Can you give us an update on what's going on with the band since recording and releasing the new demo and live album?
Ah! Yes! Our first live album Holocausto War Metal in Belo Horizonte, Live in Brazilian Ritual Fifth Attack was recorded on the night of 17/11/2017, with the current classic formation of the 80's band and counted on the participation of our countrymen sexual maniacs of Sex Trash, our brutal War Metal brothers of Goatpenis from Blumenau and the Canadian infernal desecrators of Blasphemy in one of the most extreme and violent shows of this planet, rescuing in Belo Horizonte its essence and tradition in the world heavy music in a night watered by sex, drugs and War Metal. This material has just been released by Brazilian Ritual Records. In September Black this year we recorded the Total War demo by Nuclear War Now! The recording was made in our essay on 1/11/18 and edited in K7. Still in September we entered the studio for the recording of our new full-lenght War Diary that will also be edited by NWN! There will be 9 songs of the purest War Metal. At this moment we are mixing and mastering the disc.
2. In your recent demonstration, what happened to some of the things that the band did differently with the recording that you could not do with your previous releases?
In this recording with the current classic formation of the original band from the 80s (Rodrigo Fuhrer - vocals, Valério Exterminator - guitars, Anderson Guerrilheiro – bass/vocals and Armando Nuclear Leprous Soldier - drums). The live demo-tape Guerra Total recorded as simply as possible with just a few microphones and capturing the essence of the band live in the studio. No edits, no plug-ins, no effects, no nothing. The crudest way to play and record, remembering the old home demos recorded in K7 in the eighties. I think that made the recording sound crude and rough. It is an extremely brutal material that will be appreciated by War Metal maniacs.
3.The band was broken up for 10 years, what was the cause of the split and also the decision to reform?
In fact the War Metal phase of the holocaust lasted only from 84 to 87.
The Holocausto of that time was the true War Metal!
Soon after the release tour of the album Campo de Extermínio in 87 Nuclear Soldier left the band. At that moment Holocausto happened to be a War Metal trio with Rodrigo F. in the drums and vocals. We started to compose new material in the war metal line of Campo de Extermínio and Warfare Noise songs. We had 6 or 7 new brutal War Metal songs
but at that moment Exterminator left the band for reasons of intimacy. All other later works are not in the War Metal style
and should not be released under the name Holocausto,
but for contractual matters with the Cogumelo Records were edited in this way.
We live in a third world country with many social, political and economic problems and each one of us had to work hard to survive and support ours families in this chaotic country. The return came when COG began to reissue its entire catalog and during the digitization of this old material we found ourselves almost 20 years later.
4.The band reunited in 2004, released a new album in '05, but waited 11 years to release any new songs, can you tell us a bit more about what was going on in that period of time?
Yes, as stated earlier, we met at this time and decided to meet to play again. The initial idea was to reassemble with one of the classic early band formations but the two drummers were not available, so we reshaped a War trio with me on drums and voice again. At that time we recorded the album De Volta ao Front by Cogumelo Records, we were on the right track, with a good show and good songs but this time I left the band for personal reasons. During this period I dedicated myself to other musical projects and started playing drums on Black Metal Impurity of Belo Horizonte.
5. The most recent songs came back to the 80's, while some of the previous albums, before where more thrash and hardcore influenced, what was the decision behind returning to their older style?
As I said, in my opinion the true Holocaust is that of the late eighties with the formation (Rodrigo Fuhrer - vocals, Valério Exterminator - guitars, Anderson Guerrilheiro – bass/vocals and Armando Nuclear Leprous Soldier - drums) and so when we decided to go back the activities again the only concern was to sound exactly brutal like the War Metal of that era. This time we were able to repeat the formation that recorded the compilation Warfare Noise. This was very natural, so in the first test the smell of Napalm spread through the air, that atmosphere returned and the extreme times were back.
6. The band was part of the Brazilian extreme metal scene in the 80's, how would you compare the modern scene in Brazil with the scene 30 years ago?
30 years ago we were still living in a post dictatorship period in Brazil. There was a kind of curfew, and there were no people on the streets at night. We were crazy young men and we began to occupy our places in our city. We were carrying a lot of police. We were revolted against the system and we were squeezing brutally through our songs. Several people came together and formed a difficult link to be broken. Hard times, brutal times.
I'm not interested in the modern Brazilian metal scene.
7. His lyrics have always covered many war themes, which wars have most influenced his compositions?
Yes true! Almost all wars are themes of our songs but especially the second great world war influences us quite a lot because it involved almost all the pallets, guns, tanks, aircraft are stupendous war machines and the atomic era was also started when they were launched the nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagazaki in Japan. Definitely World War II is my favorite subject.
8. What is the meaning and inspiration of the name 'Holocaust'?
Before we were nominated as a Holocaust, we adopted the name of Asmodeus, which is the name of a demon. Our first songs were about this song, for example the song Massacre of our first demo tape of 1985, re-recorded in the NWN War Metal Massacre EP in 2016. It says: Torn Bibles, Broken Crosses, Burned Churches, Massacre!
But of course I started composing war themes and everyone liked the idea. We still did not have a name and then Sepultura drummer Igor Skullcrusher gave the idea of the name Holocaust. From then on we became the most damn band in South America, always went and we will always be cursed. I like what it means: sacrifice and atonement. We will always be the outcasts.
9. What are some of the best shows the band has played over the years and also how would you describe their performance on stage?
I do not forget the first shows, they were brutal and the violence was taken to the extreme. The first show ended on the second song. There has been widespread pounding in others. I remember a concert in Belo Horizonte in 1987 with the formation (Rodrigo Fuhrer - vocals, Valério Exterminator - guitars, Anderson Guerrilheiro – bass/vocals and Armando Nuclear Leprous Soldier -drums) along with Sarcófago. It was fucked! Of this new phase this show with Blasphemy and Goatpenis also was brutal. The Holocaust is an overwhelming live band and I basically feel like a soldier in a trench in a war.
10. Do you have any tours or plans for the future?
Yes, in a near moment we are planning more shows, more discs such as the next being released in 2019 called Diário de Guerra (War Diary), possible tour in the United States in 2019 and Europe without an adjusted date.
11. On a worldwide level, how has been the reaction to your return by extreme metal fans?
The best possible! After our performance at the NWN Fest V in Berlin and the release of the EP War Metal Massacre the audience can be sure that the old Holocaust War Metal was back. We are sure for the public's comments about the last demo of 2018, that the release of the album Diário de Guerra with 9 unreleased songs in the war metal style of the 80's will be surprising to our audience.
12. What are some of the bands or musical styles that influenced your new song and also what are you listening to these days?
We always listen to the classics, but various styles also like rock, heavy, jazz, blues, etc. Today I hear Death Worship, Ildjarn, Bode Preto, Satanicristo and GGUW, we continue to listen to traditional Celtic Frost, Sodom, Venom, Slaughter, Voivod, SOD, Motorhead, Bathory, Ratos de Porão and Hardcore, among others.
13. Before we close this interview, do you have any words or final thoughts?
We are in war! The victory will be ours!
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