On 12th April 2024, Mother Of All will release their new album Global Parasitic Leviathan (review here). Hotel Hobbies spent some time talking to vocalist, drummer and songwriter Martin Haumann to discuss the band, their music and the intriguing concept of the upcoming release.
Hotel Hobbies: First of all, thank you for joining when you are on tour; it is appreciated.
Martin Haumann: It's a pleasure.
Hotel Hobbies: The album release date is approaching. How are you feeling about it?
Martin Haumann: I'm feeling good about it. I think it's a very good progression for the band. I have liked the whole process of this album, at least large parts of it. I'm looking forward to seeing how people respond. I look forward mostly to getting out, playing it and experiencing that interaction with the audience.
Hotel Hobbies: That allows for instant feedback, I suppose.
Martin Haumann: Yes! It’s weird with the whole online thing, streaming and that sort of thing. You don’t have a feel for it. It's very intangible; whereas, if you play a song and somebody comes up afterwards, hopefully you get a relationship with a real person or a lot of people if it's a bigger gig. That’s very cool.
Hotel Hobbies: It has been a few years since the last album. Can you talk about the journey since then, the recruitment of the full band, the new line up and a bit about the recording of the album? That is quite a big question, I know!
Martin Haumann: The last album, Age of the Solipsist, was during the pandemic and most of the material and the ideas for the different songs were there already so it was just finishing those ideas. For this one, I had already started recording some of the drums for some of the songs. Hannes Grossman, my old drum teacher, said I'd like to work on this with you. Then I talked to some different people and found a very, very nice group of people - very, very talented players. I was blessed just to have them playing with me. We talked a lot about how to go forward on it. Of course, the germ of the band comes from me but I really appreciate the time they took to learn the songs from the last album and play them live. So, we're developing a relationship as a band at this point. I had already recorded the drums during the last week of the pandemic in Denmark. Songs were already set in stone. There were some leads and some small ideas that we could still work on when we recorded. That came along with Daniel and he played drums very, very well. He plays a lot of Hard Rock but I know this guy. He can play other stuff and he rose to the challenge. He's an amazing drummer.
Then we have Henrik Rangstrup. He's Danish, but he has lived in Italy and is an amazing guitar player. He has some good lead ideas for some of the songs as well. We worked together and they kind of enhanced some of the parts with that. So, there was a little bit of input there.
Next was Michael on bass. He's actually a very, very good guitarist, a technical death metal guitarist playing in a band called The Sunless Dawn. I talked to somebody who said, well, actually, I have a guy. His name is Michael. He says he can't play bass, but he's lying. He's a very good bass player. You should ask him. I asked him and he actually was very good at bass as well. Coming after Steve Di Giorgio from Death on the last album was pretty big shoes to fill. I think he’s really risen to the challenge and also added some of his own sprinkle in his arrangement of the bass parts.
Hotel Hobbies: I suppose that's the perfect balance, isn't it? You have people willing to take your ideas and go with them but enhance them a little bit themselves.
Martin Haumann: Yeah, I'm very happy to be working with these guys and I appreciate their input. We’ll see where it goes in the future. I'm very open to whichever direction it takes. I have a lot of things I want to do, but playing music can be very lonely, you know. I'm in a cabin in Northern Sweden on tour but the whole one-man, black metal thing, would be a bit too lonely for me. So, I like being able to work with other people and sharing the experiences.
Hotel Hobbies: I have listened to the new album quite a few times now. There are some nice moments of reflection within the heavier parts: melodeath, thrash and even some progressive metal. How much are those different sub-genres an influence on you?
Martin Haumann: In my head, I have an idea of what its supposed to be but when it comes out, it always looks a little bit different. I made an EP called Secular Assault and I kind of decided this is going to be a blackened thrash, death metal type thing. It's going to be pretty cold vibe. The progressive ideas didn’t really come out. So, I am trying to find a balance of having a coherent sound but also breaking the mould a little bit. I love the energy of the thrash approach. I like the melodic aspects of black metal bands like Immortal and Dissection. I love Slayer and Warbringer so I try to bring that stuff in a little bit. I hoped that answered your question!
Hotel Hobbies: Definitely. There are many moments on the album where the sub-genres collide. I think listeners are a lot more open to the merging of sub-genres in this way now.
Martin Haumann: I hope so because that's my idea with it. I want to be able to listen to an album or make an album and not get bored on the way. If I feel the constraints are like this or that, it’s not for me. It might work for other bands including some other bands I have played in or play in but not for this. I want to have a large spectrum of emotions,  feelings or vibes on an album and also during a concert. If go to a concert with bands I actually love, it’s okay but for some, I think you need that up and down to be able to stay engaged.
Hotel Hobbies: Talking about Global Parasitic Leviathan itself, I have been listening to the album, reading the lyrics and looking at the notes that came with the lyrics. It is a very interesting concept. Can you talk about the overall meaning of the album?
