GRIMM: So I just want to hear from you what the response to ‘Maniacult‘ has been so far? What’s the consensus been up until now?

So far, it seems like everyone’s loving ‘Maniacult’ and I couldn’t be happier. People have been giving us great feedback, which is insane if you think about it, because the band’s been going on for 25 years. And to still see all those fans care about and support Aborted motivates us to keep doing what we are. So yeah, that’s been good. And even numbers on platforms like Spotify and YouTube are steadily going up.

GRIMM: I can only imagine, man. Still getting so much recognition after all these years is just the best you can hope for, right? You have yourselves to thank for it. You’re putting so much effort in these gorgeous records while maintaining a close relationship with your fanbase on social media. That can only lead to good exposure.

It takes a little bit of effort, but we like what we do and the way we do it. But it’s also a way to stay relevant. You can’t really expect to pull off the old school attitude and be like “I don’t care about social media”. I mean, you can do that but you can’t expect people to care about you if you don’t stay up to date. Most importantly, music evolves constantly and needs to be a sign of the times. Can you imagine if everyone had kept recording music as if it were still 1991? I mean, it was great at the time. I’m thinking of ‘Human’ by Death, ‘Butchered at Birth’ by Cannibal Corpse, or ‘Covenant’ by Morbid Angel. Those are all musical landmarks but you’d never hear that kind of production anymore. Even in Death‘s case the evolution is noticeable. Take ‘The Sound of Perseverance’ for example, that was considered clean twenty-three years ago. But it still sounds like an modernization as opposed to older material. It’s important to stay relevant by taking a look at what’s going on and by observing how fans interact with music. You can no longer just release an album and be done, like “see you on the tour”. So, yeah, that’s the way we like to conduct our business.

GRIMM: On that regard I think Aborted’s doing it all right. And well, with the reviews inbound, I think you’re gonna get a better picture of what the masses think about your evolution.

I would like to say I’m really looking forward to reading what people think about the record, but at the same time it’s always kind of tricky. Should I care about what a single person thinks about the album or should I probably be a little more relaxed? You usually start by wondering what he or she thinks about the record and when you’ve read a few reviews, you’re like: “oh…” *laughs*. Or, you know, on the contrary, you’re completely over the moon. It’s crazy how a positive review can convince you all the more that you’ve released a good record. Not that a bad or a superficial review downgrades your self-esteem or the credibility that you have in your own music, but you can’t help but wonder how come. But yeah, I’d like to think that I’m positive about getting tons of positive reviews.

GRIMM: I wouldn’t worry too much. And if all else fails, you can set the record straight during your live performances. Speaking of: the Hell over Europe tour with The Acacia Strain should have already started but has been postponed to February 2022. I can’t begin to tell you how much I’m looking forward to it. Is it just pure coincidence you’re kicking off in Belgium? Or was it Sven’s choice?

Oh dude, tell me about it. I’m so excited to finally be able to be back on the road. But no, I wouldn’t probably say it’s a coincidence. It is however just the way things kind of went logistics wise. I also think it kind of makes sense. The plan is to fly into Belgium a little less than a week before the tour starts so we can most importantly hang out a little bit together. Because we won’t have seen each other for almost two years by then. And also because we need to practice after not having played together for so long. We need to check the new songs and test how they function in a live setting, and test the production, the light show and the sound engineering. So there’s many factors to take into consideration. So we’ll definitely need to good couple days before the tour starts to see if everything works correctly. So it makes sense to start there.

GRIMM: So much work to do, so little time to do it. Well, cool. Thank you so much, man. It was good to meet you. And I look forward to seeing Aborted on stage.

Thank you so much for this great opportunity. I’ll see you soon.