REVEREND BIZARRE Reverend bizarre came into unholy being back in 1994. The original incarnation of these protean harbingers of doom was originated in Lohja, a small town in southern Finland, now there clearly must be something either in the water or these raven-hearted riff warlocks are spiking their drinks with something considerably more potent than crème de menthe! Now when I think of Finland [which isn't that often I have to admit, what springs to mind tends to be a trifle bleak, the films of Aki Kaurismaka, endless night and icy cold winds and esoteric fairy tales] so come to think of it I should really have been prepared for the demonic, glacial intensity of their first album, "In The Rectory of The Bizarre Reverend." 
Reverend Bizarre -In The Rectory of The Bizarre Reverend:>From the opening sludgeoid symphony of "Burn in Hell", the album in unrelenting in it's doom extremity, not in the gratuitous sense of an over produced death metal album, but by the albums utter solemnity. There is no respite from the devastating dirges Peter Vicar churns out of his guitar, low, low, low frequency riffage that churns, lurches and slithers like some terminally wounded behemoth. The only real counterpoint to Reverend Bizarre's burial ground dynamics is St. Vitus, as Sabbath never EVER, laid on the morbidity quite as cloyingly as Reverend Bizarre. Their music doesn't disperse into the atmosphere with any great ease, it leaks out of your stereo with the alacrity of primordial sap from a long atrophied oak tree. As the album's oleaginous sounds ooze over you, it awakens some deeply primal sense of unease and I found myself repeatedly looking over my shoulder as if some lumbering Lovecraftian sea god was covetously observing me, moments away from gleefully tearing open my breastplate and harvesting my moist organs. "In The Rectory of The Bizarre Reverend" is truly 'uneasy listening' and in many ways it could well be the purest doom CD ever recorded. It is heavy in the sense that having a terminal disease is heavy, it is not by any means 'gimmick heavy' it simply IS HEAVY. After the release of this devastating debut the metal cognoscenti quite rightly took notice and the praise that was heaped upon this Doom epic is justly deserved. The following year proved to be very fruitful for the band as they clearly were no longer just a minor musical footnote, as even the cloistered mainstream rock media was taking note of these crusading doomsters. 
Reverend Bizarre - Harbringer of Metal:In 2003 Reverend Bizarre released "Harbinger of Metal", and while expectations were high for the follow up to their lumbering masterpiece "In The Rectory of The Bizarre Reverend" [I include myself in this] but the Finnish warlock's second cauldron of unctuous, poisonous doom proved to exceed my expectations. The first thing that you notice is that the guitars are recorded and mixed far louder than before, and overall the mix is much more spacious giving this malevolent trio room to breathe and flex their musical chops. It is a much more diverse and imaginative album, one not quite so simply pigeon-holed as a Doom album. Clearly this is DOOM, and doom powered by muscular, savage musicianship but the deadly vistas created this time are far less cloying and claustrophobic than before, this album rocks mate, and to me it is a natural progression from the first album. All the arcane elements that made 'Into The Rectory...' so special are still on display but they have been honed, the riffs are leaner, heavier as they are given more of an arena to stretch out, and this new freedom has given Peter Vicars axe a far more impressive attack. < The lyrical content still retains a healthy slew of misery and maudlin introspection but the music is cleaner and really shows what an impressive and well-rehearsed trio Reverend Bizarre have become. Another bonus with the sound mix is that where Albert's bass was sometimes too subdued on their debut, it is far more prominent here and provides a wicked, low-end groove, which enhances the whole listening experience no end. In fact this pushing of the bass up in the mix, paradoxically gives the whole album even more of a progressive, 1970's atmosphere. Like many intelligent metal albums it requires quite a few spins to reveal all it's pleasures, and boy there are many to be found on "Harbinger of Metal" without belabouring the point it Alfred's souring vocals and swinging bass, which really telegraphs the albums real triumph. Honourable mention must also be given to Earl of Voids drumming, this rather gaunt, vampiric looking fellow plays iron hard drums, with the power and precision of a man thrice his size, but I do think his drum solo is an unnecessary indulgence and should be taken with a pinch of salt. While it would be frivolous to recommend an album's merit solely on one track, but when said track has the jaw dropping scale and ample rifferama of 'The wondering Jew', a doom epic of actual biblical proportions, and it's scope is truly cinematic, evoking the monstrously lurid excesses of Ken Russell's, 'The Devils' big, brash, vivid and unashamedly perverse. 'The wondering Jew' quite literally envelops you in its sheer girth and is the perfect soundtrack to an evenings alcoholic introspection, truly awe-inspiring. The three tracks that really stand out for me are: "Harbinger", "The Wandering Jew" and closing Burzum cover, "Dunkelheit." A stunning doom album from one of the brightest hopes of the genre. 'Doom what thy wilt' -just make sure that includes buying this album. Line up:
