In the realm of extreme metal, all eyes seem turned towards the cultural melting pot of the United States or the brutal cold of Nordic Europe. But many metalheads fail to give the harsh northern country of Russia the credit it is due. Slowly but surely, many worthy metal bands are beginning to crawl to the surface of the largest geographical nation on the planet. And one of the most notable of these is Grenouer. With several albums under their belts, the members of Grenouer are ready to take the rest of the extreme metal world by storm. Recently, I was able to ask Grenouer's vocalist Ind a few questions about the death metal band you should all be aware of.

Ind: Hello, how are you doing? To start with, I want to say that it's a real pleasure to be talking to you, and thank you very much for giving a little of your time to metal combo from Russia. Russia is still a dark horse as far as the world metal scene is concerned and so is Grenouer.

Ind: The band was formed in late 1992, but I only joined the band in 1994. At the time, it was a big honor to join Grenouer because they were a popular local band. I never suspected that I was destined to become more than just a front man and lead singer. Basically, as the years progressed I became the main representative of Grenouer. Before we recorded our debut album in 1996, I needed to do so much with the band, for instance changes needed to be made in the line up and I became responsible of this unenviable task. At times it was so damn hard to dismiss old members of the band and replace them with new ones, but sometimes you just have to do it for the sake of the band's development. But I did always try to be reasonable, honest and amiable. Basically, both myself and Slavij (bass) are the only original members of the band from the era of our debut release, "Border of Misty Times." However, I'm still really pleased to be working with Motor (guitars) who joined the band in 1999, and the two new boys, Grave on drums (he's the best drummer Grenouer has ever had!!!) and NV on keyboards, who I also worked with on the TARTHARIA project.

Ind: All our previous releases (4 full lengths and 2 EPs) are absolutely my own work, but I'm not really sure how it's gonna work later on. The thing is that I'm not a native English speaker, so sometimes the phrases I use may not sound perfect. In order to avoid this I try to keep my writing simple whilst maintaining the overall impact.

Ind: I've never really had the chance to practice any kind of vocal techniques. I also never use any harmonizers. The way I growl and scream relates to what is the most suitable for the material. Grenouer's new stuff is definitely different from our previous work, which means I shall be singing different as well. I recently had the chance to see some amateur video of a 1995 Grenouer gig, and I've got to say that I didn't realize how deep I used to growl in the early days. Hell, it's certain not about a low tone technique, it's about the pounding energy fitting in with the music.

Ind: It occurred to me that since our material was more like tech death metal I should use a tech death metal vocal manner, which is definitely high-end. What's more, I also used a new voice approach for the choruses and really enjoying as well. In the end, it all pretty much depends on the music, the way that it hits me in the head.

Ind: I think that the whole subject of musical influences is so complex that I'd better just talk about my personal musical tastes. I really enjoy bands like In Flames, Soilwork, SYL, Shadows Fall… of course I also admire death metal classics like Carcass, Entombed, Bolt Thrower, Morbid Angel and find myself open genres other than metal. The band that sparked my interest in metal was KISS. So you could call me a big KISS fan. I've got to say though that we have very few elements of KISS in our songs. It is better to be original and not to follow anyone else.

Ind: Ah, it definitely wasn't intentional, that's for sure! It just turned out that way. We wanted to try something abrupt and harsh after "Presence with War." Our new drummer added a new dimension to the band and this helped us to open new chapter in the Grenouer story. As for the sound, I think it was the sound producer who directed us into colouring our music with a more industrial sound. And hey, I suppose it suited us a lot as well.

Ind: I believe that the best thing about Grenouer is that we are constantly developing and trying our best. I've also got say that we don't consider ourselves to be part of the current death metal movement. We call our music tech metal even though it doesn't truly reveal the essence of our music, but I don't want people to get the impression that I'm saying we are extraordinarily special. Maybe we are on the verge of getting somewhere, I don't really know yet. What I do know however, is that many people enjoy listening to our music and that is the greatest reward for all our hard work. It's all okay if people don't find us particularly interesting, people like different things and it's impossible to satisfy all musical tastes.

Ind: Well, the scene in Russia is massive, but because the metal market is undeveloped it's very difficult to get worldwide recognition. And most foreign labels are in no rush to sign anyone from Russia, you can probably count the number of signed Russian metal bands on one hand - Forest Stream, Rakoth, Mental Home, The Lust, Merlin… and you still probably won't recognize these names, so I'd better not mention any unfamiliar names. All I've got to say is that Russian musicians are just as talented and skilled, and many have started to work with European sound producers, however they have very little chance of getting a proper deal and being promoted. Basically, coming from Russia remains a big handicap, like we're some sort of third world country.

Ind: I really hope that our future will be a lot easier than our recent past. Several weeks ago, a fire destroyed our rehearsal studio along with all our instruments. Two affected our upcoming plans and meant that we had to reschedule our studio sessions. Anyway we'll soon be getting new instruments and amps, and will set about creating some new killer riffs.