Cytotoxin: Under Pressure
Since their inception in 2010, German brutal death metal band CYTOTOXIN have been taking the world by storm with their frenetic concoction of technical proficiency and nuclear based thematics. Despite being unable to tour in support of 2020’s Nuklearth release they still achieved widespread praise. Rather than fade into a period of inactivity, time was spent wisely formulating what we now know to be Biographyte, a deep dive into the Chernobyl disaster and the lives affected as a result of such a tragedy.
“It was a pretty intense time for all of us,” admits frontman Sebastian ‘Grimo’ Grihm. “It took a lot of time and energy and I think we can all agree that you can hear the difference. From my perspective, I’m usually in the studio for about four or five days but this time we had up to three sessions for each song. You can hear the progression and development and we were lucky that we had this time to make it happen. We worked with Mendel Bij De Leij and it’s definitely the best CYTOTOXIN have sounded. His production was top notch. Maybe every band would say this but when we release new music we want there to be a step up, in writing, in production, we just want to get better and this time we feel we have chosen different paths from previously. Our drummer (Maximilian Panzer) has his own specific style and you can hear it. The production is better than anything we’ve ever done and combining these elements all creates a different result. I think it’s really important to be proud of what you create, especially when you’re out on the road away from your family and are promoting the band and the theme.”
Inspiration can strike when you least expect it. For Grimo, the imagery for Biographyte was born through his love of gaming. “We put a lot of thought into what the next step should be with regards to the topic and our storytelling. I was playing God Of War and got really inspired by the scene where Kratos is crawling through the desert and he sees Cronos, the titan carrying Pandora’s Temple on his back. We opted to go for a huge titan-like liquidator carrying a reactor on his back and that was the first glimpse into what our artwork became. We completed the artwork before the writing so this also influenced the lyrics. It’s not easy to handle this topic because it’s still radioactive so we want to be cautious and respectful. It demanded a lot of research to ensure the lyrics were handled properly. It took me around a year to write the lyrics and it was a lot of pressure. This time gave us the chance to implement our new drummer and get him ready for live shows. It is brutal death metal and some people don’t care about the lyrics so it can be challenging for me to motivate myself. The people that do pay attention, however, deserve to have lyrics of a high standard.”
Whilst some bands maintain a theme as a façade or source of entertainment, Grimo and company take their craft very seriously, assuming the duty of highlighting the events that unfolded. “This isn’t just a topic we’re going to use for a few albums and move on. We feel responsible for spreading the message. There are many stories which should be told. It’s not just Chernobyl either, there have been many nuclear and radiation based incidents like Fukushima. We feel like it is our mission to raise awareness. It’s not a gimmick and we have had to think about how we conduct ourselves on stage. We want to entertain people first but we also want to have a serious tone too. I love getting into conversations with people after shows and see that they’re paying attention to the lyrics and the information we have poured into the songs.”
Speaking of live performances, CYTOTOXIN have been commended for their blistering intensity and commanding stage presence. Another facet of their output that Grimo takes significant pride in. “We all bring a lot of different elements to the table, when we play live shows we love playing the crazy, technical sections but also love breakdowns and swinging the wrecking ball. Our main attitude is, if we were attending a show, what would we like to see? Me and Fonzo (guitarist Fabrice Töpfer) used to go to a lot of shows and see bands like BENEATH THE MASSACRE and remember how intense their shows were and that mentality stuck with us. I’m really happy we’re able to still do this and people look forward to seeing us perform. I don’t think a lot of people realise just how challenging this style of vocals can be too. It can be really tough. It’s also tough to pick which songs to play, with every release you have more material and I’m still a big fan of our first record and have been fighting for us to play more of those songs but sadly I’ve been losing the fight! We have a lot of props in our set too so we need to think of what is most suitable for the performance elements too.”
It is only natural for a band to be continuously looking forward towards the next goal or objective but Grimo is conscious of the bands journey so far and remains very proud of their past accomplishments, especially when they have encountered difficult times in order to progress to where they are now. “I remember the Radiophobia album quite vividly as it was the first record where we entered a professional studio and it was not the easiest of conditions. There were a lot of time constraints and struggles in the studio because it was our first proper experience and I can actually still feel that pressure when I listen back to it. We had to produce it ourselves too so it was tough to make but many people still really like this record so I really appreciate that.”
Biographyte is out now via self-release. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS119 here:
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