To anyone into doom, death, or even underground music in the early 90s, the name Disembowelment should be more than familiar. To those into doom, death, or underground music today, the band Disembowelment should be worshipped. Disembowelment created a sound that resonates among today's bands, and is still played by legions of fans worldwide. Listening to one of Disembowelment's unfortunately few recordings is a humbling experience: anything you can do, they can do better... and for longer. This year marks the 13 years since their phenomenal "Transcendence into the Peripheral", and the recent Relapse re-release of this plus other rare and unreleased recordings is something many fans only dreamed of for years. Disembowelment were one of the first truly underground bands that I got into in the mid-90s (I missed out on them in the early 90s because I was about 10 years old), and it is with enormous pleasure that I interview Paul Mazziotta, drummer of the mighty doom juggernaut Disembowlment.

1 - G'day Paul, I can't thank you enough for this opportunity! Does it surprise you that Disembowelment still has a strong following this long after the release of "Transcendence..."?

It mostly does surprise me that there is still a strong following. I thought there might some sort of following as the vibes were good back when it all started. But 13 years on, gee I thought people would just say, "yeah it was good at the time" and that's it. Move on. We were a little sceptical when Relapse wanted to re-issue our material as we felt it might be a waste of time. But as time went on and people were hearing about a re-issue coming out, some unexpected interest rocked up to our doorstep. People also started rumours about reforming and playing live which was quite humorous. What was even more surprising was the younger generation getting into the music.

2 - The first Disembowelment demo that I'm familiar with is Mourning September, and in my opinion it's very different from any underground music that I know of that came from this era. Was it your intention as a band to transcend what has happening in underground music at the time?

The 1st demo 'Mourning September' was when the band changed their direction from (previous band name 'Bacteria') playing straight noisy grindcore to death/doom style metal. We basically started the foundations of playing the styles we were into back then. Combining death metal & doom as best possible. Of course we tried to keep it as heavy & brutal as possible.

3 - As Disembowelment progressed to the "Deep Sensory Procession into Aural Date" demo, and finally onto "Transcendence...", the songs were clearly getting longer and, as far as I can tell, the instruments were being tuned lower. Was is a conscious decision of the band's to get slower and heaver on each consecutive release?

Absolutely! We were in that frame of mind to playing/creating the darkest heaviest drowning form of music possible. Tuning down low was a key to keeping things heavy & driving it down really slow. Because of the speed of songs, this usually forces the songs to blow out to the 8-18 minute mark. I believe the songs not only got slower & heavier, but had more ambiance/atmosphere with each release.

 4 - How was the underground music scene in Australia at the time? Are you in touch with the current scene, and if so how does it differ if at all?

The underground scene at the time in Australia was generally good. There were some solid bands who a lot of people looked up to back then like Necrotomy, Corpse molestation & Persecution. They were part of the transition or formation of the whole death metal / grindcore scene erupting for the first time. So it was an exciting place to be. The hype was really good but I found that as time went on, bands found it hard to go on as the demand for the music was fizzling a little. Plus bands needed to travel overseas to enhance their profile if they wanted to successfully continue with their music. I am a little in touch with the local scene these days and I think it is stronger than ever. The bands are faster, tighter & they really know how to play their instruments without sounding to machine-like and still having that edge of heaviness/brutality about them. Some of the bands which I'm enjoying these days are Roskopp, Captain Cleanoff, Intense Hammer Rage.etc.

5 - Disembowelment is a band like no other, but which bands did you guys draw inspiration from when starting out? What are some current bands that you listen to and enjoy?

Bands that diSEMBOWELMENT drew inspiration from were (to name a few): Therion (early), Autopsy, Asphyx, Derketa, Nihilist, Crematory(Swe), Carbonized, Sarcofargo, Immolation, Autopsy, Paradise Lost (early) & Cathedral (early) and other non-metal bands like: David Hykes and Harmonic Choir, Harold Budd, Dead can Dance, Boyd Rice, Brian Eno, The Mission, Ravi Shankar & Tibetan Bells.

6 - Was the fusion of death and doom achieved by Disembowelment intentional, or was it an artifact of the pre-Disembowelment bands you mention in the liner notes of the new compilation CD? Were any bands doing this prior to you guys?

It was intentionally as we wanted to create brutal death metal, but be equally heavy with doom components. At the same time we drew a lot of inspiration from bands mentioned above. I would say bands like (early) Paradise Lost and (early) My Dying Bride were doing this - combining death/doom metal together.

 7 - The other band to combine doom and death effectively in the early 90s was Autopsy, though while you guys were more doom than death, Autopsy were more death than doom. Were you ever in touch with these guys, and if so why didn't you get together and create the ultimate split!?

