Photo: Benjamin Hölle
Arriving on the scene during the late 90s when traditional forms of heavy metal struggled to gain any sort of traction, Sacred Steel put their stamp on a style long forgotten, yet still very impactful. Their early albums garnered a lot of attention across Europe – and subsequent records expanded their sound to include elements of doom and extreme metal beyond their classic speed, power, and thrash-oriented roots. The band’s 10th studio record, Ritual Supremacy, exemplifies the group’s diversity once again without losing ahold of the purity, viciousness, and authority that this genre should always bring to the table. We reached out to vocalist Gerrit P. Mutz for this exciting conversation regarding the events that caused the longer than ideal time between studio records, what the latest members bring to the band’s fun/energy level, writing for themselves and appeasing their audience, benchmark career highlights, what metal means to him, and further discussion about his other bands like Angel of Damnation, Dawn of Winter, and Voodoo Kiss.
Dead Rhetoric: Ritual Supremacy is the 10th studio album for Sacred Steel – and first in almost nine years. Beyond the member changes with bassist Toni Ieva and guitarist Jörn Langenfeld joining the group, what other circumstances took place for the long break between albums? And do you believe this has been beneficial to how the songwriting and sound of the album developed in the end?
Gerrit P. Mutz: Well, it’s been some rough years, definitely. Of course, I don’t have to mention the pandemic and shit, which came exactly when we tried to gain a little bit more momentum again. I believe that took away two to three years, I guess. And we had some problems with the old members – which is always a sad thing. I think the guitarist had been with us for 25 years, and the bass player for 16 years. Sometimes relationships just end, and they just don’t work out anymore. Some things were happening simultaneously – problems within the band and problems outside of the band.
Getting older is not easier, and years go by so fast. It’s amazing. If you would ask me what you did in 2015, I couldn’t even answer this. What did you do in 1985? Well, I could tell you what records came out and everything. The years just merge into each other, it’s getting more complicated. I was quite surprised to see how fast the time can go. I’m used to stuff like this, bigger gaps, especially with my doom band Dawn of Winter because we are used to putting out a record every ten years. But that is fine with us, if there is a plan. I always said, it’s fine to have one band with a life like that, but that should never happen to Sacred Steel. And when you have to change things in a band, it’s never easy. You sometimes have to change things, otherwise it will kill you.
I don’t think the band would have continued any longer if we were to exist like this. All the energy wasn’t going into the songwriting – it went into discussions. I don’t want to blame the old guys, sometimes it just happens. People change, things change, life is changing. When we realized we had to do something different, we changed members, and we have this enthusiasm that we had lost with all the complications. With the new guys in the band, it’s like being in a new band, even if we are an older band. Toni has been in Brainstorm; he’s a seasoned musician. Jörn is in a technical death metal band called Subconscious – he can play our stuff with his eyes closed and his hands behind his back (laughs). For once, it’s a change for me to be the only non-musician in the band – the others are all great musicians. It kicks me in the ass and gives new power to get focus with the best out of every song. I never took that much time before to write lyrics or concentrate on vocal lines. I won’t settle for second best anymore – I’m 55 now, how many albums can we still release? It has to be good stuff; we won’t settle for anything less. If people are happy with it, and we are happy with it, that’s what matters. We do this for us mostly.
Dead Rhetoric: What do you think the fresh blood brought about specifically on this new record? Did you enjoy the songwriting approach you took this time around?
Mutz: Everything was finished already when the new guys came in. But we are already in writing mode for the next record, I have already finished six songs for the next record, lyrics and vocal lines. Parallel to doing all the promotion and working a full-time job. I really feel the energy. The fun is back. We never had the chance to earn money with anything. I have made more than twenty records with all of my bands, and I have never earned a penny. I’m not in it for the money – it’s not the driving force behind this. The main focus was always to keep the kind of metal that we adore alive. If people understand this or not, you can’t help it anyway. Most of my favorite bands, nobody ever got. I don’t care.
