Are you recording your new album now? Is the music similar to the one in "Promo 2001"?

Yeah, we're almost finished recording the new album which will be entitled "An Epic Defiance". We'll start mixing next week and the release is planned for the 19^th October. The music is indeed quite similar to the music from our Promo-CD from 2001, the songs from those recordings have been re-recorded for the new album, as well as 8 brand new songs. The new songs are in the same vein as the promo-songs, but I think they do show some kind of progression in structure and in the melodies. They are also a bit more varied, with more unexpected breaks and riffs in them, and more brutal !!

How are your new songs compared to the ones in the "Lost Euphoria" MCD?

In some ways totally different, but they still have characteristic Detonation features, I think. At the time we recorded the "Lost Euphoria" mini-CD, we were more into the Black/Death scene, and nowadays we've become more of a Thrash/Death band. Besides that, we also gained a lot of technical skills in the past 2 years and developed a more "in your face" kind of extreme metal. But the most important differences will be found in the songwriting process, I think. When we wrote "Lost Euphoria", we thought a song was only cool when it had at least 10 riffs in it with a minimum of structure, so if you judge the songs on those criteria, you could say we changed a lot since then.

How is the process of composition for Detonation's songs?

We usually get drunk first, and then visit the red light-district here in Utrecht, and then the inspiration comes naturally ! But besides this preferable method, we also write music in sober conditions. Most of the time, one of us come up with a couple of riffs or ideas, and then work them out together at our rehearsal place in Utrecht. Our rehearsal place is by the way an old 2^nd World war bunker/shelter, so that also helps as a source of inspiration. That's also an explanation how we came up with the name Detonation! But to get back at the writing process, some songs are written within a few hours, and sometimes a song will take several sessions to complete, it really depends on our mood. The lyrics are always written after we completed the music, I prefer that way of composition so I can get to know song well on guitar before I have to write vocal lines, that works best for me. What's also worth mentioning is that we always try to improve the songs, even though they are songs written months before and seem to have been completed. I always try to give the songs something extra on guitar, or with my vocals.

Are you planning some tour in order to support your new material?

We're playing at least 6 shows here in Holland right after the CD has been released, but we haven't planned a tour or something after those gigs. Hopefully we will get signed by a label soon after the release, we're going to send the CD to all interesting labels around the world somewhere in November, so who knows what the future will bring. We do have an option of a package deal with Avenger(CZ) to do a couple of shows in The Czeck Republic and in Germany,

Are you going to release your new material through Skull Crusher Productions?

It depends. We'll release "An Epic Defiance" ourselves at first, and distribute it ourselves. Like I said before, if we don't get signed by a label within a certain period, we will use the possibility to release it through Skullcrusher records. This means the distribution will be minimal, cause Skullcrusher does not have as much connections as other Labels do. However, time shall tell what our future will look like...Nothing is certain at this point, though we do have the confidence that we'll get signed by a significant label with the release of this CD.

How would you describe a Detonation typical show?

You can expect a brutal performance, with the four of us going to the extreme ! We always try to overwhelm the audience with the brutality of our music. People who have been to one of our shows usually confess to us that we sound a lot faster and more brutal on stage than we do on our recordings. I always get really into the music on stage, and try to give everything I've got. With the release of the new CD, we will try to improve our show some more, and add some things, like samples and stuff.

How was your experience in the tour with Orphanage?

We did some sort of mini-tour with them in 2001 to promote our promoCD. I think we played about 15 shows with them, and all shows were great!! Besides the fact that Orphanage is a talented band, they are also very cool individuals. We all had a lot of fun with them, and I'm still grateful to them for giving us the opportunity to do these gigs. I think we learned a lot during the shows, and also gained a lot of confidence and skills. Before these shows, we never played in front of a large audience, just at places with maximal 100 people, and now suddenly we had to play in front of 200 to 600(!) people. That gave me a lot of confidence as front man of Detonation. In the beginning, I was only paying attention to the musical part during a gig, but since then I learned to pay more attention to the show-aspect.

Which are your memories on the recording of the songs that ended in the Crushing Skull compilation?

Those were our first 2 songs that we ever recorded. It took us about half a day to record them at a small home-studio near our home-town Utrecht, and it was great, but all very new for us at that time.

Why did you change your name from Infernal Dream to Detonation?

We think the word detonation describes our music very well. We make fast and often aggressive music, like an explosion of music, a detonation. If you ever have the chance to see us perform live on stage, you'll know why!! It's one of our goals with our music, to surprise and overwhelm people with it. We started out under the name Infernal Dream, but we changed it for 2 reasons. There are a lot of bands with "infernal" in their names. Secondly, the name sounds more like a black metal name, and since we no longer make black metal, it was best to change the name.

Any final words?

Interview by Federico Marongiu