D: What I really dig about the album is the idea to take a different singer for each song. How did this idea came up?

F: Well I wrote and recorded all the instruments first and later thought of who I wanted to get on vocals. Over the years I have met a lot of awesome vocalists that I thought would be a perfect match for this album. But since there are so many I decided to make a selection and try to get as much of them on there as possible. This resulted in my choice of having a different one on each track.

D: You work with Mallika Sundaramurthy (Abnormality), Vladislav Martirosov & Red Beton (Extermination Dismemberment), Andy Tseung (Soils of Fate), Larry Wang (Maggot Colony), Sven van Dijk (Korpse), Don Campan (Waking the Cadaver) and Paolo Chiti (Devangelic), Jack and Mats (Kraanium), Bazza (Indecent Excision) and Mike (Euphoric Defilement). How did you choose them and how was the contact/work together? Can you please tell some short sentences about each one of them?

F: To start with Mallika, I always admired her performances in Abnormality. We started talking about the possibility to work on this track via facebook and it wen all smooth from there. With the dudes from Extermination we already talked this over on our first tour together in 2018, and it just went natural.

Although I met Andy a while ago at some shows, we got in touch again via FB and worked from there. The same with Larry. We met the last time Maggot Colony toured Europe, but that was way before FD came up. With Sven it obviously came natural as well. We had some beers and a fun recording day in my own studio.

Don I met last year when we played a couple shows together and had a great party at Deathfeast. Im sure it came up during the partying, but we finished up all the details again via FB and the whole process went easy and smooth. Paolo was actually the first one I asked when we played a couple shows in the UK a couple of years back. This came to point when I wrote the first track for this project (Pinnacle of Deranged Euphoria) where I instantly imagined his vocals on there.

The Kraanium dudes I knew for quite a while, and I thought it was an awesome idea to get both Jack and Mats on there (like I did with Extermination) and a great way to keep it interesting throughout the whole album. Matteo’s bands inspired me a lot during the writing process for this album, with Neurogenic in particular. With that being said I definitely needed him on a track as well! The same goes for Mike. The Euphoric Defilement album is in my top BDM albums. So I was very stoked to work with him, and the communication/working process went smooth and easy.

D: Your brother in crime for this project, Florent Duployer, of Kakothanasy, Anachronism and Dynamite Abortion is bringing the blasts for this album. How did you guys came together and did you have working together longer in mind?

F: After I had the pre-productions ready. I also decided that I wanted real drums on there, and not a drumcomputer like I already do with Carnifloor.

I got the first Kakothanasy album from Boris Masur around the time that it came out, and I was immediately sold. I always like to browse around youtube for band videos, and I kept coming back to those “Florent Duployer drum cam videos” so I just wrote him, send the tracks and he was as stoked as I was to record them! 

D: How was the writing for this album. Would you say this is more like a concept album or more random brutal tracks you wrote together? What did influence you for this record?

F: It is kinda random I guess. I just tried to write riffs that where challenging to myself to practice and play them right. A lot of inspiration I got from bands like Putridity, Neurogenic and Guttural Secrete to name a few.

D: How long did it take to write and record the album and how was it in the studio? Tell us some cool inside stories about the process?

F: I'm not sure how long it took me to write the music, but let’s say around half a year? The recording has been all DIY. Florent recorded all his drums in his own drum room and I recorded the guitars and bass when I just moved from Holland to Germany to live together with my girlfriend. At this time we were waiting for our new flat to get ready, and we lived in her small 1 bedroom flat for the time being. I set up my 1 square meter studio in the corner, and now she still has nightmares about the metronoom clicks haha.

Meanwhile the vocals got tracked everywhere around the world, I already started mixing the album myself. This was pretty difficult because I only started to learn mixing/mastering around the end of 2018. It was a lot of stressing and figuring things out, but luckily I got a lot of help, tips and “extra ears” from friends. (Big shout out to Benjamin from Diphenylchloroarsine!)

In the end I am very proud of what I accomplished with this album.

D: What would you say is the difference for you writing songs for this project in comparison to Korpse for example. Are your other band activities also an inspiration for this project?

F: Haha well the big difference with Korpse is that Marten writes everything in Korpse. We just fine tune it during the rehearsals before the recording, but the writing is all him.

My other band activities are definitely a source of inspiration, but more to the “business” side of things. With my other bands I made a lot of contacts which makes it way easier to get so many people involved in this album. Next to that I gained a lot of experience in how to “prepare” an album for the release. I have some level of graphic design skills, so that makes it easier to prepare all the visual things like banners, promotional material, layouts and stuff like that ready.

But musically I tried to make it sound as different as I can from my other bands. I love so many different genres and styles, that sometimes I decide to write something in that particular style. Then mostly it gets out of hand and a new project becomes alive.

D: The album will be released on Comatose Music as mentioned in the beginning. How did that deal came up and how was the work with them so far?

F: I made a list of potential labels that I thought would fit with the album and emailed them the material.

Comatose responded and offered a great deal. They have been super helpful with the whole release. Together with Imperative PR they did a ton of great promotion and Im very happy to be able to work with them.

D: Is this project just an once in a lifetime thing or are you planning for another album and maybe some lifeshows with a dedicated singer, as it will be impossible to get everyone together i guess? Even it would be one of the sickest shows in history, haha! ;D

F: For now Focal Dystonia is just a project and Im keeping my focus on the release. I have no idea yet if there will be another album and I have no plans to do shows with this project. But if somebody is crazy enough to somehow get everyone involved together, I will definitely do my best to make it happen and it will be a once in a lifetime experience!

D: Tell me a little bit more about your past. What did you make grabbing a guitar and start shredding? What is your personal biggest influence in music? Doesn't matter if brutal or not.

F: I saw the Slipknot Wait and Bleed video and I was like. THAT is what I want to do. Play heavy music and make people go crazy at liveshows.

I started playing guitar when I was 13. Originally I wanted to play drums, but my parents decided that there was no room for a drumkit. So guitar it was. I learned a lot from playing Children of Bodom covers, so they where a big influence in my playing style, next to Necrophagist of course. 

D: For sure you also had a lot of time sitting at home in this global pandemic situation. Some underground music gems you want to share you did listen to lately?

F: Definitely! A lot of great albums came out this year and here are some that I enjoyed a lot:

Devangelic - Ersetu

Disnormality - Covered with Ulcers

Dripped - Putrescent Omnisience

Repressed - Desist

Strangulation - Violence in degraded mindset

Stillbirth - Revive the Throne

Within Destruction - Yokai

D: Thank you again man for the opportunity to work together again. A pleasure as always! I hope to see you soon and have some beers!!! Last words on you! Cheers \m/

F: I'm sure we will have a talk again soon! Thank you so much for having me and the opportunity to share about Focal Dystonia!

Cheers! \M/