BEATEN TO DEATH - Chaotic Grindcore Mastery ! (Norway - GrindCore - Interview with Anders).

Hello ! Can you introduce yourself and tell us how it all began for you - your encounter with this musical universe, what appealed to you, what fascinated you and what made you want to get into music? 
Hey Fabien! I am Anti-Climax a.k.a Thee Unholy Goat Molester Of Death (U.G.M.O.D.), or as my parents named me: Anders. I do vocals in Beaten To Death. I was introduced to heavy music as a 12 year old back in 1992 during the summer holidays. My best friend had visited his grand parents who had MTV, which wasn’t that usual in Norway back then. He saw a few Metallica videos and was instantly hooked. As was I once he introduced me to them. This was of course during the black album era, but we soon found more interest in the older albums, and from there I just started discovering new music, and more and more extreme music at a steady pace, from Iron Maiden, through Sepultura to Napalm Death, Deicide, Obituary and all the other usual death metal suspects. This all happened so fast, I would say within a year, which amazes me to think back on, because all contact with the outside world was analogue and the music stores in Norway weren’t really that well stocked with underground music back then. This being Norway in the early to mid-90s, I of course also got very interested in what was happening in the local black metal scene. I was just completely fascinated with music that sounded intense and was also drawn in by the aesthetics of both artwork and menacing or cool looking dudes with long hair and band shirts. It all felt kind of forbidden. I am a music omnivore so I have never just limited myself to heavy music. My father gifted me an electric guitar around the same time and I immediately started a band. I have been in bands ever since, although I have stuck to doing vocals for the last 18 years.

What if I told you that you have to leave for a desert island in 5 minutes—you have no choice… except to take three albums with you… which ones, and why? Would you say that these were game-changers at some point in your life?
Ouch. This sounds stressful. Just from the top of my head:
King Crimson – Red
Burnt By The Sun – Soundtrack to the personal revolution
Miles Davis – Black Beauty: Miles Davis at the Fillmore West
Since I am into a lot of intense music, but know that if there wasn’t a bit of variation and dynamics and different instrumentation involved in the only music I was allowed to listen to all by my lonesome for the rest of my life, I would go insane.
There is only one metal and hardcore related record on that list, but they are all pretty heavy in their own right. I was introduced to the KING CRIMSON album by an older, local prog musician back in the early 90s and its been one of my absolute favorite albums since then. I would say that album is a perfect 10.
BURNT BY THE SUN never got the credit they deserved for making super heavy, catchy, moshable and smartly composed music. The drums and the riffs are in perfect dialogue on this album, and on their other releases for that matter.
As for MILES DAVIS, it could have been any one of his releases from his electric era. I have been a jazz enthusiast since my late teens, but it wasn’t that many years ago that I got completely obsessed with electric Miles Davis. I believe Black Beauty isn’t considered to be that important by most fans. It’s intense, heavy and blown out sounding, which is something I happen to love. The performances on this live recording are just off the charts. Whereas rock music is something I have thoroughly deciphered and understood from a performer point of view, jazz is still a bit of a mystery to me. I love that.
Hey, I guess I managed to choose three pretty heavy records without staying within the conventional boundaries of heavy music!

Tell me about the band... How you met - the current line-up - past experiences - and above all - WHY the need to form THIS band?
The idea for Beaten To Death had been kicking around between a couple of the members for about five years until they decided to do something about it in 2010. Everyone in the band had been playing together with one or more of the other guys in some shape or form before Beaten To Death. The band was never really meant to be anything more than a side project as most of us had other main projects going back then, but it soon turned into a main focus for all of us. We had a few things we wanted to do with this band: we wanted to use grindcore as a starting point, but we wanted it to be melodic. Also, we’ve had this dogma that we’ve tried to stick by, which is that we only keep doing it as long as it’s fun and we will try to avoid losing money doing the band. This has mostly worked in our favor, but it means we don’t go on long tours, to avoid risking our finances or family lives doing this. Aside from losing our original bass player, Mika, last year, the line-up has been stable since day 1. Our long-time friend Ola Hana has now taken over bass duties. This is good for a bunch of middle-aged men. We need to play with people our own age that we feel safe around. Don’t be too youthful and inexperienced around us, please.
We have never felt obligated to stick to one genre or sound, and we are not afraid of using ideas that seem ridiculous when writing songs. Somehow it always ends up sounding like Beaten To Death anyway, yet we don’t feel like we are treading water.

Describe your sound and explain why I should listen to YOUR band at all cost ?
Beaten To Death is indie rock grindcore, a combination of blast beats and good melodies, sprinkled with influences from 90s metal. You need to listen to us because we will make you feel a lot of different feelings at the same time: confusion, anger, happiness and an insatiable need to dance.

