It did make me wonder where they got their sound from, though, and seeing as the original band member's name is Vice I figured a mix collecting the band's musical origins would be more fitting than another box-ticking interview. And here it is, with words from Mr Swine himself about the mix, the album and its reception.
There are several reasons to be cheerful about being asked to do something like this: it gives us another excuse to blast loads of music while choosing tracks to play from past to present; there's the excitement of maybe bringing bands to people's ears that they may never have heard of; and finally, it's exciting to show everyone where we're coming from with regard to our music tastes.
No disrespect intended whatsoever to Candlelight Records, who have been very open-minded and supportive, but we feel a little misrepresented by the media at large. Because we're on a predominantly metal label, outlets automatically assume that we play metal, and so react with disappointment and often utter confusion, aggressively making the point that "there is little to no metal to be found here", accusing Hateful Abandon of having "little regard for traditional song structure".
If "traditional" means your typical metal song structure, then no, we do not. And really, there shouldn't be a standard song structure outside mindless pop music – because that makes music incredibly predictable. And that's boring. Break free and take the blinkers off.
As for the mix, it came together pretty easily. There are a TON of tracks we missed off or didn't have time to include, such as Iron Fist of the Sun, Trepaneringsritualen, Alaric, Krieg, The Walker Brothers, David Bowie, DAF, The Fall, Suicide, etc, etc, etc. I hope you all enjoy what we managed to squeeze in!
Salut.
1. Eyeless in Gaza (UK) - "Ever Pitch and Bite" [1981]
2. Godflesh (UK) - "Slavestate" [1991]
3. Pinkish Black (USA) - "Fall Down" [2012]
4. Lycia (USA) - "Nine Hours Later" [1995]
5. Dead Can Dance (Australia) - "Frontier" [1984]
6. 1919 (UK) - "Scream" [1983]
7. Sektor 304 (Portugal) - "A Vessel of Guilt" [2011]
8. Haus Arafna (Germany) - "Heart Beats Blood Flows" [2011]
9. Non (USA) - "Total War. Edit." [1997]
10. Vatican Shadow (USA) - "Contractor Corpses Hung Over the Euphrates River" [2013]
11. Zombi (USA) - "Times of Troubles" [2011]
12. Shahram and Hafez Nazeri (Iran) - "Enchanted" [2001]
