Torsten: Hey guys, first of my congratulations! You are slicing and dicing for 10 years now. You’re still celebrating this anniversary?
Ross: Funny enough, we were actually celebrating this anniversary last year, but that’s because we forgot to check our calendar. So actually, this year is the one year anniversary of us celebrating our ten year anniversary. Don’t worry if you don’t understand it, it’s all very high maths, like calculus. The best thing about this anniversary is we get to realize how fucking old we are! I’m going to start yelling at kids at shows and tell them how far I had to walk through snow just to go see Incantation for the first time. Speaking of old...

Torsten: I hope you got a lot of presents – maybe some bowels, heads or something like this ;-) Or did your fans really followed your celebrating instructions which can be seen on your homepage and mailed you any cakes?
Ross: I wish I’d gotten head for my birthday. Oh wait… I did! We’ve not been mailed any cakes yet, but then again, I have gotten several packages filled with a moldy, dripping black substance that might once have been cake. Maybe this should have been sent next day air in some kind of refrigerated package. Our fans are not always the smartest… but you can’t argue with their good taste in music!

Torsten: Bowels and heads… Your cover model Shannon Lark is still among the living? Did she know what she had to expect and what did she say when you asked her?
Ross: Shannon Lark is a horror champ, which is why we asked her to do it. She has done local Grand Guignol style theater work in the Bay Area along with acting in and directing some low-budget horror features. She’s also taken the lead in creating a film showcase for females creating in the horror genre and she dances in a zombie burlesque troupe called the Living Dead Girlz. We knew someone this sick and depraved would be down for the cause of G.O.R.E., and indeed, there was nary a complaint while she lie in guts and gore for an hour under hot lights. Of course, there was also the matter of $50… but we’re pretty sure she did it just cause we’re rad.

Torsten: How important is the artwork to you?
Ross: The artwork is a key ingredient in any decent released, at least to me. A band can create great music without great art, to be sure, but I like to think of a band as an entire creative package. Alice Cooper said when he saw the Who, all he could think of was that these guys had been art students, but they’d left the canvas behind the band blank. The artwork must reflect the music but is also an endeavor unto itself… and why shouldn’t it be? We are creative geniuses at the forefront of pop culture. There’s no reason we shouldn’t use all our talents in making IMPALED live up to its potential… and that potential is of course as the conquering force of war that crushes all under our mighty metal footware.

Torsten: You heard about any problems with the cover? Are there countries who censored it or will The Last Gasp released in its basic form?
Ross: You’ll find in Europe, the CD cover comes in a slipcase, and hopefully this will avoid any issues of censorship as we sneak in like ninjas to retails stores everywhere. So far there have been no problems with the cover, but that’s how it has been in the past. We usually end up with problems later online companies or shirt companies that won’t print our designs, or with photo labs that try to have us arrested. Our video for Operating Theater couldn’t be included on the German release of the Medical Waste EP because of the violence. Usually we’re told if our gore was painted our cartoonier, it wouldn’t be a problem. People really need a sense of humor… I mean, what’s NOT funny about a baby being hacked up for a salad?

Torsten: Let’s talk about the songwriting and the sound. I reviewed this release and hell yeah – it’s fucking awesome! What about you - The Last Gasp pleases you?
Ross: I can honestly say this is our best record to date. In fact, it’s THE best record to date by any band in any genre. I did a song by song comparison with a computer program that measures brutality to the Beatle’s Rubber Soul, and it was even better than that gem. I listen to it non-stop by now, even in my sleep, as I can’t get enough IMPALED. I think the world will see this soon as we become a megalomaniacal company that lords over a consuming populace that is addicted to our wares.

Torsten: Almost three years have passed since Death After Life. Were there things you wanted to change for the new killer record? If so, you succeeded?
Ross: There were some decisions going in to make a more straightforward record for the plebeians, since our genius is so oft misunderstood. The Last Gasp was intended as a record to come out angry and punching and not stop all the way through. It’s likely a reflection on our own level of frustration and anger with an increasingly stupid citizenry surrounding us. The sound and production is also clearer, as we took a much more micro-managerial approach to this record and put less faith in a producer to create the soundscape. We did a large part of the recording in Jason’s apartment with him helming the recording board. That tiny apartment was packed with equipment. It was a tad awkward singing by his couch surrounded by a makeshift cardboard soundbooth.

Torsten: The Last Gasp has a big scope: G.O.R.E. is fucking brutal, The Last Gasp is a hymn, You Are The Dead is a brilliant killer in Carcass style, Right To Die is a neck breaking thrasher …
Ross: There is a definite increase in our songs’ individuality, and I chalk that up again to our total fucking brilliance. Seriously, we should have PhDs for music writing. I think our songs could cure cancer, if we tried hard enough. While we want our record to sound like a solid release, we don’t want it to become a dull rehash of the same song eleven times in a row. Each song should have its own personality and keep a listener’s interest. Also, it depends on what band we felt like ripping off at the time.

