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Moscow’s The Suicider are a band that manages to play non-depressive gothic metal. How can this happen? Only they can do this, and the result, especially from their recently released 2nd full-length ‘Never Alive’ proves that these ones are capable of doing this with success. It;s high time we met the most anti-depressing gothic metal band of the world. Thumbs up!

From 2010’s debut ‘Death Surround’ to today’s ‘Never Alive’ 2nd full length album. What has the evolution for The Suicider been so far?

Since 2010 many things have changed. In 2011 we released the EP ‘Four Reasons To Die’, and it was the last attempt to save the staff which was bursting at the seams after a failed debut. The attempt failed and the old group ceased its existence. I had to find new musicians urgently.

People who came to the group did not help much in the development of the team, but The Suicider stayed afloat for a while. Because of drugs and alcohol (few ex-members like it too much) the group greatly reduced its level of quality and eventually almost fell apart again. In 2014 I decided to stop all this disgrace and changed the musicians again.

In the shortest time we wrote new songs and started recording the second full-length album, which was released in early 2017 and became a new starting point for the band. Because music was always written by two guitarists, the sound of the “new” band became more modern. We added electronic samples and a little bit changed the approach to sound.

Sticking to your latest offering, which would you consider the main elements of ‘Never Alive’? How difficult (or easy) to release the ‘Death Surround’ successor?

In fact, the recording of ‘Never Alive’ was much easier than ‘Death Surround’. We all became much more experienced than in 2010 and tried to avoid the mistakes of the past. This applies to both music and mixing. If you compare these two releases, the last one is a huge leap forward compared to the first one. There were some difficulties with recording drums, but we managed to cope with them. As for the rest this experience was much more pleasant than the previous one.

Sentenced, Poisonblack, Amorphis, Children of Bodom, Katatonia, Paradise Lost are among your main influences. Your sound though it’s more up-tempo and “feel-good” unlike the aforementioned. Agree?

I agree. For some reason we can’t make absolutely gloomy music. We’d rather take dark music as the basis and add something in our way. But the main source of inspiration, as before, is Sentenced, though to a lesser degree than before.

Which 2 songs would you point out from ‘Never Alive’, as the most distinctive, and why?

Never Alive’ and ‘Nothing More’. The first is very strong in its emotional message, like thoughts of a man chained to a wheelchair and losing complete control over his life. And the second one is just cool!

How are things in Moscow at the moment? First music-wise, and secondly do you think that political-wise is there stability with Putin’s leadership all these years? In addition, what’s your opinion on Pussy Riot?

The musical situation in Moscow has deteriorated significantly over the past 5 years. People stopped going to concerts, many good clubs were shut down, musicians are more concerned of their own outrageous than of the musical component.
As for politics – no comments. We try to stay away from this. And Pussy Riot are just three stupid bitches who are famous for the whole world.

Do you believe that the band resurrected with the addition of new members in 2015?

Absolutely right. Our half-dead project developed into an active concert unit again. Action and enthusiasm are key words for us now. We began writing songs again. I’m the only original member left, so I can say that this is a new project with an old vocalist, an old name and similar music. It sounds strange, doesn’t it?

Keyboards play a vital role on your sound. Please discuss the opposition of many metal bands to decline the use of keys on their recordings…

Many groups do not use keyboards because they probably do not need them. For example, if the sound of a band is based on guitars as in old-school death metal.
But many modern groups always use either keys or electronic samples, as an integral part of music. As for the keys in our music, there are some songs, in which there are almost no keys, and there are some in which they play the main role. For that matter one shouldn’t be categorical. It is necessary to think, where it fits, and where it doesn’t.
We recorded strings, keys, some samples in studio and… laptop is our fifth member on shows.

Which 3 bands should we take notice of the underground Moscow scene?

Mmm… Most of them are our good friends, so we can’t be objective answering this question… Melancholy, Tantal, Tiavara play interesting music.

Last words on The Suicider. Any special message for Last Day Deaf’s readers?

Stay metal, listen to good music and don’t kill yourself too quickly)).

Christos Doukakis