By Jeanny, Metalphoto – with Harold Gielen and Twan van Geel

If you never heard of Legion of the Damned before, you have probably been swallowed by a black hole far far away in the unknown galaxy…. Anyway, your chance is here to go and see them for they’re currently touring Europe with Sepultura from Brazil. Metalphoto interviewed the Dutch death/trash metal band, on this occasion.

Metalphoto: Hi guys, tell us a little bit about your latest album, Ravenous Plague.
Harold: Ravenous Plague album is a new album and is released in the first week of January by Napalm Records.

Twan: It’s the first album released by Napalm Records and also the first album with me on guitar. Richard left after Descent into Chaos.
Harold: That’s right, all the other albums were released by Massacre Records. We have new ingredients in our style. We’re still looking for more melodic atmosphere to include in our next next next next albums.
Twan: And Ravenous Plague is an album which is recorded by Andy Classen again. Who was also responsible for the first five albums.
Harold: Yeah, Andy Classen did actually all our albums except the former album Descent into Chaos. That was done by Peter Tägtgren at The Abyss studio in Sweden. It didn’t turn out that well. People were complaining about the sound. Sound wise it was good, but less trashy than the other albums so we choose to go back to Andy Classen again and make the record of the year. -*giggles-

Metalphoto: How has this album been received by the media? Did you receive positive feedback?
Harold: Very positive, yeah! We did some cover stories in the Legacy magazine in Germany, Rockhard magazine, we made the front cover in Aardschok in The Netherlands and also the CD of the month.
All the reviews were positive and we’re very happy about it!

Metalphoto: Twan you just told us that this is the first album for you with LOTD. How did you come to join the band? And Harold are you guys satisfied with his skills?
Harold: Oh yeah we surely are! Definitely!
Twan: Well Richard left, and the guys spoke about who should we choose. There were two names, which one of them was my name. Maurice gave me a call and I said that I need 20 minutes to think about it. I talked to my girlfriend…it means more touring, more concerts. I called them back within 20 minutes and I said ok, I’ll do it! There was also an audition, and it went pretty good. And we knew each other already from my former trash metal band Flesh Made Sin. I played with Occult a few shows, and we met also at some festivals.
Harold: The audition was about 3 years ago. We knew each other from the scene.

Metalphoto: Who is in charge of the writing material and where does the inspiration come from?
Harold: Mostly all the materials that’s written are done by Twan. The new album is actually completely written by the band.
Twan: Almost all the ideas and the riffing comes mostly from me and Harold. Erik and Maurice say yes or no, or that we maybe have to change a song a little bit.
Harold: Songs were almost all arranged by us three. Erik, Twan and I, are mostly always rehearsing the songs. When we made our final decision and we’re satisfied with the songs, we share it with the singer, Maurice.
Twan: Maurice comes with the lyrics from Tony Skull Crusher Manero, he write the lyrics. He make the vocal lines together with Maurice. And the inspiration comes from Old school trash and Old school black metal. All kind of music, aggressive….dark music.

Click here for the Photoreport of the concert in ATAK.

Metalphoto: What’s next on the schedule after this Tour with Sepultura?
Harold: Two weeks of sleeping -*giggles-. We are doing some festivals in Europe. We have the Out & Loud festival somewhere in Germany, Summerbreeze, Graspop in Belgium, we’re headlining a show in Switzerland… It’s pretty much quiet. We’re not doing so many festivals this year.

Metalphoto: Who creates all those extraordinary album covers and those extreme awesome video clips for Legion of the Damned?
Harold: Video clips are all done by Maurice. The artwork is made by different artist. We have a lyrical concept in mind, written by Tony Manero, we send it to different kind of artist. They create some artwork, and we choose the best art for our album.
Twan: The luxury of it is that we could pick out the best art. And this album art is a killer with the Raven and such.

Metalphoto: What’s the next milestone for Legion? What do you still want to achieve in the near future?
Harold: We would like to go to South America again, we want to do as much as possible and visit other countries in the world and show them what we got!
Twan: And then finally Iron Maiden one day has to open up for us… -*giggles-

Metalphoto: Name your top 3 Dutch metal bands of all time?
Twan: Old Pestilence, Asphyx
Harold: Hail of Bullets, I like what they’re doing. Old School death metal! Also Old Sinister, I like the old stuff!

Metalphoto: Any specific band you like to tour with?
Harold: Slayer!! I mean there are a lots of band that you like to tour with…like Motorhead, it’s more like all bands you’re inspired by.
Twan: Hypocrisy will be cool as well! Great guys and it will definitely be a good party.

Metalphoto: Thank you guys for this amusing interview, do you have something to say to the readers out there?
Harold & Twan: Check out our website and buy our new album. Keep in touch, keep the spirit alive and thank you very much!