Carnal Forge work out their style steadily. Also the latest album, "Aren't you dead yet?" deals with a perfect mix of brutality, scandinavian melodic leads, and distinct influences from the old bay area sound. You are immune to new trends and sounds. Can you tell me something about your songwriting process? Are there exact targets to get this old school sound, or does it just happen?

Jari Kuusisto:   As you said CF is immune to trends. We always do what feels right for us. There ain’t any exact targets how we do to get the sound that we have. When we started CF we wanted to do music that we ourselves would buy if we found it in the stores. CF is really honest music and we do it because we feel that it’s needed both for our selves and that we think that many appreciate this kind of music.

  Are there sometimes suggestions of parts which get rejected because they don't fit into the other material?

Jari Kuusisto:   No. We know exactly how we do CF music, and everyone in CF are pretty much on the same level.

  As I reviewed your last album I was surprised of "Sacred flame". The riffing sometimes seems to be very experimental and the beat combination is complex with some 6/4 bars. That's unusual and your trademarks are the fast straight thrashing riffs which invite every head to bang. Is "Sacred flame" a daring experiment or just a chance?

Jari Kuusisto:   Neither actually. For us that is a typical CF song that just got a little bit more death metal than before. We thought that it fitted well with the other songs. When we do songs it has to come naturally therefore i cant say that we took a chance or did a experiment, it’s just the way that song turned out sounding the best for us.

  If you'd recognize one day that your real capabilities get limited by the public expectancy in Carnal Forge, what would you do? Would you write more progressive material for Carnal Forge, or would you do some side projects instead?

Jari Kuusisto:   CF will always be CF. We would never change sound and then still call it CF. If the public doesn’t want what CF does we couldn’t do much about it. The most important thing for us is that we like what we do and enjoy ourselves.

  Which are your musical influences, which bands do you listen to in your private life?

Jari Kuusisto:   I dont listen that much to music now days. I guess when you always play music your self you get a bit tired on also istening to music. When i listen to music i often listen to bands like Testament and Slayer, so i guess that they are my influences.

  Your lyrics are full of brutal visions and totally free of any merits. Where do you take this (self-)destructive influences from? Is this real hate or just lyrical art?

Jari Kuusisto:   I would say that 95% is just lyrical art. We think that this kind of lyrics fits well to what we do music wise. Of course it's easier to write this kind of lyrics when you are really mad and that is were the other 5% comes in.

  "If I died tonight it would be such a relief...", "My suicide", "If living is so much better than dying, then show me the way...", "Burn me alive, I do not care...", "I hope the blizzard will take us soon...". This is much more directly than the old Ozzy and Priest songs for which both artists got accused of being responsibel for some suicides. What would you tell young people with acutal strong problems about your lyrics and your view of life?

Jari Kuusisto:   If you read a lyric and think that it is some kind of message directly to you, then you probably need serious help. CF ain’t sending any hidden or non hidden messages in our lyrics this is just our way of art.

  On your website you give a lot of room to your fans. Discussion boards and votings seem to become more popular for band websites. How are your experiences with the public fan contact?

Jari Kuusisto:   It works out great. I guess that our fans feels like that when they come to our website the can express what ever they want and we will always reply. Many of our fans gets really surprised when they actually get a reply directly from the band when they want to know something our just complain. I don’t know how many times they told us that we are one of those few bands left that actually replies what ever the question is.

  Did you learn some new characteristics or peculiarities of your fans which surprised you?

Jari Kuusisto:   Not really. Im also a fan of many bands so i have seen it all, i think :)

  How far would the statements of the fans take influence on your decisions or the future of the band?

Jari Kuusisto:   None. We do what we like and then we just hope that there are more guys and girls out there that like it. Of course we listen to what they have to say, but in the end we decide whats best for the band.

  The latest two albums include some bonus tracks in the japanese release. What's the idea behind that decision?

Jari Kuusisto:   That is something that Japanese labels demands. They want something exclusive that is only for the Japanese market. Don’t know why, that’s just the way it is.

  The actual discussions about CD prices and "value for money" lower the readiness of the fans to spend money more and more. Do you expect european fans to buy the longer (and more expensive) import version, or is it OK for you if they search for the additional songs in the popular (but illegal) internet P2P exchange systems like Kazaa/eDonkey (which would increase the risk of a habituation effect to download more and more instead of buying the original CDs)?

Jari Kuusisto:   I wouldn’t import an album just to get some extra songs so why should they. I know that many people in the music industry hate downloading and lose a lot of money on that, but then again when the prices are way too high what did they expect. This could sound strange coming from someone that actually is losing money when people download CF albums, but i don’t play in a band to get rich, then i would start playing Briney Spears music.

  You just released your first DVD. Shows are included, also a japanese one. Wouldn't it have been a good opportunity to present at least the bonus tracks from "The more you suffer" to the worldwide audience on this DVD instead of taking some songs in several versions?

Jari Kuusisto:   Maybe your right, but this DVD is for our fans that has waited a long time to get some live material from us. That’s why we decided to keep it strictly a live DVD.

  So you didn't play "Hit's you like a hammer" or "Bulletproof god material" on tour?

Jari Kuusisto:   No, we didn't.

  Unfortunately the tour with Misery Index and Drowning got cancelled. Do you have some new plans for Europe, especially some gigs in Germany?

Jari Kuusisto:   We are right at this moment getting a tour finished. Unfortunately i wont say more than that because i know that tours can be cancelled in the last minute. Everything will be posted on our site asap.

  Wouldn't have been a gig on the german summer festivals a good opportunity to present the new material to thousands of headbangers?

Jari Kuusisto:   Yes it would have been. If people want us to come we do, but as it looks right now the misery index tour got cancelled in the last minute and we had already said to everyone that we would do this tour. When the tour was cancelled all the slots on festivals was already filled. So right now we are focusing on getting on the road and tour asap.

  Thank you very much for the interview!

Jari Kuusisto:   Cheers