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1)Try to introduce your band...

The band was founded in early 1998, by Bernardo García and Juan Carlos Arévalo (lead guitars and rhythm guitars/vocals, respectively), under the name RITUAL. Later that year, Ricardo González (bass) joined and the basic line-up was complete (the problem are the drummers, they come and go...). Our first influences were bands like Deicide, Morbid Angel, Slayer, Sepultura and Unleashed, among many others. Each one of us had experience in other bands in one way or another, but no big bands at the time, really.

Our style wasn't very well defined in the beginning, and our first songs lacked identity; some songs sounded Thrash Metal, some Death Metal, and the drumming sounded like hardcore-punk or something like that.

The inclusion of Under Threat's drummer, Alejandro Rojas was the best move SOULBURNER ever did, musically. The music became faster, more aggressive and more focused, 100% Death Fucking Metal.

In 2001, we changed our name to SOULBURNER, as we found RITUAL to be a very generic and unoriginal name. That being done, we entered the studio to record our debut album; the line-up on "HELLFIRE" was: Bernardo García (lead and rhythm guitars), Juan Carlos Arévalo (vocals and rhythm guitars), Ricardo González (bass and backing vocals) and Alejandro Rojas (drums).
Later in July 2001, Alejandro left the band, as UNDER THREAT made their way to the U.S.

Nowadays we still have trouble finding really good drummers, as Alejandro raised the stakes very high with his work on the album. However, the core of the band is still and will always be the same guys; that's what really matters.

2)What's happening in the band at moment?

We're currently working on our follow-up album. We expect to have it finished by half-year, and it's gonna be a brutal one, a lot more than
HELLFIRE, more extreme in sound and bolder in arrangements and song-writing. Production-wise it will be a major step from our last one (HELLFIRE), more crunching guitars this time around; the artwork will be killer too. As soon as we have it finished, we'll let you know!!

Our most immediate plans are to release our second album, and of course, to grow as musicians and collectively as a band. It would kick ass to gig USA and Europe, to play festivals like the MetalFest and Wacken.

3)Tell me about the colombian extreme scene.

The Colombia scene is fragmented. You can find cities that are more adept to Black Metal (Cali, for example); others prefer Death - Grind almost exclusively (Pereira, Armenia), and here in Bogotá you can find a good variety of styles, from pussy-gay Power Metal to Gothic to Death Metal and everything in-between.

The nice thing is that the quality of the bands and their music is rapidly improving, due to the good amount of international top-level bands that have come in recent years (CANNIBAL CORPSE, VADER, HELLOWEEN, MAYHEM, SINISTER, DIMMU BORGIR, to name some). That makes you wanna improve or otherwise you'll not succeed.

4)How would describe your music?

Our style is pure & unadulterated Death Metal, but with a twist of break-neck speed combined with groove and mosh-pit riot-inducing segments.
We like catchy riffs that stick in your mind, no matter how fast we can play, there must be a different feeling for each song; the songs have to have an identity.

5)What's band are big influences for SOULBURNER?

Influences, we have a lot. Classic bands like MORBID ANGEL, DEICIDE, NAPALM DEATH, UNLEASHED, early DEATH, and also newer bands like KRISIUN and LOCK UP. A little SLAYER and early SEPULTURA goes along the way too.

The bands that really make you bang your head, no matter if they're old (CELTIC, DESTRUCTION) or new (NILE, DYING FETUS), are the ones that we
follow. In the beginning, those influences were more recognizable in our songs, but we've reached to a point where we write in our own style.

6)What does inspire your music?(satan,horror/porno-movie...)

The dark side of life is always inspiring as lyrics go. The Satan/Darkness issue is something we do but not very often, because it's something that is way too abused (just ask DEICIDE ha ha ha). Dark horror tales, serial killers, mass holocausts, sickos, war mogers, paranormal phenomena and ocultism are far better choices for us to write a good lyric. Musically, anything dark and groovy, early Death Metal, iconoclastic composers such as Stravinsky, Bartok, Holst, etc. Nothing very pretty really.

7)Are you in live acting?

Of course, that's what really counts!!! Most of the time your reputation doesn't come from the album but from full-blown, energy-packed shows.
SOULBURNER shows are very cool, if you are in the mosh pit, expect a punched rib or a cracked nose, but that's life, man! We crush with music and hate.

The bands that don't play live are sissies!! Do or die, we don't give a fuck if you have a nice album if you don't play it live. To make a great album you can have a whole life, but to make a great show, you either do it or fail. Maybe those bands are afraid of being crushed onstage by some brutal live band.

8)What do you mean "be extreme"?

To us this means something like unconditional loyalty to your beliefs and love for Metal. Don't trust anyone who says that he/she was once a
metalhead, but now he/she is not anymore; you're or you're not, all your life. This is as if your best friend told you that he's gay, that he doesn't like women anymore. You're into Metal or not, as simple as that. This is why I don't understand bands like AMORPHIS or THERION; is ok to think to grow musically, but to deviate from your origins is disgusting and confusing, at best. CANNIBAL CORPSE and NILE have grown as musicians, but have never sold out.

9)What are for you the best U.S. bands at the moment?

There are some bands that are legendary roght now, that are beyond good and evil, like MORBID ANGEL, SUFFOCATION and CANNIBAL CORPSE, as long as Death Metal goes. At the moment I'd say that NILE, CEPHALIC CARNAGE, PESSIMIST, HATE ETERNAL, DYING FETUS, and ORIGIN are among the finest contenders for the Metal Throne in the U.S.

10)Do you know some italian bands?

Extreme bands not much really. The most common bands, RHAPSODY and LACUNA COIL, but I don't know if they stnad the Metal tag.

11)Ok Bernardo, any final comments...

We want to salute all TRUE Metalheads in all Europe, all the people that follow the underground scene, the bands and the ones that support extreme music; keep supporting REAL Metal, greeting to all of you maniacs and stay in touch for more SOULBURNER, 'cause as soon as our second album is out, you'll feel the true power of head-crushing, bowel-churning Colombian Death Fuckin' Metal. Well, thanks for the interview, thanks for your time and concern.

We hope to be there soon, just watch out, we're coming for your souls. Stay true, and remember... PLAY FAST OR DIE!!!

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