Interview: Grand Cadaver
We discuss a lot of politics, and it’s not frowned upon in death metal, but it's not that common that you go into social commentary.
Grand Cadaver have just brought out their new EP The Rot Beneath and it’s four tracks of straight to the point and no messing about classic Swedish death metal. The band who consist of a whole host of Swedish metal musicians in guitarist Stefan Lagergren (Grifted/ex. Treblinka/Expulsion), guitarist Alex Stjernfeldt (Novarupta/Let Them Hang/CHILD), drummer Daniel Liljekvist (Disrupted/Vorder/ex. Katatonia), vocalist Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquillity, The Halo Effect) and bassist Christian Jansson (Pagandom, Dark Tranquillity) have all come together to demonstrate their love for death metal and The Rot Beneath is testament to that. Gavin Brown caught up with Alex Stjernfeldt to hear all about the EP, live shows, Swedish death metal and the political aspects.
E&D: Your new EP, The Rot Beneath, has just come out. How did the creation of the EP go?
Alex: We started writing songs after we had finished Deities Of Deathlike Sleep and we didn’t have a plan. We just wrote songs, and then we got, we started talking about what our next step should be. Our vocalist is a man with many bands and hectic schedule, so we had to adapt to that. I think that we said, let’s make 2025 a slow year with nothing planned due to intense scheduling, but we managed that for three months and said, well, let’s do something! We have a couple of songs, and maybe an EP would be nice, because we can then record it in one week and just have a good time. I think it was Christian, our bass player, said these four songs, of the ones we have are the best ones, so let’s do it like that. We recorded everything one weekend. Just keep it intense and spontaneous.
E&D: Can you tell us about the themes you explore on the EP, and does its title relate to the state of the world today?
Alex: It’s very much related to the world today. I think it was Stefan who came up with the title, The Rot Beneath, and everyone just really resonated with that title. I think Mikael got really inspired by that title. So when we met with Illusive Illustration, who created the artwork, me and Mikael talked with them about that title, and what can we do and what themes can it represent? We felt like, what are we, if not the rot beneath. Maybe the undead aren’t the bad ones. Maybe we are the bad ones, especially corrupt leaders around the world, they only do everything for their own gain and they’re fucking up the world.
E&D: Is it cool to get to get explore social commentary with the music of Grand Cadaver?
Alex: Yeah, I think all of us are into politics. We discuss a lot of politics, and it’s not frowned upon in death metal, but it’s not that common that you go into social commentary, and we felt like we had to, due to the state of the world, we have to raise our voices and try to make a change. It might be optimistic, but we’ve got to get people to talk about it and not not fear being political.
E&D: Have you had good feedback about that?
Alex: It seems like it. Some magazine mentioned that it was like protest death metal. I can live with that.
E&D: In terms of the sound of the EP and of Grand Cadaver, what are your biggest influences?
Alex: I would probably say the classic Sunlight sound. So early, Entombed, Dismember, the Stockholm death metal bands sound wise. Half of the band is from Gothenburg. Half the band is from Stockholm, so we have meshed those two coasts of Swedish death metal together. It is Sunlight sounding but with the apocalyptic melodies
E&D: Have you got plans for a full length follow up to Deities Of Deathlike Sleep?
Alex: Further in the future, we work best when we just keep it spontaneous. I think that all of us, we’re thinking of what the next step should be. Should we do another EP, or should we do another full length album? In a way, an EP is the better format for us at the moment, because we can do it all in one weekend and keep it in the moment. When go in to make a full length album, you have to get into it more. It’s more time consuming, I want to do a third album, but I also want to do a third EP. So whatever comes, I’m happy as long as I get to keep playing with those guys.
E&D: How did Grand Cadaver start as a band in the first place?
Alex: Back in 2018, I got a text message from Daniel, our drummer. I had never met him, but I knew of him thanks to Katatonia, and he said, I want to start a death metal band with you. Okay, that’s weird, but of course, I’m in and he said, I’m coming to live with you in two weekends! Never met him, but we had a great weekend. We wrote a couple of songs that we still play together now. Time happened and we had those demos, but we didn’t do anything with them, then the epidemic came down upon the world, and suddenly everyone’s lives changed. Daniel said, Come on, we got to do this, because it would be fun. I was out having a beer with Mikael, and he wanted to do something, and he liked the idea of playing old school death metal, and he was game.Stefan had been around since the demo stages, and then we called Christian, and he was game. It was Daniel’s idea, but it came into fruition in the beginning of the pandemic, that made it happen.
E&D: With the musical background of all the members, was it a no brainer for Grand Cadaver to play death metal?
