time at the hospital. Anders B came to visit me, and I remember he told me that he'd been writing two new songs. It was this one and I think the other one was what ended up as "Seizures". However, when I got back from the hospital I realized that most of the writing for the album was done and that I was part of only one song on the album at the moment. I knew I had a couple of riffs laying around so I showed them to Anders B and he figured that one of them would fit in this one. It's the riff you can hear as itself between the chorus and the second verse and at the end of the song. The tail of that riff also ended up in the "open chord" riff near the end that Anders B came up with. It turned out really cool I think.

4. THE BLACK DOG SYNDROME

Oskar: "This is a song about a fucking dog!" as Joel put it at a show we did. I saw a TV-program about Winston Churchill, where they talked about that he had very serious depressions, and when people get to that state they often tend to personify their antagonizer, in this case a black dog. So it's a song about being chased and fighting your own depressions. I stole the intro riff from an old Relentless song (my other band) that we never used. There are a couple of riffs on “The Contaminated Void” as well that initially were written for Relentless. The 2-beat riff before the chorus wasn't meant to be a 2-beat riff when I wrote it. It's funny how a drumbeat could change the character of a riff. We had an argument (which I lost) about a guitar solo in this one. I still believe that it would have sounded really good. The guitar slide on the chorus riff is totally stolen from Mastodon...

Anders B: I really like this one, it has a certain groove to it and it is a very fun song to play. Oskar often manages to put together riffs that are a bit tricky, in a good way.

Joel: My vocals have changed somewhat since the recording of "The Contaminated Void", not in an effort to sound different, but I have gained some range and stamina. I put this to the test with "The Black Dog Syndrome", where I used more high-pitched vocals for the verse, which resulted in an added sense of aggression. Not a big change or anything, but the vocals on this song serves as an example of "Rotting Paradise" being more nuanced than its predecessor.

5. COMATOSE STATE

Anders J: Probably our most complex song, at least from my point of view. But it's very fun to play, especially at full speed, which - unfortunately - isn't reached on the album version. I always tell the other guys that it should be a challenge to play the songs, and this time the challenge really was on me. My secret dream is that some drum scholar one day will transcribe the notes of this song, as I really use all 15 parts of my drum kit during the song. This is probably the most Hate Eternal inspired song on the album, which the rhythmic tom-tom intro sort of gives away. Although all our songs have numbers as identifiers during the writing process we often called this one “Welcome to the Jungle” during rehearsals…

6. PARADOX LOST

Anders J: My lyrics often start with me falling in love with a certain word or phrase, or a theme. This time I got stuck on "paradox" and started studying paradoxes on the Internet (my favorite is the Irresistible force paradox: "what would happen if an unstoppable force hits an immovable object?"). But it was very hard to write the lyrics especially since the song became so long. Musically it’s a nice mix of old and new school death metal. A pretty cool song.

7. THE LAST BITTER TWIST

Daniel: When I joined Coldworker I was a little bit doubtful about my own contribution to the band, since the stuff we play is kind of different to what I've been used to. I really didn't know where to start when I first sat down and tried to write something, and it got a little frustrating at first. But as things started to develop I think I got more and more comfortable. The first thing that I came up with for this one was this "Cannibal Corpse-ish" kind of tone progression that I sent out to the other guys, asking if it was something that they thought was worth putting some more effort into, and they did. Shortly thereafter I came up with the chorus and Anders J added two of his riffs (the intro and the bridge) that fit right in. Joel did the lyric part for this one, and I think he did an amazing job. The lyrics added tons of more aggression to the song, and it was almost done at this point. We agreed that something more could be added to spice things up a little bit. I came up with this little "groovy" part, which ended up after the first verse. I must say that I really like how this song ended up, being a little skeptical at first.

Oskar: This is probably my favorite song of the album. The seed to it was the verse that Daniel wrote and sent over to me, wondering if we could use it or if it sounded "too much Cannibal Corpse". Daniel also wrote the chorus about the same time. Anders J added the intro and the bridge. A few minor changes were made later on before the song got finished. I remember hearing it the first time with vocals, not liking the vocal pattern on the verse. I thought that it drew attention away from the riff that I liked so much. In retrospect that was not the first (probably not the last either) time I was totally wrong. Joel’s lyrics to this one are also one of the highlights on the album. Brilliant lyrical phrases like "Your hands are at my throat, choking out the life behind my eyes" are impossible to dislike...