According to the information on your website Reverend Bizarre came to be in 1994 -prior to this how long had you been considering forming a band, and was your intention always to play doom metal? Albert: "Actually we have bit misinformation on our site considering this case. We officially started in 1995 if I remember it right, but I think I have had a plan of this band already in 1994. I already had a band with Void called KLV. Void of course later became RB's drummer. My intention hasn't always been to play Doom Metal, but I have always played pretty dark music. However in 1995 the need to play True Doom became so enormous that I started a band." "Still to this very day I play in other bands too, many kinds of music, but with RB I play only Doom/Heavy Metal." 
As a matter of interest how many of your contemporaries were either playing or listening to
doom back in the early 90's? Is doom less popular in Finland than death metal? And
if so why is this?Albert: "No-one I knew listened to doom metal. I guess I was one of the few in Lohja who in early nineties knew anything about the whole thing. Death Metal is more popular in Finland than doom, and in those early days it was actually a 'big thing.' Bit later black metal of course took over death metal." I was lucky as two of my best friends as a teenager were also well into Sabbath, Trouble, Candlemass etc so I had partners in doom, outside of the band do any friends / family members share your love of doom metal? Albert: "I was lucky to find Witchfinder General and Black Sabbath with my friend in our early childhood/youth back in the mid-eighties, but none of my family listened to this kind of music. Not even metal. I found it myself. Nowadays I have friends who adore doom metal, but it hasn't been like this always." I can imagine one needs to be a really committed musician in order to play doom as there must be many obstacles to overcome in order to succeed, what do you feel are some of the worst problems you encountered in the early days of Reverend Bizarre? And are things that much different now? Albert: "First of all it was hard to find anyone to play with. Then we had hard times with getting a deal and then of course it was bit annoying to play gigs to an audience that really didn't care about us and our music. Now many things have changed. We draw quite some people into our gigs, and people are interested in our records as well. I am glad. I have never played music to become successful or anything like that. It has always been something I HAD TO do. I hear music inside of me and I have to let it out or otherwise I would lose my sanity." Did you find it at all troublesome finding the other band members, and did you ever feel worried that they might not have the right level of enthusiasm required to play quality doom? Albert: "As I said it was hard and in the beginning they didn't have the same enthusiasm, but I kind of taught them about the history of Doom and played them the records. They became familiar with this music and really loved it. It was great to listen to that stuff back then and drink beer. We were so excited about every new record we got. I simply asked few guys in the beginning to play with me. That was all. And they even couldn't play that well but I didn't care. It was so important to get the band together." When you were gigging at the time of your first demo's how rough was it to find suitably willing venues, and what kind of bands did you share the bills with? Albert: "We never really looked for gigs but some friends asked us to play. So it wasn't so hard. But as I already told you the audience couldn't have been more indifferent towards us. We don't play too often even nowadays, but just as much as we wish. I personally don't like playing live so much. We have played with great variety of bands, from noise to stoner rock. We don't care with whom we play. We just do our gig and that is it. Of course it is nice to play with bands who share the same ideas with us." Are there any sectors of the Finnish rock press that have been openly hostile to you, and if so did you find your frustrations only added to your resolve to lay on the doom heavier and thicker than before? Albert: "Not actually. It is more truthful to say that Finnish mainstream press has ignored us totally. And anyway, the opinions of other people don't effect our playing. At least not mine. I want to have my music as heavy and thick as possible -so it has been from the very starting point. We have had