Alex: Yeah, everyone in the band except Christian had played death metal before, but he came from early thrash metal from Sweden, and so was a part of the Gothenburg scene. Whatever music genres and bands we create or play with, we always somehow end up back in death metal. It’s so much part of who we are, so it was what we needed to do.
E&D: How did you your recent show with, with LIK and Baest go?
Alex: It was a really good gig. The audience came through. It was packed for all the bands. LIK and Baest were amazing live, amazing people to hang out with. It was a great show and a celebration of Nordic metal.
E&D: Have you got plans for more live shows once the EP comes out?
Alex: We’re only doing one more show this year, in October here in Gothenburg. We’ll headline a one day festival. That’s what’s planned at the moment, so hopefully there will be more next year.
E&D: Is it difficult to schedule live shows with everyone else being in different bands?
Alex: Yeah, it is. It’s really difficult. We live in different parts of Sweden. We all play in different bands, and as I mentioned, Mikael Stanne is one of the best vocalists in the world, so it’s understandable they’re touring the new Dark Tranquility album, and then they’re touring the new Halo Effect album. They are in an intense tour cycle at the moment, but we knew this from the start. When an opportunity presents itself, and we can do it, that’s awesome, and then we just bide our time.
E&D: The members all have a long history in the Swedish metal scene. Did you want that to carry on that legacy with Grand Cadaver?
Alex: Yeah, I think we want to pay homage to the old gods of death metal, and, in a way, want to make our own mark on the genre. I think that we have so much fun together, and in my ears, of course, we sound like classic death metal. We don’t reinvent the wheel, but I feel like we have managed to get our own sound at least. I’m just proud of to be a part of the scene.
E&D: With the lyrics and the songs having that political aspect, are Swedish punk and hardcore bands an influence on you as well?
Alex: Yeah, very much. Some members more than others. I have a background playing hardcore too, same with Daniel, our drummer. I think Christian also has dabbled in it, and I know that a lot of us listen to the classic D-beat Swedish bands, so that’s a big influence too.
E&D: Do you think that Grand Cadaver could easily play with hardcore bands as well?
Alex: I think so. Last December, we did a show with Skitsystem. That was a great crossover, because the audience seemed to like it, and I liked it too.
E&D: What albums define Swedish metal and Swedish death metal for you?
Alex: For me, of course, I have to mention Left Hand Path. Apparently, people seem to think that that is the Swedish death metal album, together with Slaughter Of The Soul. I love both of those albums, but for me personally, I prefer Wolverine Blues, and actually my favourite death metal album of all time is Tiamat’s Sumerian Cry, their first album, so weird and dark and just amazing, a forgotten gem.
E&D: How is the death metal scene in Sweden at the moment and what new bands would you recommend to check out?
Alex: I think it’s kind of good, the extreme scene of the new bands. There’s a lot of kids that are showing us old farts, that we are old farts, and they kick our ass, which is amazing and as it should be. Retribution is more like black, Dissection type metal. They’re amazing. Hostilia are thrash and they’re great. Sarcator are great. Xorcist. They are some of the bands that are really, really good,
E&D: Can you tell us about what your other bands Novarupta, Let Them Hang and CHILD have got planned for the future?
Alex: Let Them Hang has nothing planned. We’re been on on hiatus for a couple of years. So nothing happens there, but me and the bass player from Let Them Hang play in CHILD and we have started gearing up towards writing a new album. So hopefully we’ll do that, and Novarupta is making their final show forever in November, so I’m getting super stressed out about that!
E&D: Is that going to be a big event for you with it being the band’s band last show?
Alex: We’re gonna make it like a funeral. A celebration of the years with Novarupta, but giving it a proper send off. There will be songs from all four albums. I think we’re gonna do like twenty five or something like that. So I’m getting stressed out. Plus I need to learn the songs!
E&D: What have been some of the highlights of your musical career so far?
Alex: I think the biggest highlight has been all the people I have gotten the privilege to play with, the different music in the different bands, they’re brilliant musicians, but even better friends and just amazing people. That’s something I’m really thankful for. I mentioned that my favourite death metal album is Tiamat’s Sumerian Cry, it was really huge for me to be billed with Grand Cadaver with Tiamat at a festival down in Munich last year and get to share the stage with them. That was really, really huge for me. That people seem to appreciate the music we create and keep supporting it, it’s something I’m really thankful for, and I don’t take it for granted. So each day, I’m happy that I get to do what I do.
E&D: Thank you so much for talking to me Alex and I hope Grand Cadaver can make it over to the UK, it’d be great to see you live.
Alex: Yeah, it would be amazing to play in the UK. I have never played in the UK, so it would be a dream come true.
