So, how did you guys meet each other?

Hello Hussein,
Sven and Olli founded Scythe back in 1994. It was an idea rooted back in our youth. We were friends in school since 1993 and of course sick of everything what happened to us until then.
So we needed a kind of valve to let the anger come out. Scythe was born just to exist for ourselves. We were about 16 when we started the group.

Where did you get the band name from?

The band name was also chosen in the early days. We consider "Scythe" as a synonym for anger, doom and death on the one hand but also as a kind of symbol for harvest and fertility.
Suddenly I got this name in my mind and I just thought it is right for us.

How did you get a record deal?

Well, not long ago we did promotion for our "On my way home" album. We sent promo packages to several mags and we were looking forward to a review. Metalgospel was an internet mag which was more than only interested in our music. Cheryl Tarlaian from Metalgospel wanted to found a label so it was the right time for us. Cheryl´s label is called Witches Brew and is associated with Barbarian Wrath which supports mainly underground Black Metal Bands. Cheryl and Witches Brew choose more the Death Metal style.
What the label likes about Scythe is the combination of clean atmosphere and straight slow hand Death Metal. We released "On my way home" in June 2002.

In one sentence, please describe your music.

Scythe plays Melodic Death Metal with atmospheric influences from the whole music spectrum.

Which song, or songs, do you like to play live?

We play songs from every album but mostly from the current release. The new setlist will include 5 new songs from "Poetry of illusions" when the new album is released in July.

Where is your favourite place to play live?

What seems really interesting for us is to play on festivals. So far we haven´t played any festival gigs so open air really might be a new experience.

Which artists do you think have influenced you in some way?

In recent years I would say it´s the influence of Opeth or old Katatonia.
Especially the new album is influenced by albums like "Brave Murder Day" or "Blackwater Park". Generally Scythe was influenced also by bands like Unleashed or Edge of Sanity. That concerned mainly the early times of the band from 1994 to 1996.

When is your new album coming out, and what can we expect from you guys?

"Poetry of illusions" will be released in July 2003 by Witches Brew. The album includes 9 new songs and the "On my way home" video. The album is slow and melodic but also melancholic and straight Death Metal. We recorded it at Metalsound studio with Torsten Sauerbrey from Germany´s Dark at Dawn. He has done a great job as the album sounds really hard and powerful.

What is the craziest thing you've done as a band?

This is really hard to answer. I mean a lot of things happen to you as a band. Not only on stage. Honestly the most amazing and craziest thing is that we weren´t forced to leave our rehearsal cottage so far because the whole neighbourhood enjoys Scythe at the weekend since years. Although this sounds not very crazy people would be convinced when they had the chance to listen to what I try to describe.

If you had to tour with a couple of bands, who would those bands be?

Well I can only speak for myself because Norman is visiting Germany´s "Fuck the commerce" festival at the moment.
I would like to support OPETH, KATATONIA and the mighty UNLEASHED if I had the chance. I know these are major ones but I grew up with these great bands.
I have a never ending list of great bands I like to mention but I think these three bands are Scythe´s major influence.

Anyway, that's about the end, this is where you get to say whatever you
want.

I would like to thank you for the interview. I hope many of you guys will hear our new release "Poetry of illusions" when it´s out in July. RAGING METAL RULES.....

Thanks again for the interview!

Bye!