INTERCEPTOR
Bio:
INTERCEPTOR, the Slovene leading heavy metal legionnaires and local legends, celebrated their eighth anniversary (they blew out the candles on the cake on 9.1.1999) with the release of a new album.
The core members were Marjan Pader, guitarist, author of the music and mastermind of the band (also a former member the legendary EPIDEMIC ZONE, one of the more influential metal bands of the former Yugoslavia) and the band's master of disaster Gregor Culk jr., singer, mascot and master of media provocation. After some initial problems with the rhythm section the drummer Primoz Storman joined but problems with bass players continued until the arrival of Aleksander Rauter. The band was first called Human Remains but later renamed to Interceptor (from Mad Max) because a band with the same name already existed in the United States.
In 1993 they self-released THE BEGINNING audio tape which was later reissued by Pan Records. Besides brutal tracks with socially aware English lyrics contributed by Sergej Vucer, the tape included the track ZADNJA ZRTEV (THE LAST VICTIM), an EPIDEMIC ZONE cover. They had an unusual but successful media promotion at the first international music fair where they embellished their showroom with a plastic skeleton and a real casket. With extensive concerting the band gained many devoted fans who were impressed by the band's extreme sound and by the raging stage performances of the ruthlessly growling Gregor Culk jr. who made Slovenia's concert stages tremble in agony. What followed were performances at the Zagreb Metal Mania festival, as the supporting group of the infamous Napalm Death, and at the Novi Rock 95 festival. The band enjoyed enduring support from the media and positive reviews by music critics.
In 1995 they released the FADE audio tape and the CD followed a year later, both at the Panika record label. The band has improved noticeably and so has the production quality. Most of the tracks are again in English with the exception of the reissued Zadnja zrtev, TOMI, 1.12. (dedicated to AIDS victims), and an excellent Pomaranca (Orange) cover - GOBA ZLA (THE MUSHROOM OF EVIL). The group shot a video for the title track which was shown even on national TV.
The track that received the most media attention was UNICIMO TABUJE (DESTROY THE TABOOS) with vocalist Deja Music. The track became song of the week on national radio in the spring of 1997. While the already recorded material for the next album was waiting for the interest of a record label the band members paid full attention to their side projects.
MORA (THE NIGHTMARE) was finally released by Corona Records in November 1998 and the album's quality showed that it was the result of eight years of work and experience. Technically, the record was flawless and the same could be said of its quality of production. The narrow genre boundaries were again expanded as the music was more melodic which caused a greater mainstream appeal. Even the "singing" of Gregor Culk jr. was more acceptable in comparison with previous records. But make no mistake; the music was still as tough, harsh and dark as before and it did not disappoint the older fans. The author of most of the music and the exclusively Slovene lyrics was the guitarist Marjan Pader. The album's theme is appropriately dark and sinister. The cover track on this album surprisingly did not come from the world of metal but from PRODIGY, the well-known techno-punk attraction. Nevertheless, BREATHE is one of the better tracks on the album. The new tracks and the tracks from the previous two projects showed their true spirit in energetic live performances which made the band's farewell tour in November 1999 truly memorable and unique.
Together with their successors KAOZ, the increasingly popular NOXIRE (even outside Slovenia's borders) and ten other local bands, they were obliterating the genre's boundaries.
After seven years the saga continues where it left off in 1999, at the cemetery. The epitaph will be dedicated to those who believed in the reincarnation of lost souls and to those who kept hoping in their metal hearts for the rebirth of a clinically dead child.
Interceptor @ MySpace