Vomit the Soul interview (Stefano Rossi Ciucci)

Metallerium is pleased to present the masterful return of Vomit the Soul with “Cold” (2021), which was probably the best Brutal Death Metal album of the past year. For this reason, that Sercifer interviewed Stefano Rossi Ciuccu, bassist of this Italian band and Bloodtruth.

Para leer la entrevista en español: Entrevista a Vomit the Soul

Metallerium: Welcome Stefano to Metallerium pages. It’s a great pleasure to talk with you about the band, this new amazing album, and more things related to the metal world. Staring with a common question. What are you deciding with a new album after 12 years of silence? And what does it feel like to come back after so long with a new production? And what does it feel like to come back after so long with a new production? Is it still having the same feeling as 21 years ago?

Vomit The Soul: Hi! Stefano here, the new bass player. In 2012 the band decided to split up and stop all the musical activities. Max and Ycio talked about the reunion a lot of times, but it was never the right moment to have it. You know, they were only 2 members without a bassist and without any motivation. I’m a big fan of the band from the past and a close friend of Max, he sent me some raw songs during the years and I proposed him to record the new album. Two hours later he called me asking to be part of the band! I was so excited! A dream come true… We started working together on the new material and the feeling was incredible.

Metallerium: “Portraits of Inhuman Abominations” (2005) and “Apostles of Inexpression” (2009) were recorded on bass by Andrea Anghileri but for this “Cold”, You were included as a new bass player. What were the inconveniences so that Andrea will not return with you?

Vomit The Soul: Andrea is still a great friend of ours! There is any problem with him, just he decided to change his musical tastes and he is not on death metal anymore.

Metallerium: “Cold” still keeps the essence of the first two albums from Vomit the Soul. For that, is this new album written during the pandemic? Or is it before? And perhaps do you have trouble recording the new album? Coz Italy was hit hard for this pandemic.

Vomit The Soul: Some raw songs were written in the past but were finalized during the pandemic. It was so hard because we were not able to meet together and play the songs but the internet gave us a very big help. Yeah, we had trouble recording it, Max was not able to record guitars in a recording studio and he had to study a lot to make it by himself. He did a huge job learning how to record and play at the same time! Ycio was forced to wait for the recording studio availability and it took a long time too. Let me say that these buddies are strong than ever and they were strongly determined to record this album. For me, it was much easier the expected: I’ve got my own studio and I had a lot of free time to record it, work on bass lines, edit the whole album and help my bandmates to work by internet. It was a real test of strength for everyone and we were so happy to have the master on our hands.

Metallerium: Now we will focus on the discography of the band from “Portraits of Inhuman Abominations” (2005), then “Apostles of Inexpression” (2009), and finally this new “Cold”. The three albums are jewels for all lovers of the brutal death Metal style because they keep the essence of the mid-90s alive with that American sound in between. Do you think that the evolution sound among each album will lead you to develop a personal sound into the following discs?

Vomit The Soul: I think the way was written, “Apostles of Inexpression” (2009). This album has a unique bass sound, guitar riffing style, and an unmistakable drum sound. To make the sound of this record unique was certainly Stefano Morabito of 16th Cellar Studios in Roma that recorded, mixed, and mastered it. It was one of the best productions come out from his studio and it was so easy to get that sound back to the new release “Cold”. We will certainly continue this way for the next releases, believe me.

Metallerium: What do you think of bands that put a lot of labels on their style? For example, Technical Brutal Death Metal, are they want more attention?

Vomit The Soul: I think it’s normal and helps the listener to know what they are getting into. No problem with that. You know, Vomit the Soul is playing “slamming brutal death metal” and we really love to be identified in this way.

Metallerium: Within the final part of the first question and about styles, we mentioned something about the mix that many bands do within their style these days. But when you listen to the band, they only play Brutal Death Metal, but in their description, these bands add the technical word to their music within Brutal Death Metal. Being something that is not understood by many people, because most of the Brutal Death Metal bands, have a high level of technicality and it is not necessary to put the technical word within the style, unless we are talking about bands like; Origin, Depravity, Omnihility, Deformity, etc. According to you, what are the differences between the Vomit the Soul sound as a Brutal Death Metal band and the sound -for example- of Origin and its Technical Brutal Death Metal? What is the most representative technically speaking in guitars, drums, etc.?

Vomit The Soul: As you probably know, I’m playing with a technical brutal death metal band called Bloodtruth (Unique Leader Rec.). Our style is totally different from Vomit the Soul and I had to work a lot to be in this new mood. Vomit has a lot of groovy riffs and a totally different approach to the song structure. I give you an example: a Bloodtruth song has a very big amount of riff each song with a twisted structure, Vomit the Soul has just 5/6 impressive riffs perfectly linked together! I think this is the real difference.