Torsten: Carcass still lives in your sound (and I’m very glad of it!). You ever thought about to change your sound? Are you tired of being compared to the UK Grinder?
Ross: Surely, the Liverpudlians will always show up as an influence in our music, just as Megadeth does, or Bolt Thrower, or Morbid Angel, or Anthrax, or Autopsy, or any of the other myriad bands who came before and from whom we learnt our craft. The obvious comparison to Carcass is really more about our aesthetic than our note choice. We write thoughtful lyrics with a medical bent, and we have photo-based art that depicts gore. I like to think we pay more homage to Carcass by taking their lead and forging further, rather than just mindlessly aping a few of their songs like other bands would do. In the end, its nicer being compared to Carcass than it is The County Medical Examiners.

Torsten: You heard about the Carcass reunion? They will play several gigs in 2008. It must be a pleasure to you to support them…
Ross: It would be great if we could support them as a live act, but I doubt we’ll be asked (sigh). I think that would be too much G.O.R.E. for the world to handle. I’m not one for reunions, usually… let sleeping corpses lie, I always say. I saw them a few times the first time around and that was good enough for me. If they tour and come around to my neck of the woods, though, I’d be hard pressed to miss the show.

Torsten: Is there a song on the new album which means something special for you?
Ross: Each song has a special meaning… I’m not going to sit down with my ink and quill to mindlessly put down nonsensical jargon onto parchment without meaning! These songs are with feeling and emotion… Celine Dion, eat your fucking heart out! That said, I think the lyrics for the title track and its dirgy music are the most evocative of a specific depressing moment in our lifetimes that we across the pond lived through. The ending of the record sends a chill down my spine… and then a bolus of food up my throat.

Torsten: You ever made a song about “Al Gore”? :)
Ross: No, but we enjoy his Internet every day. Thanks, Al! I’m far more interested in writing a song about “Weird Al” or indeed re-writing our entire catalog in his style. We could call the album “The Bread Shall Bread Remain” with songs like Raise the Steaks, Fed Inside, Right to Rye, Masters of Hors d’oeuvres, Al’s Gut No Glory, G.O.R.E.mand, The Vegetable Man, Back to the Grain, The Last Gas, Mondo Medicalimari, Nutless… you get the idea by now, I think.

Torsten: Sick Cover – strange lyrics... I always wonder which thoughts are needed to write this stuff down? How important are the lyrics for you?
Ross: The lyrics are extremely important to what we do… it’s as I said, every piece of what goes into IMPALED is meticulously poured over with thought and meditation… no expense is spared, no rock unturned, no birds left in the bush. I suppose our lyrics take the mind of a young man who read too many medical books for those who never took a class on medicine, or who drew too much joy from the dissection classes in school. Much psychobabble could be put forth on the state of mind of IMPALED, from us as children drawing splatter filled cartoons, to the ceaseless viewing of horror and snuff films, to the adult paintings of zombies ripping their dicks off… Had we not had our music, might we have ventured down a more destructive path? Will we end up creating destruction now? It is not for me to say… Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of IMPALED? No one… not even the Shadow.

Torsten: What do you think about the statement, that Heavy Metal, especially brutal stuff like Splatter and Gore and statements like “it’s useless to exist”, influence kids in a bad way? Do you think that it could be one reason for kids who shot their classmates like actual a guy in Finland did?
Ross: How much craziness and insanity has been inspired by the Abrahmic religions? Christianity, Judaism, and Islam fuel much more insanity, rape, murder, bombing, and torture than heavy metal could ever hope to compete with. Every day, those devout with religious faith kill and maim their fellow humans on a scale unparalleled by any kind of nut at a school. A school shooting is slim pickings to the Holy Wars humanity has been suffering through for two thousand years. That’s why after IMPALED breaks up inevitably someday, I’m going to become a preacher of the Gospel… that way, I can REALLY inflict some fucked up damage on this world.

Torsten: One of you guys – The Minister Of Science Jason Kocol – looks like Paul Speckman’s brother (of course the younger one!). Had there been any confusion?
Ross: Speckmetal lives! That is all I have to say on that.

Torsten: I’m sure that the German crowd is waiting for some IMPALED live action! You gonna play German Death Feast Open Air in 2008 – I hope you have more shows in Germany up your sleeve!? What about tour activities?
Ross: We’re waiting for some German crowd action! Our last tour in Europe was fantastic, and no country was more kind to us than the Germans. Maybe this is some revelation about Germans being sick fuckers if they support IMPALED. I’m all for it. We are making plans now to come over for shows, but it takes many brave people to put IMPALED on a tour. Where IMPALED goes, death and destruction follow. Cowards need not enlist!

Torsten: You (Ross Sewage and Sean McGrath) had a lot of fun while discussing your top 5 five albums for mp3.com. Tell us your actual top 5!
Ross: Are you saying we lied? Those were five great albums! Of course, it’s hard to really decide… in what genre? From what artists? Sean and I decided on a theme for our five favorite albums… five you might not have heard of. To pick five that are the best of all from any genre is nigh impossible. If I have to pick and be honest though, my five favorite albums are as follows:
6. Weird Al Yankovich – s/t
7. Weird Al Yankovich – Dare to be Stupid
8. Weird Al Yankovich – Polka Party
9. Weird Al Yankovich – UHF soundtrack
10. Weird Al Yankovich – In 3-D

Torsten: The last word is yours:
Ross: Zytostatikum.

Torsten: Thank you for this interview! ;)