After I was sent a copy of Sammath's "Dodengang" for review on Burning Misery and for Loucifer Speaks, I soon became aware that very few people knew of this band. This seemed crazy to me, since "Dodengang" is awesome - check it out if you haven't already!
I soon found myself with the opportunity to ask Jan (Sammath mastermind!) a few questions. I feel I should put a warning or something here too. One of answers here may cause offense. If you are likely to be offended by views on religion, please do not read it. If not, I hope you enjoy the interview!

Lou: Thanks for agreeing to this interview! When I first got your album, ?Dodengang?, and mentioned you on a few forums it seemed like no-one knew about you? so, could you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?

Jan: Over here in Holland we are pretty well known in the underground, but outside Europe its all pretty much only underground maniacs that know our stuff. I get lots of orders from South America and Australia. In England we are not well known at all, ?Terrorizer? has little attention for real black metal, ?MetalTeamUK? gave us a damn good review also, but furthermore, no idea really which big mags there are except the usual boring ones.
I started Sammath in 94, hooked up with Folter Records after sending in our second demo in 97, and then released three albums, ?Strijd 99?, ?Verwoesting? 2002, ?Dodengang? 2006. Sales are 500 first album, going on to about 2000 these days, so its not bad, but I don?t make black metal for money, its good that more people get to know the band. My biggest promoter is myself, I just started to do some promotion work for Folter Records so I?m lucky enough to get paid to promote my own band, as well as the other Folter bands of course.

Lou: There seems to be a bit of a war theme running through the album. Could you tell me where you draw your inspiration from? Which of you writes the lyrics?

Jan: I record all the songs myself, Sammath is only a band live. In the studio it?s just me and Koos, the drummer. I write all lyrics also. I used to teach history so I know a bit about World War Two, that?s where I get most of inspiration from, deadly times. I grew up in Australia so moving over to Europe you get a lot of culture thrown at you. I remember north of Sydney that there was a museum dating back to 1976, pretty funny when you get over here and there are building dating back to the Romans. I moved to Germany some years ago. My neighbour fought in Stalingrad in World War Two, he had some chilling stories to tell, that?s where I got the inspiration to write the lyrics of the track ?Stalingrad? from. War is just something very interesting, very fitting for this type of music, its not right wing, or political in any way, I try to make the music as violent as the lyrics are.

Lou: Why did you called the album ?Dodengang?? Am I right in thinking that Dodengang is Dutch for ?Trench of Death??

Jan: Yeah, you are right, it?s a place in Belgium where German and Belgium troops where divided by about two meters of water, at night they could stab each other. Grenades couldn?t be used because you?d blow yourself up, it was so close combat. A soldier there would only have to be in the trench of death for two to four hours before being relieved, that how deadly it was. I always use Dutch titles for my albums, and always will; I was born Dutch and used to write all my lyrics in Dutch.

Lou:Which five words would you use to describe the album?

Jan: War, melody, pounding, fast, relentless.

Lou: Which is your favourite track from the album and why?

Jan: ?Imminence, War & Death?, the title track is more technical, but with this track I?m satisfied about everything; the way it builds up, the sound of the bass at the beginning and the way it unfolds into a 6 minute song that just keeps blasting away with the chorus. Probably one of the most brutal and blunt songs I?ve ever written.

Lou: I?ve noticed on your website that you?ve released quite a few albums/E.Ps in the past. Are these still available? If so, where can we get them from?

Jan: All of them are sold out, on eBay you can sometimes find something. I only have a LPs left of the first album ?Strijd? released on license by Macabre Operetta Prod in 2002. I?ve got 30 left, so be quick.

Lou: Have you got any tour dates planned for this year? Is there any chance of you heading over to England for a few shows?

Jan: If anyone will have us, give me a call. If it doesn?t cost us anything and we get free beer and a place to sleep we will blow the fucking roof off. We are performing at the Under The Black Sun fest this summer in Berlin, and we did some shows in Holland, next year we might be going to the states for some festivals but all is uncertain.

Lou: Which band inspired you to play Metal and, more specifically, Black Metal?