Autopsy are one of my all time favourites. For me their material will always have that heavy, dirty, brutal edge about them. Believe it or not, we used to play an Autopsy cover - 'Retribution for the dead' in rehearsal time. At one time, we were thinking of doing a covers EP and that song would've been on it. Doing a split with Autopsy would've been Amazing! Didn't really think of it at the time.

 8 - The drumming on the Disembowelment releases made it such an exciting and different album, seeing that you often used fast, grinding drums over totally slow riffs (like the end of the outstanding "Burial at Ornans" for example). Does it surprise you that this sound has influenced countless doom and even non-doom bands since?

I must say, it does TOTALLY surprise me that the sound/drumming on diSEMBOWELMENT would influence that many doom or non doomy bands. Carbonized were a Hugh influence of the bands with the way they would play either slow or drowning riffs and the blast beat in the background. We thought we do the same, but use a heavier and slower riff. It worked nicely.

9 - Was there ever any intention to do more with Disembowelment than the four releases that currently exist? Will there ever be any more!?


After demo 1 (Mourning September), we were happy to cruise along and we're too fussed about recorded further releases. But we seemed to enjoy it and the interest was good overseas. So good that we were approached by MBR records to be part of an international death metal compilation. This gave us real enthusiasm to finally go to a more professional studio and record the track (Extracted Nails). Eventually we did go on and record another demo (Deep Sensory procession into aural fate), then Dusk EP (with Relapse) and finally the album (Transcendence into the Peripheral). Considering we were just a garage band and happy to jam and have fun, I believe we achieved more than we imagined. To finally answer your question here, we have NO intention to record with diSEMBOWELMENT again. So there will no future releases for diSEMBOWELMENT. If any of the members did record similar styles, it would be another band.

10 - I understand that you and Matt Skarajew (ex-Disembowelment and Trial of the Bow) are currently doing a band called Pulgar! Could you please tell me a bit about this band? What influence does Pulgar draw on if any? Are there any releases planned in the near future?

Pulgar is Matt's little baby. It started of as a one band where he was playing around with his first 4 track machine back in 1992. He drew inspiration from comic & comedy and influences from funcore bands like Lawnmower Deth, Extra Hot Sauce & Mass Confusion. I joined up years later and we decided to play some old school death metal grindcore (with hints of thrash). The music is fairly short & straight to the point. A demo is coming soon. Check out this site for updates --> http://www.myspace.com/pulgargrind

11 - I understand that Disembowelment never played live, though flirted with it at some point. Why was there never a Disembowelment gig?

You're right diSEMBOWELMENT never played live. We did flirt with the idea. Renato wasn't really keen to do vocals and play guitar (at the same time), so we were looking at having Renato's brother Fab fill his shoes on guitar (Fab recorded the Mourning September demo). We practised a few times, but in the end we set the bar a little too high and expectations were way beyond what we were hoping for or capable of. We felt that we needed to make it an experience rather than just a standard live death/doom gig. With most of us having full-time school or careers to worry about, it wasn't fee-sable to spend that much time preparing for a live set with that much preparation. Maybe we would've concentrated on looking for a sound similar to the 2nd demo for a live set? I guess we'll never know what diSEMBOWELMENT will ever sound like live!?!

12 - Were you satisfied with the Relapse re-issue of "Transcendence..." and all the extra stuff that came with it? Why was the 3xCD version limited to a very cult 1000 copies? Do you think this release will expose Disembowelment to a new generation of fans that missed out on a copy of the once-hard-to-find "Transcendence..."?

I am personally very satisfied with the re-issue. Relapse (in particular Jon Canady) did a fantastic job. I would've appreciated another person writing some liner notes from the days our releases came out to have another spin on how diSEMBOWELMENT came on the scene. There were some interesting reviews from people who were hard to contact at the time. Relapse came up with the idea to have the limited 3CD version (to 1000 copies). I was happy to go with it. If people cannot get the 3CD version and would like to hear the tracks on disc 3, they could go to www.myspace.com/disembowelment and contact me for access to these tunes. I think this re-issue has definitely unleashed some new fans (especially younger generation) and Yes, people are happy access the hard to find 'Transcendence...' album again through the re-issue.

13 - Well Paul, I'm afraid this interview should come to an end. This has been an enormous pleasure and privellege for me, so thanks so much for your time! Do you have any last words for the readers of Septi-Gore, fans of Disembowelment, or those interested in Pulgar!?

Thank-you for the interview Glen, much appreciated. Checkout http://www.myspace.com/disembowelment for photo's, music samples and other bits of info. Also check-out http://www.myspace.com/pulgargrind as there will be some music we will unleash to the grind mongers out there. And thank-you to anyone who has made the effort to experience diSEMBOWELMENT. Really Appreciate everyone's support here. We've really enjoyed creating the ambiance & atmosphere.