Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
CRYOSHOCK is a three-piece metal band from Karlshamn, a small town in the south of Sweden. Drummer Martin and guitarist Lars used to play in a band together many years ago, and have known each other for a long time. They had been on a break from playing music for a while when they met at Mörkaste Småland, a small extreme music festival in Sweden, and got to talking about starting a new band. Now they needed a lead vocalist and a bass player, so Oskar was recruited to complete the lineup.
We got a rehearsal space at Musikforum in Karlshamn, which is a non-profit organization that rents out space to bands in an old roundhouse, that is ironically not round at all but rectangular in shape. We started rehearsing there and writing songs, made a couple of preproduction recordings to try out the songs, and when we felt that we had enough material we booked some studio time and recorded a mini-album that is out now on CD.

How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music? 
Our musical style is best described as thrashy death metal, with short and intense songs. The vocals are mainly dark and growled, and the drums range from slow and straightforward parts to fast blastbeats and some technical stuff. We try to write tracks that have their own identity and that all sound different and memorable, yet with some resemblence of a common style.
When it comes down to influences, we all have different musical backgrounds and are influenced by different bands, which means that our songwriting draws influences from a multitude of sources as well. Lars probably has the widest range in his taste of music, which pretty much includes all thinkable metal genres, but some of his main influences are Motörhead, Slayer and early Metallica, as well as some other American thrash metal bands. He has been playing thrash, heavy metal, death metal and punk in earlier bands. Since the guitar is such an integral part of of the sound of a metal band, and Lars contributes with maybe 90% of the guitar parts, his influences are likely to be the most audible in the music. Martin has his roots in black metal, but also enjoys a lot of death, thrash and heavy metal. Oskar is into a lot of punk and used to play in a very brutal and primitive crust punk band, but also enjoys a healthy share of death metal and much more.
Since we are so different in our approach to music, songwriting can sometimes be a painful process for us, with some conflicts regarding ideas, song structure, what fits and what does not, and so on. But we usually work it out in the end, so that everyone is happy with the result. And once we are finished, the songs are probably better than they would have been if we just wrote them all by ourselves without the input and quality control of the other band members.

Why should a metalhead buy your demos/albums?
Most people who are into metal are likely find something they enjoy in our music. Melodies and groove mixed with brutality, catchy riffs and choruses, short and quirky solos, varied song structures, and no overly drawn-out parts that might bore the listener. Just turn up the volume and bang your head!

What have you released so far and how were your releases received by the public/media?
We released our debute mini-album recently, and are still waiting for the first reviews to show up. The reactions from people around us have been positive, but that is of course very different from getting independent reviews from people that don't know you and that don't mind giving you negative criticism. However, after we released our CD, we started getting some messages from small PR-companies, independent labels and some complete strangers that appreciate our music, which at least seems like a positive indication. We are very much looking forward to hearing and reading what reviewers think though!

Do you play live as well? How's your live activity so far?
In theory we do play live, but in practice we have not performed any shows so far, nor do we currently have anything booked. But now that we have a release out, we are starting to search more actively for an opportunity to make our live debute. All of us have experience from playing with other bands though, so the live stage is not completely new to any of us.

What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?
We are not interested in copying the style other bands, or making a name for ourselves by playing cover songs. On the other hand, we are not going to push elements into our music that don't belong there just for the sake of being unique either, as that always tends to sound forced and unnatural. We do our own thing. Period.
And we are hard workers - we are not afraid to roll up our sleeves and get dirty. We are not the type of people that sit on our asses and wait for someone to hand us everything on a silver platter.
They should also know that we are just getting started - the world will see and hear a lot more from us in the future, be sure of that!

What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
We are constantly writing new music, and already made a preproduction recording of some songs for our next release. We are also looking for gigs to showcase our music in front of a live audience. Some new merchandise is in the plans as well, but we are not ready to disclose what's gonna be next in that department just yet.

Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
Our music is available through most streaming and download services, like Spotify, Itunes, Youtube, Pandora, Amazon and many others. The CD and some merchandise are available at our web shop: www.cryoshockswe.com.

May 2017