Aborted are playing in Tel Aviv on August 3rd along with Whorecore and Emeth.  Vocalist Sven De Caluw, with quite the entertaining and erudite prosaic style, answers some questions for us…check out more about Aborted at their Myspace site and their official site.

MI: How would you describe your sound to someone that’s never heard you?

SDC: Modern death metal would be the most accurate I’d say, I personally don’t like categorising music since often bands have a bigger range of influences than you would think. We just try to make fresh sounding, brutal & varied music coming from our basic influences like Carcass, Entombed, Suffocation, Cryptopsy, etc mixed with some melody & hardcore ideas as well. As long as it swings & makes you want to kick someone’s teeth in, it’s all good here 😉

MI: You played here for the first time in 2003. You’re coming again on August 10 via Nir Doliner of Whorecore/Lehavoth. How come you’ve decided to play here despite the war?

SDC: We have come to spread the message of peace through the incredible loving power of death metal, originally we were going to play love metal, but death metal seemed more appropriate to a bunch of tough guys like us. Honestly we’ve played there already twice and we already booked & confirmed the show in March, way before the war thing happened, and we’re not the cancelling type. Of course if we get shot out of the air, performing might prove to be a bit hard, but no one should worry about us not playing in any case unless things get really out of hand in Tel Aviv etc.

MI: How was it touring America?

SDC: Good and bad at the same time. It was quite the experience. Good in the way that the shows, turnouts & the other bands were all fucking class A & everything about the tour was awesome & quite a success, we sold very well on merch too, the negative aspect would have been all the personal bullshit we had to deal with during the tour which ensued the whole line up shift shortly after the tour. Touring the US is fun, but it’s also a lot harder than Europe for various reasons (distance is much bigger, etc), but we’ll do it again many times for the love of music, obviously & the fans out there who showed up & supported us! Without them we wouldn’t be able to do anything. MI: Have you seen a growth in the American fanbase since your tour? (When I was there last summer none of the metalheads I knew heard of you, but that was before the tour- it seems the European metal scene and American metal scene is pretty segregated sometimes).

SDC: Yeah, actuallly we were very positively surprised that when we toured already a lot of people did know us there, the more underground circuit had been following us for quite some time it seems & we made a good share of new fans during the tour, it would be interesting to do a tour there with a more different package in style to see what that does. The US scene is indeed totally different from the European one, bands that are huge in the US can be nothing here & vice versa, you basically build up again from nothing which is cool in a way, its really rewarding to travel towards another continent & be able to enthuse people about what you’re doing, that’s the best reward of all.

MI: It’s known you introduced Betzefer to Kris Belaen. Have you seen a growth in the Israeli fanbase because of your involvement with Betzefer?

SDC: I have no clue on that, I guess we’ll see when we play there, either way Betzefer is a kickass band (as many more in Israel) and I hope they’ll conquer the rest of Europe soon! Those bastards!

MI: America too!!! I read the Metalist interview where you discuss Israeli body odor quite frequently. Are you possessed of an excellent deodorant or just a sensitive nose?

SDC: I think it is called ‘a sense of humour’, albeit a cynical or sarcastic one, and you took it a bit too serious apparently, by the way, your sister smells like the rear of a mongoose.

MI: Nah, I really didn’t take it seriously and why have you been so up close and personal with the rear of a mongoose to know what it smells like? 🙂 Gerrit mentioned you guys are in the studio now – are there any major digressions from your usual sound?

SDC: Actually I’m in studio right now recording the new Leng Tch’e record, Aborted is only set to record in Oktober with Tue Madsen. For both bands: expect something new, but from the same band obviously;) surprises along the road hehe.

MI: Are there any songs you’re specifically enthusiastic about – why?

SDC: Several, because of the new elements mainly worked into the songs, and the brutal impact that’s there, for Leng you can mostly expect something more fresh & original, the new Aborted is a mixture of the last 2 albums but with a definite more brutal approach than the last, varied & modern.

MI: When’s the new album due out?

SDC: Both albums are scheduled for a February release! The new Aborted has been titled ‘Slaughter & Apparatus: A Methodical Overture’, the new Leng Tch’e is baptized ‘Marasmus’. Thank you for the support & see you out there!