Jan: Metal-Kreator, Coroner, Deathrow, Iron Maiden, Metallica, AC/DC,
Black metal- Gehenna, Satyricon, Mysticum, Sadistik Exekution, Bestial Walrust

Lou: The following quote is from a recent newsletter from Download.com:

?Vol. 4, No. 14 :: April 5, 2007 ::

Slayer Makes You Smarter

(Jan: -Not when im listening to it., at least not after beer number 15.) Forget Mozart, Bach, and even Duke Ellington: it's Slayer that marks you as a smart kid. Or so says Britain's the Independent: a recent story reported that thrash and metal are now the musical choices of child prodigies everywhere. Nothing like a little "visceral brutality" to keep one's brain at the peak of its powers. We don't know what that says about the U.S. government, where the musical tastes of recent administrations have leaned more toward blues, jazz, and, most recently, hip-hop.?

Do you have any comments/thoughts on this?

Jan: I read this here also. Finally recognition! haha. I don?t know man, maybe it?s true, [but] many people I see at concerts are mostly too wasted to know where they are, let alone be talking about and solving world problems. I think its more a thing that metal people just don?t have a many set boundaries. That always makes you smarter.

Lou: This is question that has been asked on the Loucifer Speaks forum recently and I thought I would ask it to you as well - even though it isn?t music related. Does religion have a place in modern society?

Jan: I don?t think it has place in any society, damn idiots, muslims, Christians, jews, pathetic sheep. I hate religion; most religious people are downright idiots. Its just pretty much laying down rules and boundaries that I cant stand, hypocritical bastards , It?s the Christians telling people not to use condoms, or the muslims hitting their woman and hating everything not muslim, all of them should be put on a one way trip to the moon. Whenever I know someone is a religious idiot I can?t resist making a fool off them, although with most muslims you have to be quick or the whole family will be chasing you down the street. I don?t see why people are so stupid to say that their god is the true god, look at all the crap all those idiots have made over the centuries, just piss off, grab a beer, eat some pork and relax

Lou: This is another question which has been asked on the forum? Which format do you prefer - vinyl, CD, MP3 or cassette? Please help us to settle this debate! Haha

Jan: Vinyl!!! Its sounds raw, it sounds better in high and bass tones and the cover just looks great, mp3 are crap, crap quality and its not worth shit.

Lou: Are you involved with any bands other than Sammath?

Jan: No, would like to, but haven?t got the time, most of my free time music wise is Sammath. I still have some projects on hold, since 96, haha.

Lou: I see you have a MySpace page. What are your views on MySpace? It seems like everyone on the planet has one!

Jan: Well, I got a lot of crap from people when I started a MySpace account, but who cares. The boss of Folter also told me, but he has a MySpace also. Its just another means of getting people to listen to your band, I really don?t see the problem, it?s a good way of hearing many bands, all else is elitist or conservative bullshit.

Lou: Which albums are you currently hooked on? Anything you?d recommend?

Jan: I?m hooked on the usual stuff, Sadistik Exekution, Kaos album, Mysticum, ?In the Streams of Inferno?. The new bands I listen to recently are Lja, very good melodic, fast black. Decayed, Skyforger. For people looking for something new I?d recommend Lja, Graupel, Control Human Delete, new dutch black, post black band, The Stone from Serbia. And there was some English band I just heard last night at a mates house, cant remember the name, pretty fast and brutal black thrash, on Agonia records I think, you?ll know who.

Lou: What are the future plans for Sammath?

Jan: Create more Albums, get better with each release and go on tour soon, hopefully end of the year, nothing is certain, but we are working on it. I have a deal for three more albums, so its all really beginning, ten years behind me with Sammath, at least ten to go

Lou: Thank you for your time - I look forward to expanding my Sammath collection with a few more albums!

Jan: No problem, thanks for the interview, older Sammath stuff is very different though, the first album is pretty much straight forward black metal, the second album is more grind, black. This album is definitely different, METAL OR DEATH


More Links: Dodengang Review, Sammath Forum Thread, "Strijd" Review.