hostile audience at our first gigs and that has affected our live playing bit, in a good way. I personally play 'better' when I am bit angry -it gives me strength." Was it a simple case of marvelling at Geezer Butler and going, that's for me, or was there more to your decision to play bass? Albert: "I don't know why I chose bass... It happened already when I was in maybe the third grade at school in eighties. But I didn't practice playing those days. I more like dreamed of it. I have always been into bass. Of course Geezer has had influence for this too as he is the one from whom I have gotten some of my playing style. I love bass, the feel and the sound of it." During 92-94 were there any specific heavy metal bands that you felt merited praise? Albert: "St.Vitus was still around. Cathedral was important of course. Back in those days I also listened to Godflesh, Coroner and some death metal bands. I even listened to My Dying Bride, but they never affected my music. I can't remember all the bands I listened back then. I should go thought my records. I listened to stuff like Alice in Chains too." I was one of the few school weirdo's, what kind of student were you, did you enjoy school, and what did you get out of studying? Albert: "I was a loner type of person. I guess people thought I was weird. I wasn't really a primus student but decent enough. I didn't enjoy school so much. I have got more from my university studies than earlier grades. Now I feel I have learned something." Prior to the release of "In the Rectory of The Bizarre Reverend" did you have a day job? Albert: "I have never had a day job. And I have never had much money." 
How did you find recording "In the Rectory of The Bizarre Reverend", was it a straight forward affair, and if
you wouldn't mind could you tell me a bit about its creation?Albert: "It was hard to record. Some of the songs are heavy to play and they are very long too. It asks much especially from the drummer. We didn't spend so much time for actual recording but because of lots of problems it took a long time before it was finished. The studio moved to a different place and some equipment broke down and everything. Lots of personal problems too. Still it was exciting to record what we knew would be our debut album. We were very sure about those songs. We were just unsure about our own playing. It is such a long time ago that I don't remember any interesting stories now... I should try to memorize more. I guess we were mostly concentrated in working and didn't spend any spare time in the studio. It was just working. Very boring." Did you manage to get that BIG DOOM sound fairly quickly? And does any one-band member have final say on whether the sound is right? Albert: "I don't know how we got it. Our engineer probably knew what to do. We told him what kind of sound we need and he tried to find it. Every time we work together we come closer to the sound I hear in my mind. I think it's me who has the final word, but the others share my opinion anyway." If it's not too much of a secret what equipment did you use on your debut album? Albert: "It is not secret, but I really don't remember anymore. Peter [guitar] used a Laney amp I guess. I used whatever was around." When I first heard "In the Rectory of The Bizarre Reverend", I thought, 'fucking hell' this is the real deal, tombstone heavy, gimmick free doom, and it appears to be entirely free of any contemporary influences, how did you achieve this almost 'organic' sound? and was the album analogue or digitally recorded? Albert: "Thanks! It was analogue... with just digital mastering. We truly wanted to have this organic and bit warmer sound. Old school, you know, but still heavier than most bands have. We also tried to avoid all contemporary influences. It was all very natural for us. It was not a style question, but what we felt was right." Does your music reflect any part of your personality or does it spring from an entirely different well? Albert: "Of course my personality affects the music, but I think with RB it's more about traditions of heavy and doom metal, not so much personal stuff. When it comes to lyrics I have a few very personal and private things to say but mostly it's like fiction and folklore -I think its suits doom metal better. As a person I am much darker and insane than what RB represents. RB is the nicest music I do." I, like many people suffer from bouts of manic depression -is it too obvious to draw a connection between your music and the type of person that will enjoy it -and do you know of any fans that are genuinely happy souls? Albert: "Our fans seem to be happy when we play which is good as gigs should be happy, and powerful events, but of course many people into doom have inner wounds which draw them to this dark side of music. So they probably are not what you could call happy souls. I see no point in that you come to a gig to feel bad. You can feel bad alone at home. It is cheaper. At our gigs people enjoy and have few moments of fun. And that is