All questions answered by Bastian Herzog / drums
1.) To kick things off, tell our audience a bit about the origin story of "FLESHCRAWL" Band.?
Yes, the band was founded in 1987 by Stefan Hanus and myself, back then under the name Morgöth. We weren’t playing death metal yet - it was still thrash metal at that time. We first had to find our musical direction and find each other as musicians, and also find other band members, which all took quite some time.
In the end, in the early days we mostly just drank a lot of beer and made a lot of noise, Haha.
I met Stefan at school in April 1987 - he was more or less the only other metalhead besides me - and we quickly got talking. He said he played guitar, I played drums, and it was clear we should meet up to jam and experiment. Our musical tastes were pretty much identical or at least very similar.
We then started our first musical attempts in the basement at my parents’ place, collected ideas and wrote our first thrash songs.
The rest is history.
2.) Who took the lead on the lyrics for the song “Embers of Wrath” and what was the spark that brought that track to life?
The lyrics were written by our singer Borisz. I visited him once or twice in Budapest, Hungary and we simply started jamming together. That's how this groovy mid-tempo song came about. It actually happened pretty quickly - I think the song was written within about two hours.
Borisz is also a very talented guitarist himself and had been collecting riffs and ideas for quite some time.
I contributed something as well: the melody in the chorus section was my idea.
The song provides a great contrast to the other fast and brutal songs on the album.
So musically, this song was very much a team effort."
Lyrically, this song is centered around the needless horrors of war and all the suffering that comes along with it.
3.) If you had to describe the "FLESHCRAWL" sound to someone who hasn’t heard you yet, what would you say?
Old-school death metal with chainsaw guitars, crushing grooves, brutal vocals, and a healthy dose of Swedish HM-2 devastation. Fast when it needs to be, heavy when it counts, and always focused on memorable songs rather than technical excess.
Catchiness and memorability in our songs are an important part. If it doesn’t stick in your head, it doesn’t have much impact.
4.) How has the songwriting evolved for the album "Epitome of Carnage"? What does that process look like for you lately?
Most of the songs were written by our two guitarists Apu and Chris. Usually each of them wrote on their own, but sometimes also together.
In the end, we started collecting ideas and riffs around 2022, and that’s also when the songs began to take shape. Chris and Apu either brought in fully finished songs or sometimes just individual parts, which we then worked out together in rehearsal.
It’s pretty much the same approach we’ve always used, also in the past and in former line-ups.
The song material for Epitome of Carnage was created over a period of about three years and was then refined further in 2025.
For us, the music always comes first, followed by the lyrics. We only write the lyrics once we have a fitting song title for the music. So we basically have something like a “Book of Death,” where we collect lots of song titles, and then we decide what fits where.
5.) What are some of the recurring themes or messages you find yourself exploring in your lyrics?
We don’t really have any specific messages in our songs. In the end, it’s always been about death, devil, blood, devastation and these kind of typical death metal lyrics.
That said, on Epitome of Carnage, Borisz also wrote some of the lyrics, and he tells more detailed stories in some cases, about war, aliens, and other aspects of life.
6.) The cover art for "FLESHCRAWL" is striking, who was the creative mind behind that vision?
The album cover was created by Simon Bossert, a very talented artist from Germany. He has previously done various other highly detailed and excellent works, including for Powerwolf and many others.
How did it come together? Well, I simply gave him the album title and told him to just get started - we gave him free creative control without any limits. After a while, he came back with a draft, which we then refined a bit. Later, he presented a second draft, and that was exactly how we wanted it. After that, some final fine-tuning was done, and then the artwork was finished.
He also created the complete layout for the album and booklet.
Basically, we wanted the artist to visually translate the album title in the best possible way, and Simon did that perfectly.
7.) Do you find your energy translates better in an intimate club venue or a massive festival setting? Also, which show stands out as your all-time favorite?
Fleshcrawl works just as well in a small, tight, sweaty club in front of a handful of people as it does on a big festival stage in front of a huge crowd. We have absolutely no problem with that.
We feel comfortable in any scenario.
On the contrary - when we step onto a big stage, we approach it the same way and are able to fully engage and take the audience with us.
As the best shows, I would clearly name a couple of shows on our tours with Bolt Thrower which were absolutely fantastic.
As well as a few festivals from years ago like Summer Breeze, Party San OpenAir, Wacken etc
8.) Who is the "inspirational" artists that actually made you want to pick up an instrument and play?
My biggest influence on drums clearly is Dave Lombardo. Apart from that I don’t have any other drummers in mind who have influenced me further than that.
9.) If you could sit down and collaborate with any artist or band right now, who would be at the top of your list?
In fact, no specific names come to mind right now, but just maybe tearing up the stage every night on tour with a few great other death metal bands 🙂
10.) What’s the current pulse of the metal your scene from your perspective?
The metal scene here in Europe, and especially in Germany, is pretty much alive and thriving. There are an extremely large number of bands, festivals, and shows, although many of the smaller ones are also cancelled at short notice due to a lack of necessary funding.
You could say the metal scene is really thriving, but at the same time there is also a strong level of oversaturation.
People simply can’t attend everything because they don’t have the time or funds for all.
There are a lot of great bands, including many good new bands, but I also have to honestly say that there is a lot of average and poor material as well.
Personally, I do follow newer bands from time to time, but I have to admit that I still mostly end up going back to the older stuff.
11.) Are there any endorsements or gear brands you’re currently working with that you’d like to shout out?
No, we don’t currently have any endorsement deals in place.
12.) What does the tour calendar look like? Any big shows or festivals we should be marking down?
We will play a few summer festivals such as Underground Death Fest, Obscene Extreme Festival in Czech Republic and Party San Open Air as well as a few additional standalone shows.
Then in November we’ll do a small 11 date European tour with Avulsed and Violentor, and in December we’ll head to Spain for five shows. Then we’ll see what else happens this year still holds for us, and especially what is going to happen in 2027.
13.) Where’s the best place for fans to keep up with you and dive into your community online?
Our Facebook and Instagram pages are the best places to check and are always up to date.
Our normal website is a little outdated at times, but for example holds the almost complete show archive which dates back to 1995.
FLESHCRAWL is:
Bastian Herzog – Drums, Vocals
Manu Markowski – Bass
Apu Justin Reisch – Guitars
Christian Kalbrecht – Guitars
Borisz Sarafutgyinov – Vocals
FLESHCRAWL Online:
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Spotify
Apple Music