Joel: Since the verse riff had a distinct Cannibal Corpse-feel to it, I decided to try and mimic that with the vocal pattern. I sat down with some Corpsegrinder-era albums, and soon had the vocal rhythm figured out. But writing the words was a whole different matter! Writing lyrics can be a funny thing. Most of the time it's pretty easy as long as you know what the song is going to be about. But sometimes, it just doesn't fucking work, and "The Last Bitter Twist" was one of those songs. I struggled with this one for god knows how many months, going through dozens of different subjects, the title being the only constant. I eventually settled for an anti-fundamentalist subject, and I think it turned out well, but the writing process was extremely hard and painful.

Anders B: This one has one of my favorite vocal arrangements on the album. The vocal pattern in the verse is absolutely amazing. Daniel wrote some killer riffs for this song, very fun to play!

8. SEIZURES

Joel: As I mentioned earlier, I was reading a lot of Lovecraft at the time of songwriting, and "Seizures" is where it shows the most. It is basically a kind of Lovecraft-pastische about someone who is assailed by visions compelling him to enslave the world in the name of some obscure deity. It could be interpreted as a metaphor for self-proclaimed messiahs who try to shape the world after their own fucked up views on reality. The song has a weird feeling about it which I like, and the breakdown, with its kind of "floating" vocal pattern, sounds different from anything we've done before.

Anders B: I like how it turned out, it was one of the last songs I finished for the album. Joel wrote some truly killer lyrics to this one that I enjoy very much.

Anders J: This is one of the few songs, if not the only one, that sort of changed character in the studio when it comes to the drums. As already stated, it was one of the last songs we wrote and when we entered Soundlab Studios the record the drums I felt that I wasn’t completely satisfied with what I was playing. A few minor changes were made in the intro and the part that follows the second verse was totally changed. It was late in the recording and my body was exhausted and I could not get the original drum pattern right, so we tried this long triplet fill-in that now is in the song. Although it could have been played better I now feel that it became an original passage between the first and the second part of the song.

9. THE MACHINE

Anders J: When I wrote "Wrath" for Nasum it was supposed to include two very different halves; a slow one and a fast one, but I never succeeded with that and the original "Wrath" became two songs instead. With "The Machine" I managed to write such a song, although the second half went through a lot of different versions. Joel wrote the last riff of the song, his first Coldworker riff! After I had written the lyrics (a horror story type of lyric dealing with a man building a machine, which he ultimately becomes a part of, to kill all humanity, but in true fable manner the machine kills it's creator) and named the song I decided to make the beats in the opening half a little bit more mechanical to create a more complete big picture. The lyrics really follow the different parts of the songs in a very nice way. The opening heavy parts are all about the construction of the machine, the d-beat/blast section in the middle is about using the machine and the final blast part is when the machine revolts against it's creator.

Joel: Contains my first Coldworker-riff! What more can I say? Maybe I can sneak two riffs onto the next album...

Oskar: If I remember it right the first half of this song remained more or less intact through the whole writing process. The second half one the other hand went through some different arrangements before Anders J decided that this one was the best. The first half reminds me of Cannibal Corpse, a very good grade!

Anders B: Really cool song! I like how Anders J really connected the lyrics to the music in it! The song transforms from a mechanical feeling to absolute mayhem...

10. I AM THE DOORWAY

Anders J: After writing some of the other songs on the album I wanted to do something that had a different kind of structure. Today I'm not even sure what's the verse and what's the chorus in "I am the Doorway" - they are just parts that come in a natural order in the song. The song actually includes some of the very first riffs I wrote for Coldworker that never was used on "The Contaminated Void", which is kinda cool. I'm very proud of the last riff that has a nice heavy, headbanging-friendly touch. The lyrics deal with someone powerful enough to fool other people though his doorway with all kinds of wonderful promises only to gain total control over them. It's open for any political or religious interpretation. The title comes from an old short story by Stephen King, which content has nothing to do with the lyrics. I just loved the mystery of the phrase.

Oskar: This is by far the most complex Coldworker song in terms of arrangement. It's still hard to remember all parts once in a while. The "In my shadow-kingdom" part went through a minor change since the riff sounded a little happy at first.

