Interview mit Eric Daniels & Twan van Geel von Soulburn

Personally, I was extremely surprised by your new album. To me, it feels like a very significant stylistic shift compared to your previous releases. Do you see it that way as well, or do you consider it more of a natural evolution?
Eric: I can understand that! We don’t feel tied to creating the same type of style every time. The core aspects of SOULBURN can also be found on our new album. We play the music we think is exciting, including all the nuances within it. The new songs came to us naturally, and as a whole, the music is more diverse than on the previous albums. We also don’t want to keep fishing in the same musical pond, because then every album would end up sounding the same. We’re versatile, and that’s exactly how we like it.

The approach to the vocals is also more pronounced this time. The interplay between the extreme vocals and the pure clean vocals is far more present on this new album. Our goal has always been to broaden and renew ourselves as musicians, not to stay fixated on one specific approach just for the sake of making extreme music. On this album, we truly wanted to create music in the full, expressive sense of the word, which is why it naturally sounds different from our previous releases. We see this new album as another step forward, and in fact, you can trace those steps between all our previous records. For us, it has always been a natural evolution.

In any case, SOULBURN sound very different today than they did in the early years. Of course, a band doesn’t simply change its name, but many bands adapt their logo over time. Was it ever a topic for you to move away from the old-school death metal logo – or even to release the album under a different name?
Eric: No, that thought never crossed our minds. We don’t feel we’ve become a completely different band, so there was never a reason to change our name or our logo. When you listen to the new album, you can clearly hear the aspects of our roots shining through. We respect and are still very proud of all our previous work. Changing the logo would mean losing that entire legacy. And besides, we simply love our logo. It’s our identity, it represents who we are and what we stand for. That we sound different yes, of course you can expect that. There’s a 30‑year gap between our debut Feeding On Angels and this new album.

After all, the name and logo of SOULBURN have always been strongly associated with old-school death metal. Did you think about how fans might react to this change?
Eric: For us, it has always been about creating the kind of music we ourselves love to play. We make music for ourselves – not because someone asks for it, and not based on how we’re “supposed” to sound. We are completely uncompromising. We do what we want, and we do it the way we want it. As a band, you can never meet everyone’s expectations. People either like our music or they don’t; it’s very black and white. As a music lover myself, I’ve always had that same instinct: I hear something and immediately know whether it grabs me or not. So far, many people have said they like the new album; it is fantastic, and of course that’s great to hear. We take our fans with us on this new cosmic journey, with all the emotions that come with it.

The most striking feature of the album is the clean singing. You’ve never used it to this extent before. How did that idea come about? Was it planned from the beginning or did it develop spontaneously?
Twan: The atmosphere I get from Eric’s riffs paves the way for how I decide to sing on them. The way I see it, what I choose must eventually empower and enrich the total experience of the song. For instance, when a riff has an eighties spacy feel to it, I will imagine how an old legend like David Bowie would have sung to this. Or when it’s mysterious and dark, I could think of Nick Cave or Nocturno Culto, but of course, because it’s my voice and my lyrics, it always stays SOULBURN. There’s just an endless well of possibilities, but that doesn’t mean you just gotta go out and do it all. The bottom line always is, do the vocals add to the desired outcome? In that sense, progression and liberty are never to be denied when creating music from the heart.

How have the reactions been from your perspective? Have you also received negative feedback?
Eric: Well, as a musician and as a band, you have to be able to handle criticism of your music. That’s only logical; music is something personal; you either think it’s great or you don’t. That’s just how it works. And alongside all the positive reactions and album reviews we got, there will naturally be negative ones as well. It doesn’t affect us; we make the music we believe in, and if people join us on that journey, they’ll get something they enjoy. On social media, everything tends to be very black-and-white anyway: people either love it or they don’t. In short, you get criticism and you get praise. And as veterans as we are, as you can put it, we know how to deal with that.

What was your own reaction when you heard how different the band suddenly sounded?
Were you surprised yourself, how SOULBURN can sound?
Eric: No, not at all, I wasn’t surprised in the slightest. And if I had been surprised, it would’ve been in an extremely positive way. From the very first compositions and the way the songs started taking shape, we already felt that this was something we were really excited about. And the final result, the complete album, turned out absolutely fantastic. In short, we didn’t have any blinders on during the process. We knew exactly how it was going to sound and what it was going to become. Creating music in its purest form was our starting point, and we achieved that to the bone!

