Interview mit Andreas Bjulver Paarup von Cabal

Hey! Thanks for your time. How is it going so far?
All things considered, it’s going pretty good.

Many of our readers might not be familiar with CABAL. Would you like to introduce the band?
CABAL is a Danish metal band that plays very heavy and dark music. We released our first song in late 2015 and have been doing our thing ever since.

You recently released your second album „Drag Me Down“. How has the response been  so far? Are you satisfied with how it turned out?

The responses have been pretty damn good, overall it seems that all the critics and our peers dig it, but most importantly our fans seem to really like it. We are very proud of the product we put out and very satisfied with the whole thing.

In your music you combine influences from different genres such as Death Metal, Hardcore, Doom and Djent. Which bands are your biggest influence and where do you get your inspiration from?
One of the biggest inspirations for our music has to be Meshuggah, but we are very inspired by everything from Scandinavian Black Metal to the new wave of Beatdown / Hardcore / Metalcore.

Your debut “Mark Of Rot” has been released two years ago and received good critics from all over the world. Is there something you wanted to do different on “Drag Me Down”? Why is it better than your first album in your opinion?
We wanted to make each song on “Drag Me Down” sound unique, which makes for a more exicting and dynamic listening experience, which is also why it in our opinion is a better record than “Mark of Rot”.

Could you please tell us something about the songwriting? Was everybody involved or is one person writing the tracks for CABAL?
Chris who happens to work as a full time metal producer is our main songwriter, he’ll write and record demos for all the instrumentals, send them to us and we’ll all pitch in with “corrections” and ideas. Then I’ll write some lyrics and record the vocals in the way I think they should be done and the others will comment and “correct” on that. That’s pretty much our songwriting process.

“Drag Me Down” is surrounded by a dark and ominous atmosphere. How does the instrumental approach connect to the lyrics? What are the songs about?
They connect very strongly to the lyrical content, they are both dark and aggressive. The songs on this record are mainly an outlet for very dark personal stuff, depression, accepting sacrifice and suffering as a part of life and other not very cheerful subjects.

While there are many aggressive and fast forward songs on the recent output, there are some tracks that show another side of CABAL. I would like to talk with you about those songs: “Sjælebrand” stands out with its very slow, doom-inspired riffs. How was this track developed and how does it connect to the other songs on “Drag Me Down”?
As I said earlier we wanted to make each song unique and we thought it would be cool to have a song that was a bit more sludgy than most of the stuff we’d ever done. It connects in the same way that every song connects to the others, by the subject matter of the lyrics and being very CABAL at it’s core despite the different take on writing.

Another stand-out-track is “The Hangman’s Song” with its merciless intro-riff and the speed-changes. What is its meaning?
That song is about accepting that in order to try and focus on doing this whole musician life, sacrifices will have to be made and there will be pressure from society that you will have to deal with and accept.

The features are also very interesting. With Jamie Hails (Polaris) and Kim Song Sternkopf (Møl) you were able to win the singers of two of the most promising newcomers in the metal-scene for “Drag Me Down”. The third man on this list is no one less than Matt Heafy of Trivium. Why did you choose them to be on the record and how did you convince them to do the features?
We chose everyone because we first of all think they are very talented at what they are doing and also because they all do metal but in a very different way than we do. Because of this we though it would be exciting to include them to see what that would add to the tracks.

Why did you choose “Tongues” and “Bitter Friend” as the lead singles?
Because these two songs very nicely showcased the variation to be found on “Drag Me Down”

If you had to describe the album in one sentence – what would it be?
Dark, haha.

With Covid-19 spreading all over the globe, which impact does it have on CABAL and your plans as a band?
Well all of our shows we have planned this spring including our release party got either cancelled or postponed, same goes for all of our summer shows, so it basically meant that all our plans weren’t going to happen.

What are your plans for the time after the disease?
Hopefully we’ll do the tour with Humanity’s Last Breath and Black Tongue and a bunch of others and then we’ll just start working on the next record.

While Denmark produced some famous bands over the years – for example King Diamond, Volbeat or Heilung – there has never been a Core-band that was able to claim international success. Now during the last few years bands like you, Aphyxion or Ghost Iris were able make themselves a name. Why is it, that the Danish scene seems to develop about 15 years after Metal- and Deathcore became a thing?
Don’t forget Siamese, Vola and Møl, haha. Well there were bands in Denmark doing all of those genres while they were hot and new, but most of them weren’t that great musically and the ones who were, weren’t great at getting their music out across the national borders. A big part of Denmark being put on the map in the modern metalscene besides the bands delivering great products has to be attributed to Mirza from Prime Collective. He’s been one of the few people willing to work with and invest in the kind of bands that historically haven’t done well on the Danish scene.

Where do you see CABAL in ten years?
Hopefully a lot close to resembling a sustainable business.

Which band would you love to go on tour with?
Meshuggah obviously, Knocked Loose, Thy Art Is Murder, Fit For An Autopsy, the list is almost endless, haha.

Could you recommend a local band we should definitely check out?
I’ll give you a few that you need to keep an eye out for; Lifesick, Rot Away and DTHRNR.

In the end of every interview we do the traditional Metal1.info-brainstorming. I give you a few words or phrases and you answer with the first that comes to your mind.

Your favorite album at the moment: Bobby Raps – Believe The Lie
Christian Eriksen: don’t know who that is.
Your idol: As a vocalist it has to be Travis Ryan.
The Lord Of The Rings: Amazing!
Festivals: Awesome!
Veganism: A very good an conscious choice.

Once again thanks for your time. The last words are yours – is there anything left you want to tell our readers?
Spin our new record and if you like it buy it!

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