Lyrical and musical inspirations/influences ? How important are the lyrics for you ? Are there any specific messages or thoughts you try to develop and share through your lyrics ? 
Everyone in the band has widely diverse influences and we don’t really agree on that much musically, aside from our shared love for Flordia death metal and Napalm Death. My vocals in this band are heavily influenced by Kevin Sharp of Brutal Truth, Jon Chang of Discordance Axis and a bunch of hardcore bands from around the world.
We are not a “one message – one truth” kind of band, so lyrical themes for our songs vary. We mostly write about our own lives. This may sound boring, but at least we are familiar with the material. Over the last few albums there’s been a lot of focus on standing on threshold to the final chapters of our lives. Failing bodily functions and grumpiness, basically.

About the band's discography... Imagine someone who doesn't know your band at all and wants to get interested in.. Which release would you recommend to start with, and why? 
Start with our third album Unplugged, from 2015. I believe it was the first time we really felt we were exactly where we wanted to be sonically. It hits that sweet spot of having good hooks and intense blast beats, being both complicated and primitive at the same time. It really showcases our tongue in cheek approach to song titles and lyrics, if you can make them out.

About your next release ? 
We will release our 7th album VNTRVE on October 23rd (2026). This album is a bit of a frankenstein album. Parts of it were recorded in the same session as our previous release SUNRISE OVER RIGOR MORTIS, back in 2022-2024 at a venue called Parkteatret. The other half was written and recorded between 2025 and 2026 in our rehearsal space. As usual we keep production in-house, meaning that we rent or borrow spaces to record, but our guitar player Tommy engineers and mixes the thing. Our other guitar player Martin runs the label that releases our music: Mas-Kina Recordings. DIY for life, baby. We wouldn’t mind having less administrative tasks, but dealing with labels and studios really makes our blood pressure hit unhealthy levels, so it’s better this way.
This album has a lot of weird songs on it. We have also upped the ante in the guest musician department, with vocals from Norwegian hip hop legend Joddski, saxophone freak outs by Bendik Brænne and Moog madness by Harada Yosuke. Yosuke also runs the label that releases our music in Japan, ESAGOYA RECORDS. Shout out!

Future plans ? 
We hope to do a bit more touring in 2027 and 2028, both in Europe and Asia. Things are a bit up in the air right now. Other than that, I think we have at least two more albums in us before we hit that THIS ISN’T FUN ANYMORE point, haha.

Your most insane dream with the band would be ?
I dunno, we don’t really dream big at this point.

Your BEST & WORST concert - as a band - and why ? 
There aren’t any one that stand out.
We had a couple of those badly attended gigs that all bands have to go through in the early days, and although we always strive to treat all shows as our favorite show ever, it can be hard to keep the spirits up when the three people in the crowd are giving you the finger because they feel you just disturb their drinking session. This never really gets to me anymore, though. I am the one that chose to make weird niche music, so now I just focus on the fun. If you do that, you win people over. Our shows are a party more often than not.
I will say our short 2024 Japan tour was extra memorable for us, probably because it blows our minds that we can go play for awesome, crazy music fanatics on the other side of the world. Any show where we can feel there is a transaction going on between us and the crowd gives us a major kick.  

Next live-appearance(s) ?
The only gigs booked this year are a few dates around Norway in October and November:
October 9th Big Dipper Records, Oslo – in-store showcase
October 23rd Vaktbua, Kristiansand
October 24th Munken , Arendal
November 21st, Mas-Kina Fest @ Vaterland, Oslo 

Some words on your local scene - bands you're friends with and you'd like to name ? 
When we started out in 2010 it seemed to us like there were no other grindcore bands in Norway. We were of course wrong, but there wasn’t exactly a flourishing grindcore scene. Now we have a handful of bands keeping the blast beat spirit alive. Over the last years the venue Vaterland has had a grindcore event going down in January called MELODI GRIND PRIX, showcasing both Norwegian bands and a few bands from other countries. A big shout out to our grind scenester friends in MAKKMAT, TÆL, AVGRUNDSLJUD, HIGGS BOSON and FORCEFEAD HORSEHEAD. And of course to Fritz and Rob at Vaterland. They’ve given us a place to hang and feel like we belong in Oslo.

What’s the question you’ve always dreamed of answering but have never been asked? Just a heads-up: I’m also waiting for the answer that goes with it...
Question: Why do you keep singing in a bunch of different languages?
Answer: Glad you asked! We started mixing English and Norwegian in the same lyrics at an early stage. Then Swedish became part of the staple languages on our records. We also did a a bit of Dutch a couple of albums ago, and on this new album we do a full song in French.
Using different languages changes the sound and attack of the vocals, which makes it more interesting and challenging for us. In the early days we did several songs without lyrics at all, just focusing on the sound of the vocals, but over the years we found sticking to lyrics makes the vocals more solid and consistent in the live setting. Also we get to write lyrics that crack us up.
There are several other artists that have had interesting approaches to languages and vocals, just go listen to Cocteau Twins and Magma, for example.

Well, the interview is coming to an end… Is there anything else you’d like to add? Anything I didn’t think of? Something important, funny, silly… It doesn’t matter!
Just want to thank you for the interview and tell your readers that if they want us to play in their area, hit us up! Or just throw us a line if you wanna say hi. Get our new album over at our bandcamp or https://tigernet.no/releases/1080067-vntrve
Support your local grindcore dads! Stay VNTRVE!