At times, the vocals sound almost avant-garde; in other places they feel strongly rooted in black metal, while elsewhere they have a distinctly doom-laden character … it sometimes reminds me of ROTTING CHRIST, but also VIRUS. Where do you see SOULBURN in 2026 stylistically – also in terms of choosing suitable bands to tour with?
Eric: Those are very nice comparisons, thank you for that. At the moment we honestly have no idea what’s coming our way in terms of shows and tours. This October we’ll be doing a European tour together with MORK, our Norwegian metal brothers. That’s going to be amazing; we already know that. We toured South America with them in 2022, and that was an incredible experience. That bond runs deep. And there are already confirmed shows for 2027, so we go hit the road again and spread our Quantifying Cosmic Doom. Our booker at We‑Live Agency always comes up with great offers, so we’ll see what crosses our path this time. It’s an adventure as always!

Do you already have live shows planned? Will you be touring in support of the album?
Eric: This October we’ll embark on a European tour together with our brothers from the Norwegian band MORK – the same guys we toured South America with back in 2022.

What kind of music do you personally listen to these days? Has your own taste changed as well? Are there any direct or indirect influences that help explain this stylistic shift?
Eric: We listen to all kinds of music from PINK FLOYD, FLEETWOOD MAC, Bowie and Nick Cave to the most extreme forms of metal. TYPE O NEGATIVE, TRELLDOM, ORANSSI PAZUZU… our musical taste is very broad. All those influences find their way into our inspiration, but always indirectly. We never copy anything. Whatever resonates with us, we absorb it and transform it into something that becomes our own – a true SOULBURN ingredient.

How are the cover artwork, the title, and the lyrics connected? Is this a concept album? 
Twan: In a way, yes. And that’s why I also added the chapters to it, to make it more put together as a whole. The connection I try to weave throughout the album is the notion that everything is a universe unto itself. No matter how deeply you travel inward, or how far you stretch outward, lines, forms, shapes and figures; movements, forces and recurring patterns, each existence is caught within what we, in our human inadequacy, have chosen to call “time.” Much of this lies far beyond the reach of our limited minds, and that is precisely where I want to go when I write. SOULBURN’s music becomes the boundless vessel that carries me there. And just as with music, though it may be harder to achieve with words, I believe lyrics must leave room for ambiguity. They should reveal themselves differently from moment to moment: something to return to, to conspire with mentally, or simply to experience as a source of inspiration and imagination.

How did you come up with the lyrics? What inspires you?
Twan: The lyrics are a cocktail of things. First comes the music, which is my main inspiration for the vibe of the lyrics. It gives me direction, a pace, and that comes with a type of vocal line or melody how I want to sing to it. And then that vocal line comes with words that start to flow, it builds itself, and from there on sets a tone of emotions. I actually never really think about what I am going to write, I just literally feel. And then words just start to flow and form lyrics. Topics are always philosophical in their DNA. Combine that with a deep-rooted dose of poetic misanthropy and a lustful desire to intrigue with ambiguous depth. The music is the vessel, the words are its ghost.

In this context, what do you associate with the artwork?
Twan: The artwork for Quantifying Cosmic Doom, created by Manuel Tinnemans (Comaworx), is deeply intriguing. It weaves together octopuses, hourglasses, and cosmic imagery, centered around a female goddess-like figure. These elements collide and coexist, reinforcing the album’s themes of time, transcendence, and humanity’s search for meaning within the vast indifference of the universe. During our South American tour with MORK in 2022, we found ourselves in São Paulo one day. The city is home to this vast cemetery, and there, among the silence, I came upon this statue, a female figure of sorts. It struck me immediately. I took a photograph on the spot, with the quiet intuition that it might one day become the seed of a future album. At that time, not a single new song had been written. To me, the figure embodies that which people cling to as they move through life, an anchor, a source of meaning. In the artwork she stands at the heart of the cosmos, encircled by a serpent and by tentacles reaching outward. Time runs as a central thread through the album, hence the hourglasses. One holds an embryo, the other a feather, symbols of how an entire lifetime is, in a sense, suspended within time, inescapable and relentless. Her hands are cut off, and float underneath the hourglasses, symbolizing ‘the thief of time.’ And yet the cosmos remains unmoved, utterly indifferent to it all. It’s that quiet, unsettling contrast I found so compelling.

