INTERVIEW: M.T – The Spirit

Hailing from Saarland in western Germany, melodic blackened death metallers THE SPIRIT may well be one of the next big up-and-comers in extreme metal. The four-piece released their debut record, Sounds From The Vortex, to a limited audience late last year, but have brought the record to the forefront of the metal media’s attention by re-releasing the album through Nuclear Blast Records earlier this month. Sounds From The Vortex received a glowing review (read it here) from us, and we were lucky enough to catch frontman M.T prior to the record’s release for a chat about the band’s influences, THE SPIRIT‘s new relationship with Nuclear Blast, and what can be expected from their mammoth tour alongside death metal legends KATAKLYSM and HYPOCRISY!

Hey M.T, thank you for taking the time to talk today. How are things in the THE SPIRIT camp at the moment?

M.T: Very good. We are on the way to Party San Open Air, where we will play our release show tomorrow. We’ll be arriving a day early because EMPEROR is playing tonight and we definitely don´t want to miss that.

The Nuclear Blast version of Sounds From The Vortex is about to drop next week – can you talk us through the decision to reissue the record?

M.T: When we released the album last year via our own label Eternal Echoes the numbers for CDs and vinyls where limited to 500 each. With Nuclear Blast we have now completely different possibilities and are able to reach much more people. So it was necessary to reissue the album, to make it available for the people.

Can you walk us through the lyrical concepts you wanted to explore with Sounds From The Vortex?

M.T: There isn´t really a concept behind the album. The lyrics I did, are a reflection of my thoughts, how I see the world or just a description of pictures I have in my mind.

Is there a follow up to Sounds From The Vortex in the works, and can we expect that to come through Nuclear Blast as well?

M.T: They didn’t sign us to re-release just our debut album. If there will be a second album, it will come through Nuclear Blast.

THE SPIRIT have a few festival appearances coming up, then are hitting the road alongside KATAKLYSM and HYPOCRISY in a few months. What can people expect from your stage show?

M.T: The same as on the record, energy and emotions transformed into dark sounds, plus the live spirit. We played just a handful of shows since we founded the band back in 2015, so we are really looking forward to the festivals and the upcoming tour, where we will unleash the Sounds From The Vortex every night.

Will you only be playing songs from Sounds From The Vortex, or will new/unreleased material feature in the setlist at all?

M.T: In 2018 we will put our focus just on this album when we play live. There is no unreleased material and I don´t think we would play any new songs live, when the new album isn’t out yet.

What tracks from the record are you particularly excited to play live?

M.T: All of them. It’s a pain in the ass, when we can’t play the entire album because of a short stage time. There isn’t a single weak song on the album, that’s makes the decision hard which song we shouldn’t play. On the upcoming tour we won´t be able to play the whole album, that’s why we gonna change the setlist every night a little bit.

There is a plethora of influences across black and death metal that can be heard on Sounds From The Vortex, but DISSECTION are arguably the closest to your sound, however the record feels like a continuation of their work, rather than a new band trying to copy their idols. Where do you see THE SPIRIT’s sound evolving to with future releases?

M.T: DISSECTION are definitely a big influence for us. But I would never dare to approve what you said, that our album would be a continuation of their work. In my opinion nothing came close to their music and probably never will. It´s the same with IRON MAIDEN or MORBID ANGEL, just in other sub-genres of metal. These bands created albums which are the best you can find in their style of music. Anyway, it’s a nice compliment, thank you. It’s too early at the moment to talk about if or how our sound will change on future releases. The only thing I can tell is that it will be music from the bottom of our hearts.

Following the tour with KATAKLYSM and HYPOCRISY, what plans do you have for the rest of 2018 and moving into 2019?

M.T: There are more shows to come and maybe even more tours, let’s see. The important thing is that we put our focus on a second album. Songwriting for THE SPIRIT takes a lot of time. We know, that we set the bar high with our debut album, so we’ll take all the time we need to create a worthy successor.

Are there any bands within your local underground scene you’d like to draw our attention to?

M.T: Always a tough question, because I’m not that much into the metal scene nowadays. I´m looking forward to the new album from SULPHUR AEON. Great death metal band from Germany.

Thank you so much for your time today guys. Before you go, do you have any parting messages for our readers?

M.T: We won´t make it this year, but we hope we can bring our sinister music in 2019 to the stages in the UK. See you.

Sounds From The Vortex is out now via Nuclear Blast Records. 

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