Also live, especially live. The first gig we did together, we were finding where we all are. We really find the chemistry very quick. It’s not just about the songwriting. It was also fun with the old guys, but we had to keep drinking a lot with the old guys to keep the chemistry going. Now with the new guys, we drink a little, and we play more. It’s a thing in the past, and we have a totally different beast. It’s working out great, and I’m not a party guy. When I want to have fun, I want to enjoy it. We will do a short tour at the end of the year, even though we are totally busy with everything. Close to two weeks across parts of Europe.
Dead Rhetoric: Describe the process in developing the eight-minute plus epic “Entombed Within the Iron Walls of Dis” – what are the factors that come into play to ensure that the arrangement and parts work without becoming too excessive or boring?
Mutz: That’s a funny thing, that song. One would assume a song like this would take half a year to write, cutting here and adding there. That’s something we did on another track – “Covenant of Grace” for example. “Entombed Within the Iron Walls of Dis”, everything was done within 15 hours. Jonas the guitarist had some kind of epiphany or something, he wrote down the song completely in one take. He called up the drummer Mathias – as back then we were the only three guys in the band. He wanted to meet in the rehearsal room, they don’t live very far from each other compared to me. I have to drive an hour to the rehearsal room. They met, he showed him the parts, they ended up recording it and sending a demo. As usual, I plugged in my device, downloaded (it), and usually I sing in the car when I am driving to my workplace. I drive back and forth, 20 minutes each way, and usually I am singing along.
That was a song when I first listened to it, I immediately had the vocal lines. They all fell into place. By the drive back I had all the ideas in my head. I went home and did some sketches of the lyrics. It had to be an epic set of lyrics, so the next day I had everything finished. Sometimes there are moments like this where stuff just happens. You may remember me from the old days when I was in Tragedy Divine. Back then, it would nearly kill me because we had songs that took half a year to write. There were songs on the first record, by the time they came out on the record, they would have been the 15th incarnation of that song. Sometimes you are so confused, what is the final song now? It killed me. It’s one of the reasons back then why I wanted to have a straightforward band like Sacred Steel. Not too progressive, because I wanted to write songs that could be ready in like five minutes or so.
That’s what we did when we wrote the first Sacred Steel record. It was all written in the rehearsal room, it was all written in like five minutes or so (the songs). Because back then we said this has to be spontaneous. The longer you write, the more you want to go a little deeper, because you can’t write the same album over and over again.
Dead Rhetoric: How does the band balance out the necessary creative fuel to continually remain fresh this deep into your career while also satisfying what the fans expect from the band album by album?
Mutz: That’s the toughest (thing) to do. You never know. I have heard some reactions already from people who have heard the full album. Not everybody likes everything – hey, why do you have a doom song on there? I didn’t write it; our guitarist is as big of a Candlemass fan as I am. If he wants to write a doom song, then I’ll sing on a doom song. People love to bitch around and say, do this with Dawn of Winter or Angel of Damnation, those are doom bands. You can’t please everybody, and I can’t forbid Jonas to write a doom song.
If we have more complex stuff like we’ve had on other records before, then people say we should focus more on the thrashy and speed metal stuff. We want to have everything on an album. It’s an album and I come from a generation where an album tells a story, where you listened from the start to the end. It had to be balanced. For this record, I think it took us two or three weeks to find what the song order should be like. There were thousands of discussions, it was a complex thing because there are so many songs on here that are so different. You can’t have the three fast songs at the very beginning and then only the epic stuff. Take for example an album like Manowar’s Warriors of the World. Back then, I liked some of the songs – but the song order was a total killer. You can’t listen to that album the way that it is. That’s something that I don’t want to repeat.
Dead Rhetoric: What do you consider some of the benchmark highlight moments when it comes to the career of Sacred Steel? Specific albums, tours, festival appearances, or other events where you knew you were making a mark and impact with your music?