good. Of course their idea of fun is bit different from what most people think is fun. I am sure you know what I mean." I have read in other interviews that you also suffer from depression, if it's not too personal when did you first start suffering from this ailment and what were your symptoms? Albert: "I have been like this since my early teens when my father at first got seriously ill, suffered for this for five or six years and then died. I have never really dealt with that completely. I had some other bad experiences in my life too. And I was very lonely person which does no good for depression." "I have diagnosis for manic depression and being a suicidal personality now, but I don't deal with it in my songs so often. Maybe it has something to do my fondness for dark and heavy sounds still. I try to cope with my situation. I don't want to die yet, even something inside of me tells me to do so. I have too much to do. Great friends help me to live this life. My symptoms were and still are sadness, feelings of being lost, need to be isolated, wish to die, hate towards own persona, insomnia...usual symptoms I guess." Now I know that I have had this mania too for years, but it took so long to get diagnosis and knowledge about it. It gives me even more trouble than depression. I am used to feeling down and hopeless, but this mania sometimes drives me totally crazy. I can't control myself. I fear it nowadays. Has depression ever affected your ability to play in 'Reverend Bizarre', or have you found that playing music actually helps you through the rough patches? Albert: "Sometimes it has been hard to play gigs as when I am in the lowest depth of my state I wouldn't like to meet anyone nor go anywhere. In this state it is hard to perform for people and try to be strong. But music itself can heal my depression little bit. I very often play alone with my bass and find comfort from that. It feels good to write new things that sound and feel right. This creative work I do [also drawing and writing other texts than lyrics] is quite much everything I have, besides certain human relationships. I hate myself but I don't hate the work I do. I just feel it is incomplete." What feedback have you had from other musicians about your music, and does it differ at all from your fans opinions? Albert: "It is mostly similar... people that come to us seem to like our music. Maybe the ones that hate it don't dare to come and say it to us. Or they don't care at all. Other musicians seem to be polite enough also not to give us any remarks about our playing skills." How pleasantly surprised were you at all the positive press your first album garnered? [I first discovered Reverend Bizarre in Terrorizer]. Albert: "It was a pleasant surprise, but at same time I was sure about our songs even when I wasn't that pleased with the playing and singing. So in the same time I wasn't THAT surprised. I was expecting deep inside of my mind something to happen. I was more surprised about how well 'Harbinger' has been taken in the press." Do you feel that some fans of Doom can be slightly anal and somewhat narrow-minded? Albert: "Yes. But I find it a good thing. I mean if they are into old school side of doom, which is the only real doom I know. And the whole true doom genre is very wide so we can't really speak of narrow-mindness. Think about how long a journey it is from Saint Vitus to let's say While Heaven Wept or Unorthodox. And still all these bands have the same fire inside of them. And I like all things anal anyway...I am quite much what Freud meant with an anal personality...or what Von Hentig means with schnufflers. Slight necrophilia there too. I am off topic now." One positive change for you must be wider availability of your music, as I had a devil of a time getting a copy of "In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend", but fortunately it was much easier locating a copy of "Harbinger of Metal" -can you explain a little about the distribution deals you now have? Albert: "I don't know too much about distribution deals. Its something you should ask from Spikefarm, but I am very happy that our music is now more available for those who are interested. It is very important for us as we are such a small band." Onto "Harbinger of Metal", it's a fucking monster album! and without taking anything away from the first album I really think it is a step forward for the band both in song writing and production, damn those guitars are heavy on this bastard [I will always dig 'Into...' but I think I will listen to "Harbinger of Metal" far more often]. When did you start writing for this album? And what were the main elements to 'Harbinger's differing sound? Albert: "You maybe know that we already have songs written for several albums, so I really didn't start to write material for 'Harbinger' at some particular moment. I just gathered suitable songs together. Some of the songs are very old, some are newer; 'Strange Horizon' is of course the oldest one." "I also think 'Harbinger' is