Interview with Lasse Pyykko of Hooded Menace By Steve Earles - June 2010
Death (and doom!) Are just the
beginning!...or…only death ( and doom ) are real!
When I first reviewed Hooded Menace’s Fulfil the Curse
debut, I was blown away by their killer mutation of
classic Autopsy-style doom and early Cathedral doom.
Taking these influences further, Hooded Menace draw
inspiration from classic horror films, myths, and
literature, particularly the classic Blind Dead films (a
similar source of inspiration to the mighty Cathedral).
Mark my words, with their combination of sincerity,
originality and heaviness, Hooded Menace will one day
join their musical inspirations in the pantheon of true
metal heroes.
I met band main man Lasse Pyykoo at an isolated location
in Finland, an icy castle lit only by torchlight. Truly
an atmospheric location for an atmospheric band. The
first question has to be, what inspired Lasse to form
Hooded Menace, a band very much against the prevailing
trends.
“I’ve been wanting to play this kind of music for a long
time. Even during the years of the original full
Phlegethon line-up I remember us thinking about going
totally into death/doom direction but we found it less
exciting to play slow and simple stuff at the time. We
were just a bunch of teens that were more interested in
playing a bit more complex music. We loved the 80s
Candlemass, early Cathedral, Trouble, Black Sabbath and
so forth but we rather listened to that stuff than tried
to create something similar to it.
Also we thought that the style would be best with
melodic vocals and those we didn’t have! Anyway, some
doom metal influences leaked in as that stuff impressed
us a lot. However it was in ´89 when we did a doomcore
project for fun, heh! The songs were extremely slow and
extremely short at the same time. It had death metal
vocals on it. It was so silly, ha ha! It was recorded
directly to a cassette player but I’m afraid the tape
got lost. Finally in 2007 I got to play this music that
has been haunting me for such a long time.”
Why now?
“I dunno. Sometimes you just have to wait and wait until
you are totally ripe for it, I guess. Actually I believe
that it would have sounded pretty much like this if I
had composed the songs in the first half of 90s. In fact
a couple of riffs on Fulfil the Curse album are taken
from the songs on Phlegethon Promo 1995! The same stuff
that inspired me in the 80s and early 90s still inspire
me. I really don’t care much that I missed most of the
90s as I wasn’t checking the scene. When I ‘came back’
with some new material for Phlegethon in 2006 it lead to
the forming of Vacant Coffin and then Hooded Menace. It
was like all this music was bursting out of me. I can’t
explain it really but it felt good to have that passion
back in me. Also it was very motivating for Hooded
Menace that I wasn’t totally happy with how bands had
mixed death and doom elements. I don’t want to sound
arrogant but I thought it could be done a bit
differently. A bit better and interesting if you ask
me.”
I’d certainly agree with that!
When I reviewed your outstanding Fulfil The Curse
debut, I was blown away by the mixture of Autopsy-style
death metal and Cathedral circa Forest of Equilibrium
doom.
“Thanks! Yeah, Autopsy and Forest Of Equilibrium by
Cathedral are obviously a huge influence to Hooded
Menace. Just like Never Cross The Dead, Fulfil The Curse
is our vision how death/doom should sound at its best.
Although it’s obviously very “retro” you can put the
pieces together a bit differently and make it sound
fresh.”
Of course, like Cathedral, you share a love of the
true horror movies, especially the Blind Dead films
“Yes, horror movies have always fascinated me and there
are tons of films from the past that I need to see.
That’s one of the reasons why I don’t even bother to
watch all these remakes and other modern horror films.
I’d rather explore the old. The Blind Dead films are
essential stuff. Those films and our slow, doomy, death
metal is a match made in heaven...or hell!. Those movies
have a very strong, creepy atmosphere, great visuals...
the Blind Dead dragging themselves onward to terrorize
the living... man, it all just goes perfectly with our
music! Slow, murky and menacing!”
Would you agree that your new album Never Cross The
Dead represents a great step forward for Hooded Menace?
“It’s not a giant step but a step forward it is indeed.
The album is more diverse. The extremities are stretched
a bit. The slow is slower, the melodies are more melodic
or there are more of them at least, dark is darker, doom
is more doom and by that I also mean that there’s more
heavy Sabbath riffage going on than on the previous
album. Also horror soundtrack influences are more
obvious this time. It has both sides: delicacy and
brutality. So it’s got pretty much this and that
without... how should I put it... wimping out! I’m
extremely happy with how it turned out. “
Your song The House of Hammer is a
fine tribute to those great Hammer Films (a lady friend
of mine once had the privilege of meeting the great
Peter Cushing!). Would you care to discuss your
favourite Hammer films? I personally favour Twins of
Evil with the gorgeous Collinson twins, the Cornish- set
duo of Plague of the Zombies and The Reptile, and The
Devil Rides Out based on the fine Dennis Wheatley book.