Metallerium: Another detail that always caught my attention in Italy is the number of Brutal Death Metal bands that exist there like Vomit the Soul, Antropophagus, Devangelic, Hideous Divinity, Septycal Gorge, Putridity, Xenomorphic Contamination, Corpsefucking Art, Pit of Toxic Slime, Hour of Penance, Exhumer and many more. Why do you think the extreme scene in your country is more inclined to Brutal Death Metal? Is there some kind of social metal coalition to have bands of this musical style? How does Death Metal influence Italian society? And do you think that the Brutal Death Metal sound of your country is unique in the world?

Vomit The Soul: As a veteran in this genre (I’m playing it from 1998/2000), I’ve to say it’s a really hard question! I think it comes from the past, from what our parents were listening to and what the radios played when we were children. In adolescence, I totally refused to listen to it again and I started to listen to something really different as bands like Cannibal Corpse or Morbid Angel, etc. Maybe our Christian culture, deeply rooted in Italy because of the Vatican, gave us the strength to rebel against years of wrong teaching and the Brutal Death Metal was the best expression of our thoughts. I don’t think we have some kind of social metal coalition, just the same point of musical view. Yes! I think the Italian death metal job is unique in the world and I’m really proud to be part of it.

Metallerium: Talking about Brutal Death Metal style from the early days to this new generation. We see these years that some bands experiment with different elements, where the style turns into other things and even ends up having clean and unsaturated guitar effects with other guitar methods. If we talk about a band -for example- this happened with Deeds of Flesh, because at the beginning with "Trading Pieces" (1996). The band was a Brutal Death Metal machine, but then in "Of What's To Come" (2008) the band became one of a more technical style within Death Metal. What do you think about this change in Brutal Death Metal bands? Do you think that because of the technical level of a Brutal Death Metal band, the extreme music ends up being clearer and more polished?

Vomit The Soul: I think it’s the normal evolution of a genre. In 15/20 years, a lot of things changed, we all listen to a lot of new bands, new albums, and the recording studios evolved their sound. Consequently, we perceive music differently and we get used to it. I can say you that I struggle a lot listening to old records like “The Ten Commandments” (1991) from Malevolent Creation or “Breeding the Spawn” (1993) from Suffocation today just because of the raw and old sound of these albums. When they come out, I was searching for a way to reproduce the same sound!

Metallerium: The way of listening to music has changed drastically in recent years, coz the digital platforms have prompted fans, especially younger ones to only choose one, two, or three songs per album, and there is even talk that bands should no longer record albums if they don't need it and just record singles. How do you think this could affect the way we make music in the near future? And what do bands need to do to motivate the listener to hear all the songs on an album?

Vomit The Soul: I’m working on a record label called Lethal Scissor Records with my drummer Ycio and I can only confirm what you say. People don’t listen to the whole album anymore and prefer to choose one or two songs. That’s why a lot of labels released EP’s during the last year and many bands choose to release single songs by some online magazine or social media. In this way, listeners can choose to listen to a big variety of bands but the bands don’t survive in this chaos, so they are born and died a few times. I don’t think it’s a good way… The only way to motivate the listener to buy and listen to the whole album is probably playing a lot of shows: people can pay attention to your musical style, to your songs, and can be enticed to buy your album.

Metallerium: We talked about musical platforms, however, there is another trend on the other side in which old formats such as cassette or vinyl are reverted, which together with CD become practically only collector's items. Do you consume any of these formats?  And what is your favorite?

Vomit The Soul: I really love vinyl! Not because of the sound quality, it’s about the artwork dimension. You can open a vinyl-like book, see the artwork in a better resolution and read the texts while listening to it. I love digipack too but seems people hate it…

Metallerium: Many times, when I did interviews, most of the musicians of the bands interviewed do not listen to what is currently happening in Heavy Metal and that’s why many bands of these years are lost in time for these common ideas. What do you think of the idea of being in an extreme metal band and not listening to current music within the style? Do you think it is necessary to be close to the world to compose better things? And additionally, what are your 5 best albums of 2021?

Vomit The Soul: I don’t think so and I love to listen to new bands. I’ve got my personnel riffing style and I love to mix it with some new material that comes from other bands. About best albums released last year, I can say Violence Unimagined – Cannibal Corpse, Absolvere – Sign of the Swarm, ManiaCult – Aborted, Dusk of Anguish – Distant, Parastic Metamorphosis Manifestation – Abominable Putridity, and of course: Cold – Vomit the Soul!

Metallerium: Before we finish this interview. What are the future plans for the band? Perhaps a tour here in Latin America. Which bands do you know from this part of the word?

Vomit The Soul: We are planning some shows the next summer, maybe some festival, who knows… We are working on new material too to be released next year (hope so!). We are not able to make tours at this moment: every member has a solid job right now and we can’t play too much. Maybe in the future. About Latin America, I really love to Betrayme from Mexico!

Metallerium: Well, Stefano. The sad time arrives at this interview. I hope you enjoy this one as I did and thank you very much for your time. Any last words for your fans here in Latin America and Metallerium readers?

Vomit The Soul: Thank you very much for this interview, I really enjoyed it!!! A lot of interesting questions. Hope to see you guys in some fest in Latin America, I want to come to your beautiful country and raid it with the Vomit the Soul brutal machine. Special thanks to Metallerium for this opportunity!!!!