11. SCARE TACTICS

Oskar: Initially I had a few simple riffs that I wanted to use, but when I showed them to the other guys they were turned down. So I showed them some "left-over" riffs instead that I wasn't sure about myself. To my surprise everyone liked them better. The last riff needed for the song, (the one between the guitar solos) was made up in the rehearsal room. It was made really fast and without any real thought behind it. I think it turned out quite cool, but it is also quite hard to play. I began to write the lyric after watching the documentary “The Atomic Café”. The cold war, nuclear threat and scare tactics-propaganda is still to this day a hot topic, the same as it was when it started about fifty years ago.

Anders J: Many of the riffs in this song have a true old school feeling that makes me think of Repulsion, but I think Oskar wrote them without really listening to that legendary band. However, I get a very nice feeling playing them. The thrash riff that was made up in the rehearsal room is one of the funniest riffs to SEE the guys play! It moves around all over the place and has a very intense feeling. Probably one of the best riffs on the album, and it was made up on the spot, which is really hard to understand looking back at it.

12. DELIVERANCE OF THE REJECTED

Anders J: This was the first song written for the album, originally back in September of 2006, but from the original version I think only one riff remains intact, all the other stuff has been refined or rewritten. However, the structure of the song remains (with one slight difference) the same as on the original version. A good example of my ambition that a song isn't finished until it's finished (duh!). The nature of all the refining and rewriting was to make the song more aggressive, and thus setting a tone for the record. The last, heavy riff actually includes the same notes as the chorus but played a lot slower. This riff was the reason that the song ended up as the album closer.

Joel: The inspiration for the lyrics came from the Virginia Tech shootings in April 2007. I was intrigued by the psychology of the killer, which was quite exploited by the media at the time, and wrote the lyrics almost entirely from his perspective. The lyrics have no message, so don't go looking for one. They're just something I needed to get out of my system.

Daniel: This is probably my favorite song on "Rotting Paradise".

Anders B: The most intense song we have when it comes to the guitar. Not many breaks in this one, Anders J managed to write one hell of a song here.

Japanese bonus track: NECROMANCER

Anders J: On the Japanese version of “The Conminated Void” we had a track called “Far Beyond Driven” that many people though was a Pantera cover. It was not, it was one of our own songs, which title of course nodded at Pantera’s direction. Besides, there isn’t a Pantera song with that name… On our first tour we started to play Slayer’s “Piece by Piece” and in my mind I thought it would be good as a bonus track in the future, but we never really felt that we nailed the song and stopped playing it. A discussion about covers came up during the drives to and from our shows and every discussion led to Sepultura’s “Necromancer”. It’s a very different song from our own material which makes it the obvious choice for a cover. It’s very old school – Sepultura were teenagers when they wrote it! – and it’s very cool, although the lyrics are way out there! Our version is a combination of the original demo version and the live version captured on “Under a Pale Grey Sky”.

Joel: This was a fun cover to work on. We decided right away to keep the original lyrics intact, since the numerous grammatical errors only add to the character of the song. I did a little tightening up of the vocal structure, which on the original, to be honest, is a little random and chaotic (fits early Sepultura like a glove though). I think we eventually succeeded in making it sound our own, and I'm proud of the result. A nice tribute to the mighty Sepultura.

The Doomsayer's Call

TRACKS

1. A New Era
2. The Reprobate
3. The Glass Envelope
4. Flesh World
5. Murderous
6. Pessimist
7. Monochrome Existence
8. Vacuum Fields
9. Living is Suffering
10. The Walls Of Eryx
11. Violent Society
12. Becoming The Stench
13. The Phantom Carriage

INFORMATION

Full length album released by Listenable Records, February 13, 2012.

• Drums recorded December 2010 at Soundlab Studios, Örebro, Sweden by Anders Jakobson.
• Guitars and bass recorded January 2011 at Ülgnor Studios, Örebro, Sweden by Johan Berglund.
• Vocals recorded January 2011 at Coldworker Studios, Örebro, Sweden by Anders Jakobson.
• Jason Netherton’s guest vocals on "The Reprobate" recorded January 2011 at Cell Block Studios, Kent Island, Maryland, US by Darin Morris.
• Mixed and mastered February 2011 at Unisound, Örebro, Sweden by Dan Swanö.
• Outro by Oskar Pålsson.
• Band photo by Terése Andersson.
• Artwork by Pär Olofsson.
• Design by Anders Jakobson.
• Coldworker logo and symbol by Anders Jakobson.