heavier. We had more concentration in the studio this time even when we ran out of time. It was a 'harder than life' session this time. I never want to experience similar sessions anymore, but the result is good. I can honestly say that recording 'Harbinger' has been one of the most stressful and hard things I have ever done. " On the CD liner notes it states that "Harbinger Of Metal" was produced by 'Reverend Bizarre' -is it a case of all three of you manning the controls or is their one of you that has more of an obvious producing talent? Albert: "We all have our word to say about production, but I am the one most in charge as I write most of the songs too. I also have very clear vision how our music should sound. The others seem to be happy with this. But I can be almost like a dictator in the studio when we record -really an asshole to be honest. It's my way to get things done in right way. I am very passionate about my music. But it is all of us who take part in the process." Many people [myself included] praised the track "The Wandering Jew" are you particularly proud of the way this track turned out? Albert: "I actually am. It is a track I first thought it would be too happy sounding for us and I doubted if it ever should have been recorded, but then I thought what the hell, we can do anything we want. It turned out to be killer. It has the best sound we have ever had and I am proud of the lyrics too. I made them in very short time but sometimes it is the best way so it seems." Trouble also made very effective use of religious imagery in their music, could you tell me why you chose to write about Jesus Christ so specifically? And does his role in history mean anything to you? Albert: "That song is quite a mocking one, but I COULD write about Jesus in different light too. I am interested in his personality and life history. Still his role in history doesn't mean so much to me as a person even when he changed lots of things. It is just an interesting story. I got inspiration from this idea that he founded something new. A group of people that followed him. I like this idea." While not completely agnostic I have no real spiritual beliefs -do you follow any spiritual teachings be it pagan or otherwise? Albert: "I don't follow anything but I have this thing with nature and especially soil. To be more precise: Finnish and German soil. I like to walk in the woods and feel the force come into me. I feel it in my mind and in my veins. I can't tell you more about this thing. I have also studied occultism, which here means history and practice of Western ceremonial magick mostly, but I don't follow any particular doctrine except Crowley's idea of the will, which is just natural for me. I'm a spiritual person, but I have no gods. For me gods are symbols that I sometimes use. I talk alot about god or even God, but I don't believe in something that controls my life." What if anything inspires you about living in Finland? [I live in London and I have to do everything imaginable to not think of it in order to get an original though it my head!] Albert: "As I said I am very much into Finnish soil and nature. And also Finnish mentality, even when some scholars say it doesn't exist. This all inspires me. My hometown Lohja inspires me especially. It's a kind of dark and frustrating place, but still I love it. I will move back to there. Maybe I will open some new gates to some dark secrets after I have returned." Could you ever see yourself getting bored of playing metal, and if so what do you think could take its place? Albert: "I don't think I will ever get bored of playing metal, as I have other channels for other kinds of music too. I can do other things when I have had enough of metal and then return again. I couldn't even think of doing just one kind of music. In the future I think I will concentrate more on my experimental projects." I tend to find the 'faux' scary posturing of death metal bands to be utterly ridiculous -what do you think are some of the worst aspects of heavy metal? Albert: "A hard question! Maybe bands like Stratovarius and all these horrible prog metal bands could be the worst parts of Heavy Metal. I like many death metal bands even when some of them are ridiculous. It is same with many black metal bands. I, of course would like to produce truly scary things, but I am not sure if I can do it with RB." At what age did you become interested in literature and what were you favourite novels as a child, and who do you enjoy reading now? Albert: "I have been in to literature from very early age, and already as a young boy I was into 'serious' literature like Strindberg, Mukka and such. I also liked horror fiction. I still like the same authors. Lovecraft, Poe..." Have you played in the UK yet, and if so how was the audiences reaction? Albert: "We haven't, but it would be great to try how our music works there. I guess not too many people would come to see us. There has been some talk about playing in Ireland. We are open for everything of course." How