Two years after their second album, old-school death metal band GRAND CADAVER are releasing a new EP, „The Rot Beneath“. In this interview, guitarist Alex Stjernfeldt reveals why the Swedish band chose this format, why the lyrics are more political, and what still fascinates him so much about classic death metal.
It’s been two years since your last album – how do you feel about “Deities Of Deathlike Sleep” today – are you completely satisfied with it, or would you do something different from today’s perspective?
I’m really satisfied with “Deities”! I try not to think about what we could have done different, we did the album the way we did at that time since it was the way we wanted to do it. Of course, you always want to evolve and in those cases you might revisit an older album to see how you want to progress forward with the new one you are working on. But all in all, I think that the songs on “Deities” are great, and the production sounds really cool and our own!
With “The Rot Beneath” you just have released a new EP. When did you decide that it would be an EP – even before you wrote the material, or did you spontaneously decide with four finished songs in your pocket to make an EP out of it without further ado?
It kind of happened naturally. We had a bunch of songs, and then we decided that it should be a four-track EP, so we cherry-picked the best ones to create the most intense and best EP we could do. As with much we do with GRAND CADAVER, we just do things and what happens, happens. We try to not overthink it. We want to keep it spontaneous and direct.
In the age of streaming, EPs have gone out of fashion – even more so than albums. What do you like about the format?
I like the format for us, since it lets us be spontaneous, and we can record it all in one weekend. Just the five of us together with our producer, Per Stålberg, hammering out the tunes. EPs might be a dead format, but we are a Death Metal band so it suits us fine (laughs). The format of an EP fitted better this time around. We’ll see what the next recording will be. If an EP is better, then it will be an EP or if an album fits our schedules, then we’ll make an album.
Are you maybe already working on a new album – and if so, when can we expect it?
No, not really, we have some songs written, but we haven’t talked about what our next step is yet. We’ll take it as it comes, but hopefully we can and will release new music in 2026! But we’ll see. As I mentioned, GRAND CADAVER works best when things just happen.
Mikael in particular is extremely busy with his bands – how did you approach the songwriting and the recordings?
We felt like an EP was the right choice for us now. As you mentioned, Mikael is a busy bee, and we didn’t have the time to immerse ourselves into a full album production. So we said, “hey, let’s kick it like we did on „Madness Comes“!”. Just the five of us in the studio, recording it all in one weekend. As for the songs, we wanted to take advantage of the EP setting, streamline it and go for total sonic annihilation, four songs that just rip. Theme-wise we felt like we wanted to be more political due to the situation in the world. “The Rot Beneath” is a more streamlined and furious GRAND CADAVER!
The cover looks pretty dystopian – can you explain the idea behind the picture?
The idea came from me, Albin (Illusive) and Mikael. The same trio that came up with “Into The Maw Of Death”. We wanted to explore the idea that maybe the undead aren’t the bad people. Maybe hell is here on earth, and we, the humans, are the rot. Just look at the state of the world, look at certain leaders around the globe, they are certainly driving this earth into the shitter. As long as they have their corrupted power and money, they don’t care that people suffer and the world burns. As we sing in the title track: “What are we but the cause of the problem? What are we but the rot beneath”. That is what the cover is all about.
Stylistically, you remain true to yourselves and the genre of Swedish old school death metal: the EP is also reminiscent of bands like GRAVE or ENTOMBED. Which bands would you name as an influence for GRAND CADAVER?
Thank you! We all love the Swedish Death Metal sound, we were there when it started and some of us even were a part of shaping the sound. Of course, the classic Sunlight sound is a big inspiration for us and bands like the ones you mentioned. But I think that we also bring in a lot of influences from other genres and bands. All of us have a really broad taste in music and that colours the way we write to GRAND CADAVER. One foot firmly in HM-2 Death Metal and the other in genres like Post Rock, classic rock, industrial, pop etc. It all makes for a great potpourri.
What fascinates you about this genre – and what would you like to “add” to the genre with GRAND CADAVER?
It’s a genre we have been a part of for as long as we can remember, it’s in our DNA, and it seems like we can’t get away from it, we always return (laughs). What fascinates me with it is the sheer rawness, the heaviness, the variation and that it always has that twinkle in the eye. Extreme and fun music. Just a couple of friends, having a beer and creating a wall of distortion with a backdrop of horror movies! And with GRAND CADAVER, I don’t know if we want to “add” anything, really. We just want to have fun and write catchy tunes! Well, maybe this time we want to add some social commentary and politics to it, create some Protest Death Metal.
From a fan’s point of view, EPs are often quite unprofitable, as you pay almost as much for a physical sound carrier as for an album – but only for a small amount of music. In your case, a good quarter of an hour of music. As a rather small band with few collectors or die-hard fans, is it still worth releasing a physical EP?
This is maybe a question for our label to answer, as I don’t know. But answering for me, I think that this is a great physical product we have created together with Majestic Mountain Records. A gatefold 12”-vinyl, UV print on the B-side, great artwork by Illusive etc. etc. And sure, it might “just” be four songs, but they are great songs, and they are written to be heard as a four-song EP.
The EP is also being released in the middle of August, when many fans are at festivals or saving money – not the ideal time for a release. Did you not care, or why did you still decide on a summer release?
From the beginning, we aimed for a spring release, but it got delayed to August. I think that it might be a good date for a release, people are coming back from their vacations, they are getting ready to get back to work or school. Now they get the perfect soundtrack to get back to the grind!
You have not been playing at any of the festivals this season. Do you have a tour in sight, or is it not worth it for you?
We don’t have any tours planned and only one show planned. It’s difficult to get all schedules in place. But if and when the planets align, we’ll hit the stage and it will be a great time!
Thanks for your time and your answers. Let’s finish this interview with a short brainstorming:
LG Petrov: Absolute legend!
Vinyl: Of course!
Iron Maiden: Nope!
Alcohol-free beer: Why?
Ozzy Osbourne: Mega legend!
GRAND CADAVER in 10 years: Retired!
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15. August 2025 Moritz Grütz
Fotos von: Afra Gethöffer-Grütz
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