Mutz: Well, that’s kind of easy. The biggest impact was definitely with the first and the second records. The first record was so energetic and against everybody and everything, in the midst of time when this music was so uncool. It was uncool to even think about this. The 90s were really tough ground for metal bands. The first album made quite an impact, we were signed to Metal Blade Records, it was a dream come true, meeting Brian Slagel and all. We sold quite a lot right from the start. You can’t compare it to nowadays. The second record was really successful, we sold 10,000 copies all over Europe – which for a band like us, totally anti-commercial with a singer like me, that was a moment where we felt that we can’t keep this going without changing something. Either you had to take on management and make this more professional or we keep it low profile. We decided on the second side, nobody wanted to be a professional musician – because I’m not a touring guy, I can do smaller tours, but living in a bus or van, no.
Once we had a lasting impression on people, even those who don’t like us know of us. Over the years I’d say the Slaughter Prophecy record in 2002 was an important recording. We were going against the grain even more by incorporating death metal stuff and putting more growling vocals here and there. Everybody was going more melodic and commercial, and we were so against it, so we just had to show it. It was a new label with Massacre Records, and we also sold quite well back then. It was a landmark recording. The next bigger impact was The Bloodshed Summoning in 2013, because it’s an uncompromising record with lots of different ideas, songs, and structures. It’s not easy listening, and not everybody likes it, but the reviews were good. Some people who didn’t take us seriously until then found out that we were not that bad, we have some talent. Hopefully the new album makes the next impact. For us it’s a fresh start with new people, and it can only get better from here. We lost some ground over the last years, so we try to play as many festivals and smaller tours that we can, and do as many interviews as we can to get the word out. We’ve never been gone and stopped for ten years like other bands. We just were lazy in between in parts.
Other highlights have been festival appearances, and not necessarily the bigger ones like Wacken. They were okay, but for us festivals like Keep It True or Up the Hammers are the ones that matter. If you have any connections, get us over to the US to play Hell’s Heroes! (laughs). That would be great.
Dead Rhetoric: How do you balance out all your musical activities between Angel of Damnation, Dawn of Winter, and Voodoo Kiss these days? Does this satisfy your diverse tastes across the metal spectrum?
Mutz: It has not really much to do with my tastes, it’s just something that came at me. Voodoo Kiss, I just joined that band because Sacred Steel was doing nothing at that time. All my bands were sleeping, and those guys asked if I could help out. That’s what I did – it’s not really musically totally my cup of tea, but I agreed to do it, and I had a lot of fun. For the last record I had a tongue-in-cheek concept story, and it was great to try this out. They still keep writing things, it looks like we might do a third record. At the moment, Sacred Steel is totally the priority. There is no problem keeping things separate. Dawn of Winter, we take ten years to release each record. We have families, diseases that come with age, and we have to wait until everybody is ready again to start rehearsing. We want to play a gig at the end of this year, we played the last one in October. We rehearse with Dawn of Winter every two or three weeks, once. With Angel of Damnation, the new album is recorded, I did that last summer. It will be out in June, which is kind of funny because everybody will accuse me of doing so much (laughs). It’s just not true, it’s a coincidence. It will be out on Dying Victims Productions, and I really enjoy it. It’s absolutely different to what we do with Sacred Steel. In Sacred Steel, I went into a really big professional studio to record my vocals. With Angel of Damnation, I went into the basement of the guitarist’s place, and sang the whole album in one go, three times. I love that as well.
Everything has it’s good points. The professional stuff, you can be really proud of how top notch this turned out to be. With Angel of Damnation, it’s underground, and I love the stuff like that.
Dead Rhetoric: What has heavy metal meant to you personally? Can you discuss a specific instance or two where a metal album or concert pulled you through a difficult time, to make things turn out for the better long-term?
Mutz: Uh (laughs). My whole life would not be the same without metal. When I was in a real dark place, my first divorce or with the death of my mother, the real bad places you don’t want to visit – I wouldn’t have made it without clutching to my Trouble or Saint Vitus records. I’m not a Christian at all, but I can enjoy the lyrics on The Skull. It’s more like searching – they don’t tell you that I’ve found the answer even though Eric (Wagner) sometimes says (things) like that. It’s more about the search for hope, and that really kept me going. The lyrics totally speak to me. I wouldn’t have made it through different phases in my life without some essence of doom records. When I am out that hole of depression, then I switch things to a blaspheme mode and listen to Mercyful Fate. I say it that bluntly – without metal, I wouldn’t be here anymore.