“Lucio Holocausto wrote the lyrics for House Of Hammer
and I´m sure he would have an endless discussion about
Hammer Films with you, heh! But yeah, The Devil Rides
Out, Plague Of The Zombies and Twins Of Evil are some of
my Hammer faves too. I think we must write a song about
Twins Of Evil at some point! Mark Of The Devil is also a
flick I enjoy very much although it's not much more than
basically a more violent version of Witchfinder General.
Anyway it rules! Oh, good for your lady friend! Cool!
Peter Cushing is a fine actor indeed! I don’t have many
fave actors and I’m very bad at names and such. I always
forgot the names, ha! Same thing with music.... line
ups, song titles.... even sometimes my own, ha! But man,
Christopher Lee has been one of my favourite actors
since I was a little kid. He is persuasive!”
You certainly wouldn’t argue with a living legend, in
fact recently Christopher was interviewed by another
living legend and personal hero, Tony Iommi. Getting
back to horror films, I feel that with a few exceptions
(such as The Haunting in Connecticut or Rec), modern
horror films are pathetic, consisting mostly of remakes
that nobody wanted in the first place, endless sequels,
and stupid torture films, would you agree?
“I avoid modern horror films. Of course I’ve seen a few
and honestly not a single great film comes to mind. I
guess there are some for the one that seeks but it
sounds like a waste of time really. I rather check out
old gems as there’s so much stuff that I need to see.”
Of course, Hooded Menace are
very inspired not just by the visuals of classic horror
films, but also their soundtracks, you very successfully
covered the theme from Lucio Fulci’s Manhattan Baby on
your debut, and now your new album features Return of
the Evil Dead, will we see more such adaptations in the
future? And would Hooded Menace by interested in doing a
complete soundtrack to a horror film?
“I can’t say yet if there will be a horror soundtrack
cover track on the next full length. It’s not something
that we must keep on doing on every album. If we come up
with a track that fits well to the entirety then we will
definitely think about it. Of course Hooded Menace would
consider about making a complete soundtrack to a horror
film if anyone is crazy enough to ask. Anima Morte
should arrange and perform the songs though. They did so
well with our Beauty and the Feast track.”
You have a new label now, how did the deal with
Profound Lore come about?
“Profound Lore showed interest and we turned them down
first but after giving it a good deliberation we decided
to discuss about the deal. Billy from Razorback has been
almost like a member of the band and that made the label
switch a bit disconcerting. But we sorted things out and
he understood our point of view and it was cool. A label
change was definitely a wise move as we were on a roll
and wanted to have better circumstances for Never Cross
The Dead. Better promotion, distribution and all that
support a band needs.”
That’s a great cover on Never
Cross The Dead, who is responsible and will you work
with them again?
“Thanks! It turned out prefect! Putrid draw it and Adam
Geyer painted it. I saw their collaboration for
Nunslaugher and instantly knew that we must have them
for Never Cross The Dead. We have worked with Putrid
before. He drew our logo and did the art for Fulfil The
Curse. He totally gets what we are all about. It is
possible that we will have Putrid and Geyer
collaborating for the 3rd album as Never Cross The Dead
art turned out even more amazing than I expected. I can
unveil that next up with Putrid is the art for our split
with Asphyx.”
Have Hooded Menace any plans to tour soon?
“So far we haven’t agreed to do any but certainly every
offer we get will be put under consideration. Jori and
Oula have other bands too and they are studying in
University so all that takes a lot of their time too, so
it’s not necessarily that easy for us to get on tour.
I’m not even sure yet if I really wanted to tour much.
But at least we will do shows this year in London,
Rotterdam and Helsinki. That’s really exciting enough
for us for now. We’ll ‘worry’ about touring later.”
What can we expect from album number three?
Too early to tell as I only recently got started with
the song writing process. I have had a ‘vacation’ from
writing any Hooded Menace material since Never Cross The
Dead sessions so I’m ‘loaded’ and very excited to write
some new tunes. The few new riffs I’ve came up with
sound like total Hooded Menace. Of course one difference
will be that Oula is now the vocalist in the band. His
growling is a bit stronger and more versatile than mine,
I think. It fits fine so no worries, hah!”
If Hooded Menace were to do a covers EP or album, what
tracks would you cover?
“Horror soundtracks from the 70s and 80s“
Many thanks, Lasse, anything you’d like to add?
”Thanks for your support!”
Thank you, Lasse, not least
from bringing back some true hellish underground sounds!