rigidly do you stick to song structures when you play live and do you feel that live is where one can experience the best from Reverend Bizarre? Albert: "To be honest we are not a great live band. Mostly because we don't have chances to rehearse. But sometimes we play very good gigs. Very hard. We play the songs as they are recorded, but the tempo might change and my singing is rougher and of course the guitar arrangements differ as we have only one guitar when playing live." As far back as I can remember I have always favoured the more extreme genres of cinema, are there any film images that you have found to be particularly resonant, any that refuse to leave your subconscious? [every scene from Henry, Portrait of A Serial Killer is seared into my mind -nothing since has come close to the visceral power of that film for me] Albert: "Jorg Buttgereit's 'Nekromantik I' and 'II' come to my mind instantly... as well as Lucio Fulci's movies and Tobe Hooper's 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre.' Henry is good film too -the same goes for Deranged. I like many films, not just horror. I like Bergman, Tarkovski, Kubrick... old films like 'Vampyr', 'The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari', 'Nosferatu', and lots of Finnish films and series you have never heard of. This Finnish material is maybe the most close to my heart." Would you consider yourself good company? Are you at your best sober or high? Albert: "Hah hah...another hard question. Well it seems that I have the ability to make other people laugh, mainly because I am so stupid, but sometimes I can be very annoying too. I am better when I am drunk as when I am sober I hardly say anything -still with some VERY close persons I rather be sober." Could you list 10 albums, which you could never sell no matter how desperate for money you became? Albert: "There are at least 100 records I don't want to sell -not only albums though [I'm sure that I forget one or two]. But these come to my mind now:"
Oh... I have to mention one more: Iron Maiden's "Piece of Mind" -my mom bought it after I was out of the hospital in 1985 or so -great album and a great memory." What next for Reverend Bizarre? Albert: "Thulsa Doom 7", Blesses You With Fire CD-EP, one more split 7"...and then tour in Germany and Belgium and Holland...and after that a second album at the end of the year. It will be released in 2005 I guess. Few interesting vinyls planned for 2005 already too." Do you plan to release any music not related to Reverend Bizarre? And if so what can we expect? Albert: "I am planning to release lots of music which is not related to RB. I already have something out -some KLV material, some The Candles Burning Blue material...soon I will release the first album from Herven Agal which is kind of ambient/march music. Peter has his prog rock band, Orne and they will have the first album out soon, and Void has also released some stuff with other bands." Are there any pearls of wisdom you have picked up on your travels that you care to share with us? Albert: "All I know is that this life is a never ending struggle. If you don't fight for what you think is right you won't gain anything. Sometimes it is just struggle for survival. But those who surrender should perish anyway. I also believe but we should try to head our lives towards experiences of beauty. It is almost all that we got." SERPENT A Swedish Doom metal combo formed in 1993 by Lars Rosenberg [at the time in Entombed] and Andreas Wahl [was then a member of Concrete Sleep, later in Therion]. 
Serpent excels at playing anthemic doom in the vein of early St. Vitus/ Lunar Womb-era The Obsessed. Their
thundering doom is bolstered by some quality song writing, with memorable choruses and their sadly
neglected debut album, "Into The Garden of The Serpent" is a cornucopia of dense, hooky 70's
style doom rock grooves that raise both the fists and spirit. At times Serpent are reminiscent of the
later Penance albums.Serpent are a real find for the rabid doom fan as they are no mere Sabbath plagiarists and guitarists Johan Lundell & ex-Suffer Ulf Samuelsson kick out some righteously thick, juicy doped out doom jams, that have a full on Trouble-eque attack. Of course a band is so much more than it's axemen and Serpent have a killer vocalist in Therion's Piotr Wawrzeniuk, whose powerfully melodic voice pitched somewhere between Scott Weinrich & latter day Glenn Danzig and this almost classic rock crooning matches quite harmoniously with Serpents potent brand of catchy riff heavy doom. If Nuclear Blast had the foresight to re-release this album now with so much interest in retro heaviness Serpent could quite easily find a whole new audience. From what I can gather their second album and first for independent label, Heathendoom, "Autumn Ride" is meant to exceed their debut in crunching doom power, and considering the album was produced by Tomas Skogsberg. I will be tracking this CD asap. Line up:
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