Dead Rhetoric: Working in the industry at Metal Blade Records, what do you believe have been some key lessons you’ve learned from the business side that you’ve been able to apply for the good to your musical pursuits?
Mutz: I try to stay clear of everything business related, really. I do the wholesale for the European guys, and I focus on my job. I don’t try to see this as a product, or bands as a product. I try to see everything as a part of the metal community. My part is to spread the metal. I really try not to think too business-like. It’s not me. I try to make this a great job; I’m working with everybody there. When it comes to my music, I don’t want to be signed to a label anymore that I work for. It has to be separate. When we were signed to Metal Blade in the late 90s, it always felt weird. If you are somewhere in the middle of everything, I couldn’t wrap my hands around this, so I need to keep these things separate. The lesson I’ve learned is definitely don’t expect anything. If you have the most promising newcomer and the timing is not right, then nothing will happen with that newcomer. If you have a very fantastic old school record – let’s say for example the last Nasty Savage record, which for me was the record of the year last year. The majority of people didn’t take notice of that, because it was put out on a relatively small label, by a great guy – Frank at FHM Records.
It’s not necessarily the quality, most of the time it’s luck and just good timing. The brilliant heads like my boss at Metal Blade, they try to make whatever is possible to not make any mistakes. I don’t have to be more in the business than while I work. When I stop working, I focus on something else – I am not 24/7 into business. That’s just not my thing.
Dead Rhetoric: Discuss your thoughts on the evolution of the music industry from when Sacred Steel started in the late 90s to where things are today. What pleases you the most, and what needs to change to ensure a healthy future, especially from the heavy metal side of things?
Mutz: That’s a question that I can’t really answer. If I have a wish, I hope that lots of the clubs will survive. Right now, it’s just pure overkill. The prices are going up everywhere, lots of problems getting the people into buying tickets upfront. Tomorrow there’s a small band playing around the corner – the entrance fee is 15 euros. They will play one hour – so if I go with my wife, it’s 30 euros. I’m thinking – should I go? I will wait until tomorrow evening and see if I feel I should go then. Most people do that nowadays – but the club owners want to have the money upfront because they need to pay for so much upfront. The biggest wish would be that the wheat would be separated from the chaff and the true and real stuff that has metal in its hearts will survive.
Dead Rhetoric: What would surprise people to learn about Gerrit the person away from who you are as a musician? Are there different aspects you’ve worked on in your personal life that have made you a stronger person long-term?
Mutz: I’m still struggling. I’m 55 and I’m still struggling to be myself, it’s not easy. People get the impression sometimes that I’m the guy who’s doing everything. That I’m a top guy in four bands who is surely successful. The harsh truth is I’m still struggling to still be a musician at all. I’m not a trained musician, so I have to keep track of the real good musicians around me. I’m shy and a guy who isn’t open that easily. Most people mistake that for being arrogant. I have heard a lot of stories in the past 30 years – and those people don’t know me. Maybe it’s better. You are the way you are – every day it’s a struggle. Most people are struggling – most people just don’t show it. With a metal band like Sacred Steel, it’s not like I’m going from house to house and telling people what my problems are. Of course, I’m not a sword-wielding animal, definitely not.
Dead Rhetoric: What’s left on the bucket list for you to accomplish – either with Sacred Steel or any of your other musical projects / bands?
Mutz: I’d love to play America or South America. That would be great. We were very close to playing in Brazil, we had an offer from Chile recently. We’ll see if it turns out to become reality. I’m not a big touring guy; I love to be at home. Maybe play Hell’s Heroes or sometime in South America, that would be something I would be up for. Apart from that, I think I’ve reached everything that I had ever dreamed of. I’m still around, I’m still alive – that’s part one. I’m still active, and I’m hungry enough to write new stuff. I’m fine with that. Hopefully this new album will help us climb out of the underground a little more so we will become interesting for festivals to have us again. Not as the opening band, but in a good position somewhere in the middle.