Some musical elements are surprising or even unsettling – for example, the „busy signal“ in the opener or the disintegrating ending of “Stalactites Of Molten Flesh.” Are these purely musical ideas, or are they part of a broader concept?
Eric: If by that you mean the samples that sometimes connect the songs or certain sound effects, most of those were already planned during the demo phase. We always start by creating a first outline at home in Cubase, and from there we develop the songs into what we call our blueprints – the versions we take with us into the studio. Those demos already contain the samples, but once we’re in the studio we usually come up with even more ideas. Since this album was also produced by Erwin Hermsen at Toneshed Studio, he added some ideas of his own as well, which fit perfectly with the overall atmosphere of the album.

How are you planning to present this material live? Will you use backing tracks for some of the elements or will you leave these out?
Eric: Yes, that’s correct; we will definitely be using them live. Not a huge amount, but in the moments where it truly adds something, we’ll absolutely bring them in. It makes the whole experience even more atmospheric and recognizable. We’ve thought this through carefully and included it in the new live set we’ve put together, which we’ll be bringing to the stage during our upcoming shows and European tour in October.

And more in general, will you mix the old and new songs in the setlist, or will you focus primarily on the new direction?
Eric: Yes, we do. In fact, we’ve included one or more songs from every album we’ve released in the new setlist. Naturally, there are a few more tracks from the new album, since we want to promote it properly. Putting the setlist together wasn’t easy, but Twan created a great outline that we all agreed on. So people can expect a very diverse SOULBURN repertoire during our live shows.

Thanks for your time and your answers – let’s finish this interview with a short brainstorming. Please pick one of each pair and tell us why you prefer it:
Eric: Thank you very much, Moritz, also for this interview and here we go:

Vinyl or Streaming?
Eric: Vinyl. I am from the old school age, I started like almost 43 years ago … yes I am a Metal-dinosaur (laughs). It’s still vinyl, the sound is better, warmer and it’s nice to put something on the turntable. And when I am a big fan of a band I want to have the vinyl version.
Twan: Vinyl. I am actually 90% streaming these last years, but still buy nice vinyl from time to time at an occasional live show, if the band delivered. This way they become souvenirs, things you can go back to from time to time and perhaps relive that show also and perhaps remember the people you were with that day.

Pizza or pasta?
Eric : Pizza. I love the toppings on a pizza, and that nice crispy crust as well.
Twan: I can have a Pasta aglio olio e peperoncino and a good bottle of wine anytime.

Festival or Clubshow?
Eric: Tough one! Both. I know I’m supposed to choose one, but in this case I really can’t say one or the other. They’re both great to do, and each has its own incredible atmosphere.
Twan: Clubshow. There are less people, and less sun or rain, and less people who just headbang to literally everything and dress up like Unicorn Zebras. With a clubshow, the crowd is more in the same bubble with you.

Cannabis or Beer?
Eric : Beer. There’s nothing better than sitting backstage after a show and enjoying an ice-cold, delicious beer. Pure bliss.
Twan: Beer. Love the bubbles, love the taste, also a big fan of IPAs & Belgian sour beers. I fuckin’ love beers. Did I already mention beer? Beer.

Studio or stage?
Eric : Another tough one and again I have to say: both. The studio is fantastic, because you hear the songs grow and it’s amazing to build them together. And the stage… that’s incredible in its own way – the atmosphere, the energy, and seeing people enjoy what we create. Both have their own magic.
Twan: Stage. I like studio and the whole creative process a lot. But on stage the blood really runs where it should. It’s where the magic transcends and where I find true meaning. And when things go as they should, the whole puzzle of life just falls exactly into place.

Publiziert am 30. Juni 2026 von Moritz Grütz