STUFF TO READ

• Lyrics
• Track by track
• Reviews
• Studiodiary

A Tribute to Nasum

TRACKS

1. Coldworker - Den mörka tiden
2.-53. A lot of bands!

INFORMATION

A Tribute to Nasum released by Power-It-Up on LP/CD November 2009.

• Recorded in Coldworker Studios October 2008 by Anders Jakobson.
• Guitars re-recorded in Ülgnor Studios, April 2009 by Johan Berglund.
• Mixed by Johan Berglund.
• Featuring Rickard Alriksson on backing vocals

STUFF TO READ

• Track by track

Split with Deathbound

TRACKS

Coldworker:
1. Identify with the Aggressor
2. Cold World Paranoia

Deathbound:
1. Contributing with Social Sickness
2. Routine Life

INFORMATION

7" split EP released by Power-It-Up August 2009.

• Tracks recorded during the "Rotting Paradise" session in December 2007. Drums recorded at Soundlab Studios by Anders Bertilsson and Anders Jakobson. Soundcheck engineering by Dan Swanö and Niklas Källgren. Drum tuning by Peter Damin. Guitars recorded at Studio Ülgnor by Johan Berglund, Anders Bertilsson and Daniel Schröder. Bass recorded at A Noble Home by Anders Jakobson. Vocals recorded at Coldworker Studios by Anders Jakobson.
• Mixed and mastered December 2007-January 2008 at Unisound by Dan Swanö
• Cover artwork, Coldworker and CW logos by Anders Jakobson.
• Band photo by Terése Andersson.

STUFF TO READ

• Lyrics
• Track by track

Tribute to Repulsion

TRACKS

1. Afgrund - Splattered Cadavers
2. Belching Beet - House of Freaks
3. Blockheads - Horrified
4. Cephalic Carnage - Decomposed
5. Coldworker - Crematorium
6. Collision - Six Feet Under
7. Cretin - Eaten Alive
8. Fondlecorpse - Crypt of Terror
9. General Surgery - Maggots in your Coffin
10. Goregast - Lurking (the) Fear
11. Grind Crusher - Festering Boils
12. Impaled - Helga (Lost her head)
13. Inhume - Acid Bath
14. Haemophagus - Excruciation
15. Hamorrhage - The Stench of Burning Death
16. Looking For An Answer - Driven to Insanity
17. Machetazo - Pestilent Decay
18. Mindflair - Repulsion
19. Nashgul - Slaughter of the Innocent
20. Necromorph - Something Dead
21. World Downfall - Rebirth

INFORMATION

Tribute to Repulsion released by FDA Rekotz on LP July 2009, CD December 2009.

• Recorded in Coldworker Studios October 2008 by Anders Jakobson.
• Guitars re-recorded in Ülgnor Studios, April 2009 by Johan Berglund.
• Mixed by Johan Berglund.
• Featuring Rickard Alriksson on backing vocals

STUFF TO READ

• Track by track

Rotting Paradise

TRACKS

1. Reversing the Order
2. Citizens of the Cyclopean Maze
3. Symptoms of Sickness
4. The Black Dog Syndrome
5. Comatose State
6. Paradox Lost
7. The Last Bitter Twist
8. Seizures
9. The Machine
10. I am the Doorway
11. Scare Tactics
12. Deliverance of the Rejected

Japanese edition

1. Reversing the Order
2. Citizens of the Cyclopean Maze
3. Symptoms of Sickness
4. The Black Dog Syndrome
5. Comatose State
6. Paradox Lost
7. The Last Bitter Twist
8. Seizures
9. The Machine
10. I am the Doorway
11. Scare Tactics
12. Deliverance of the Rejected
13. Necromancer (Sepultura cover)

INFORMATION

• "Rotting Paradise" was recorded in December 2007. Drums recorded at Soundlab Studios by Anders Bertilsson and Anders Jakobson. Soundcheck engineering by Dan Swanö and Niklas Källgren. Drum tuning by Peter Damin. Guitars recorded at Studio Ülgnor by Johan Berglund, Anders Bertilsson and Daniel Schröder. Bass recorded at A Noble Home by Anders Jakobson. Vocals recorded at Coldworker Studios by Anders Jakobson.
• Mixed and mastered December 2007-January 2008 at Unisound by Dan Swanö
• Cover artwork and design by Orion Landau.
• Coldworker and CW logos by Anders Jakobson.
• Band photo by Terése Andersson.

