Could you give a short summary of what happened in those nearly 2 years since "Wish for Destruction"?

Patrick: Well, we had a lot of concerts here in Italy and we had the chance to perform live at the Agglutination Metal Festival 2003, in South Italy. It has been a nice experience, I had the opportunity to meet David DeFeis from Virgin Steele (they were headliners of the festival), and I had a talk with him near the hotel’s pool… really great! In July 2003 I began writing the songs for the “Lethal Injection” album, we worked on the arrangements in September and we entered the studio in October. The recording sessions took 3 weeks and we did a great work with Luigi Stefanini at New Sin Studio.

What was the feedback on "Wish for Destruction" like?

Patrick: Our second album got great results all over the world. We are completely satisfied with that album, because we wanted to do something different, to SOUND different, and everyone appreciated this change. We conquered a lot of fans, so many people told us that we had found our right way to play heavy metal in this international scene.

Would you be so kind to give us an idea of "Lethal Injection"? What does the metalfan have to expect from the album?

Patrick: Well, the “Wish For Destruction” album was aggressive and speed. Our new “Lethal Injection” album is more melodic but he has our tipical heavy and speed structures, mixed with some mid-tempo parts and with some acoustic slow breaks… I think this album has got the best production we could find here in Italy, and the songs are good written and arranged. Many journalists told us this is the album of complete maturity of the band and I think they are right, but every band always has to grow… and to be better, year by year, release after release.

The cover of "Wish for Destruction" was quite artistic and left a lot to the phantasy of the person who looked at it. To be honest, I just don't like cover of "Lethal Injection". Why was it chosen and where is the connection to the album itself?

Patrick: I think that cover is representative of the lyrics you’ll find in the songs. We wanted to be different from all that bands who choose paints for their covers. We did it for our first “The Legend Begins” album and for our second one, so we thought to change something in our look, in the front cover and also in the booklet colous… We asked that boy to shoot some photos and to represent the human insanity and the pain you can find in “Lethal Injection”. I think he did a great work but I know that many people could not like it ‘cause it such an inusual cover for a heavy metal band.

Is there sort of a lyrical concept on the album?

Patrick: There’s not a complete concept behind the lyrics, but many of them talk about the human anguish, about our mind and its fears, its pains… it’s a theme that I love so much, and I even wrote a song about “The Shining” Stephen King’s novel (it’s the opener, “Mr.Grady”). There are also songs that talk about freedom (“Daydream”), or love (“Far Away”), and then the title-track is inspired on a novel by Andrew Klavan, a well known american thriller books author. I think “Lethal Injection” is a quite interesting album because there are so many different lyrics and the people who love thriller movies or books like me will certainly appreciate the themes of our songs.

Please write a few words about "Far away", featuring LABYRINTH's Roberto Tiranti. How come BEHOLDER worked together with him?

Patrick: Well, Roberto is a friend of mine since we played toghether live, I don’t even remember when! When I wrote “Far Away” with our keyboard player Mark Vikar, I thought it could be great to ask him to sing on that song. It’s a song dedicated to a girl, so, you know, it was difficult to ask Leanan to sing it! I ring Roberto up and I asked him to sing on “Far Away”. We sent a promo-version to him and he decided to sing it! He’s been as usual very professional and I think he’s one of the greatest singer we have in our country.

Which song of the album do you like most and which one least and why?

Patrick: My favourite song is the title-track, “Lethal Injection”. I think it’s a great song because it’s powerful and also dramatic, it represents the situation of a man who has to die and an executioner who has to kill him… and they are old friends! The final part is so dramatic, it’s the last moment of his life before the capital punishment and I think it’s one of our best songs ever.

In April, May and early June BEHOLDER played a few gigs in Italy. Is there any chance to see you live again this year, maybe somewhere else in Europe?

Patrick: Well, you know… it’s quite difficult to play outside Italy because an european tour is much expensive for our label, but we had the great chance to perform live here in Italy a couple of months ago, when Vision Divine asked us to be supporter of their “Stream of Consciousness” italian tour. It has been a fantastic experience for us, they are so nice people and we had a great time with them! I also hope to come in Germany one day, for some live gigs!

Do you keep yourself up to date about what is going on in the metal scene? If so, which albums of 2004 would you recommend listening to?

Patrick: Yes, I often read metal magazines or webzines, I’m always “tuned”. But I also like the hard rock scene, and I think Evanescence is a great band that everyone should listen to. Then I recommend this album: The Wildhearts – Coupled With. It’s perfect for driving in your car during this fucking HOT summer, shouting and singing with rock ‘n roll!

And any good recommendations on italian underground bands?

Patrick: I think we have a lot of bands here but I never listen to anything interesting… the best album released this year is Vision Divine’s new album, no doubt about it.

What would you do if you weren't a musician? Could you imagine yourself maybe sitting in an office in a nine-to-five-job?

Patrick: Eh eh, oh my God! I don’t know… I love writing music and I also love writing stories… I’ve even written a book! It’s a thriller… I think I could not resist in an office… I would kill someone hehe! I think I have an artistic mind and I hate to be oppressed by anyone! I am free like a bird :-)

I thank you for your time and answering my questions. Hopefully I will have the chance to do another interview with BEHOLDER, talking about another new album and maybe even some gigs in Germany. The last words of this interview belong to you. Feel free to tell our readers whatever you feel like.

Patrick: I wanna say STAY LETHAL to every fan in Germany, please listen to “Lethal Injection” and feel free to write us an e-mail! We always answer to fans ‘cause we love them! See ya in Germany soon!!!