Intrauterine Decimation: An interview with Mikha'el Bergstrom of Vomitous

At what point in your life were you bitten by the metal bug? Which band was it that made you realize that metal was going to be a lifelong thing for you?

I think I was around 5-6 years old when I first heard Guns N Roses's "Appetite For Destruction" that changed my life. I wouldn't consider it metal, but they sure were a guiding light for me in my pursuit for heavy music. Shortly thereafter that I heard Metallica's "Ride the Lightning" and I just couldn't get enough.

Vomitous is obviously not your "typical" Swedish Death Metal' band, at least not in terms of the pre-conceived notions we, here in the States, have regarding the style and sound that comes out of that area. Can you tell me a bit about the formation of Vomitous and what were your musical intentions/infulences at the time?

Matti (ex-Vocals) and I started the band back in 2001. The name is taken from the excellent song "Festering Vomitous Mass" by Devourment. At the time I was (and still am) very inspired by Devourment's "Molesting the Decapitated" and our goal was to create the heaviest sounding slam oriented death metal we could come up with. At the start it was only Matti and I. At our first rehearsal we didn't even have a drum machine. At the same rehearsal I wrote the music for our first song "Asphyxiation by Ejaculation" (lyrics by Ulf Nylin from Stabwound).

Here in the U.S., "brutal" death metal was once a force to be reckoned with. In the early 90's, bands such as Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation and Broken Hope, kicked the doors off of the hinges and inspired the likes of Devourment, Malignancy, Gorgasm, Disgorge, etc. In the late 90's/early 00's, this style was arguably at its peak with no end in sight. I've noticed that within the last few years that "brutal" death metal has since become somewhat of a laughing stock, especially for that pretentious faction of hipsters that have only recently discovered the works of Autopsy and Incantation. Being that Vomitous is a very and particularly brutal death metal band, what are your thoughts on all of this?

The scene isn't what it used to be, but change is mandatory whether you like it or not. I feel that it's harder to find good new death metal these days, 90% of everything that comes out is utter rubbish. Overall I think the scene is a bit watered down. Gore themes (for example) doesn't give me anything (like it used to), I want more. And I'm very fed up with the whole "slam" trend, don't get me wrong; Vomitous have always been a slam oriented death metal band. And I still enjoy slam death. But the execution of the sub-genre is not what it used to be, like 10-12 years ago. Kids these days talk about "slam bands" and not "death metal bands", it's retarded 'cos slam to me isn't it's own genre. It's just a type of riff or part of a song. People forget that it's DEATH METAL we're talking about and not something else. 

Thus far, you guys have only released an 'ep', a single and a split. When are we going to see a full length?

People keep asking that haha.. I think after we've released our upcoming new EP, we will focus on writing material for a fullength. There seem to be alot of people laying weight on fullengths. Personally I don't mind EP:s, and I like to write music that way as well; focusing on lesser songs and make them ridicuosly heavy instead of more songs to pay less attention to, if you know what I'm saying? I don't say that all bands work that way, but at least for me there's too often songs that I skip on fullengths just to get to the "good" ones.

Who, in the band, is responsible for the lion's share of the riff writing?

I've been the main writer since the beginning. I write the riffs and arrange them together and then I show it to the guys to see what we can improve. 

Name three album that you absolutely cannot live without:

Morbid Angel "Formulas Fatal to the Flesh"
Devourment "Molesting the Decapitated"
Immolation - Pick one..


What does the future hold in store for Vomitous? Any chance of a visit to the States?

We have a upcoming EP "Empires of Great Enslavement" to soon be released on Permeated Records, I would guess in the coming months. We will go out with a release date as soon as we know more. We have two upcoming gigs as well; Gothenburg Deathfest in November and The Antichristmas Bash in London in December. We would love to get over to the states and play a few shows, hopefully in 2013, everything depends on the financials, you know. 



Alright Mikha'el, many thanks for doing this. Any last words?

THE MIND IS GOD