Vinyl editions

• 300 copies in yellow vinyl
• 300 copies in red vinyl
• 300 copies in white with red splatter vinyl
• 100 copies in clear vinyl (not for sale)

From Relapse.com

Coldworker has evolved into a finely tuned Swedish death metal machine on its second full-length Rotting Paradise. Rotting Paradise balances modern metal brutality, and distinctly European flourishes of metallic grandeur to form the quintessential Swedish death metal album for a new century of extremity.

STUFF TO READ

• Lyrics
• Track by track

Pig Destroyer/Coldworker/Antigama

TRACKS

1. Pig Destroyer - Abaraxas Annihilation
2. Pig Destroyer - Understand
3. Coldworker - Far Beyond Driven
4. Antigama - Zoom

INFORMATION

Limited (1000 copies) 3-way split 7" EP with Japanese bonus tracks from Pig Destroyer, Coldworker and Antigama. Only available from the Relapse store with any purchase from the featured bands.

• Recorded June 6 - June 24 2006 by Coldworker at Coldworker Studios, Örebro, Sweden. Additional guitars recorded in The House of Alvinzi, Arboga, Sweden by André Alvinzi.
• Mixed June 26 - July 5 2006 by Dan Swanö at Unisound, Örebro, Sweden.
• Mastered July 10 2006 by Peter In de Betou at Tailor Maid Production, Spånga, Sweden.

STUFF TO READ

• Lyrics
• Track by track

The Contaminated Void

TRACKS

1. The Interloper
2. D.E.A.D.
3. An Unforgiving Season
4. The Contaminated Void
5. Death Smiles At Me
6. A Custom-made Hell
7. Return To Ashes
8. Strain At The Leash
9. Flammable
10. Antidote
11. They Crawl Inside Me Uninvited
12. Waiting For Buildings To Collapse
13. Heart Shaped Violence
14. Generations Decay

Japanese edition

1. The Interloper
2. D.E.A.D.
3. An Unforgiving Season
4. The Contaminated Void
5. Death Smiles At Me
6. A Custom-made Hell
7. Return To Ashes
8. Far Beyond Driven (bonus track)
9. Strain At The Leash
10. Flammable
11. Antidote
12. They Crawl Inside Me Uninvited
13. Waiting For Buildings To Collapse
14. Heart Shaped Violence
15. Generations Decay

INFORMATION

• Recorded June 6 - June 24 2006 by Coldworker at Coldworker Studios, Örebro, Sweden. Additional guitars recorded in The House of Alvinzi, Arboga, Sweden by André Alvinzi.
• Mixed June 26 - July 5 2006 by Dan Swanö at Unisound, Örebro, Sweden.
• Mastered July 10 2006 by Peter In de Betou at Tailor Maid Production, Spånga, Sweden.
• Band photo: Robert Johansson
• Album artwork: Orion Landau

Vinyl editions

• 600 copies in white vinyl
• 300 copies in grey vinyl
• 100 copies in clear vinyl (not for sale)

From Relapse.com

Sweden's Coldworker storms out of the gates with it's debut The Contaminated Void. Conceived and created by Anders Jakobson (of the legendary Nasum) and his hand-picked selection of burgeoning metal players, Coldworker's razor-sharp attack is destined to send shockwaves through the international extreme scene. The Contaminated Void's fourteen tracks swarm with equal parts crushing riffs, blazing speed, and menacing vocal onslaughts. Outrageously agile guitars balance melodic leads with relentless aggression. From start to finish, The Contaminated Void burns with a ferocity and intensity rarely seen in any genre of metal. Simply stated, Coldworker and The Contaminated Void is among the finest Scandinavian metal this side of the 21st century.

STUFF TO READ

• Lyrics
• Track by track
• Reviews
• Studiodiary