Martin Haumann: Yeah, I'd love to. What you have been sent in the lyrics are actually my own notes on things so not a lot of people are going to see those but I really don’t care. I think it’s interesting for people who want to see it. They often change but I like to have them. It goes along with not being stuck on one thing because some people might not ever get to see them. The fundamental idea is trying to explain everything that is going on politically, economically and in the cultural arena with one religious concept. That's kind of the idea in the album. A simple germ which determines the structures of institutions and society and how these are going to go in the future. That's the Global Parasitic Leviathan idea. I was thinking of a cross between Lovecraftian and a horror monster type thing. That's why the first song is called Cosmic Darkness because I was thinking about cosmic horror when I wrote the lyrics for that. That's kind of the image of that leviathan monster and the leviathan of the Bible is kind of a sea monster. That was taken up by a philosopher called Thomas Hobbs, who was kind of talking about the sovereign, which was a kind of divinely, ordained King, who opposed the social contract in any society. So, he's kind of the ultimate arbiter and he used that image of the leviathan from the Bible.
I wanted to paint a disturbing picture of a dystopian and immoral religion just ruling the world and being worshipped. I wanted to paint it as horrific a religion as possible. It seems to me to be true of the world. That’s why it starts this way and it ends with references to the start. So, the start is the religion. Then you have all the examples of this structure in play and what upholds it and how it works in reality. So, the prime idea for Global Parasitic Leviathan is the idea that self-interest is a virtue and it's the highest virtue of all. I want to show how this can result in the destruction of democracy, humanity, human progress and prosperity if other values like democracy or solidarity were dirty words and not part of the prime virtues of a society. I think the concept will be predictive of what will happen more and more in Scandinavian societies as they may also devolve in the future even more. I think there are already signs of it.
Hotel Hobbies: I think the links between the science fiction, cosmic approach and the things that are already happening in society are well balanced.
Martin Haumann: I am glad you think so. If we’re going to get more technical, the parasitic element is about people being parasitic on each other but also the fact that some institutions are actually just financial parasites on society and they're using this religion to justify what's happening in the world. It's also asking society to build monuments to itself, which is the religious idea of it. Well, there's a cost to society. Then, there's a cost to everybody when we do.
Hotel Hobbies: Thinking of songs in a musical way, Corporate Warfare Leviathan for example, I really like the opening of the track then all hell breaks loose. These moments of space add more to the overall dynamics of the album.
Martin Haumann: Yeah, yeah, definitely. That one specifically had a different intro which wasn't working as well. So, we were talking about something else being there. Henrick, the guitarist, and I bounced some things back and forth and then he sent an idea, a brilliant idea. That comes back to the collaborative aspect of making the album. Where you go up and down, I think it's very important to stress that this next part is actually pretty intense so the contrast can be felt. I think of it like driving. If you're just driving fast all the time, maybe it doesn't feel that fast. What actually feels fast sometimes is accelerating. So, I think you need those ups and downs to make different parts feel the way you want the listener to feel.
Hotel Hobbies: Another interesting thing within the lyrics are some quotes that you use. For example, at the beginning of Debt Crush, there is one by Aristotle (To rule and be ruled in turn) followed by one of your own from 2008 (To be fooled and be ruled in turn). It shows the change in the modern world. It hit home with me and sums up the concept of the album. Really quite powerful.
Martin Haumann: Wow! The second quote is about what happened in Greece after the financial crisis, which is a huge story. I've actually written about it as a journalist a little bit. That's why I wrote the song. Because of financial institutions, the whole economy collapsed all over the world. It was financial fraud. It started in America; the whole deck of cards fell and that spread to Europe. In the Eurozone, there were a lot of new countries that had just got the euro. Big banks had been lending frivolously to small banks. In the end, the banks were bailed out. Greece actually tried not to take on more loans. They had a referendum and said we're not going to take on any more loan. They just got basically pressured and they were going to close down all their banks, basically because it was a left-wing government. The German Finance Minister was central in all this and he said that elections cannot be allowed to change economic policy. That's the perfect quote and it encapsulates that journey from the birthplace of democracy to the destruction of democracy with this new ideology of the global parasitic leviathan. It destroys everything.
Hotel Hobbies: I have enjoyed the album but the track that stands out for me the most at the moment is Merchants Of Self-Loathing. It has very powerful vocals. Within the lyrics, you use the phrase ‘global amnesia’ which works on so many levels.
Martin Haumann: So, the merchants of self-loathing are not the priests. The priests at the start of the album are economic ideologues and neo-liberals. The merchants are more on the cultural front and living things out in a different way. They're the ones who preach a lot of self help. Jordan Peterson is, of course, the perfect example but it could also be a guy like Ray Dalio, a hedge fund manager. He made his own self-help book which has a lot of ridiculous things to it. In Denmark, the leading neoliberals have said we're going to win by just focusing on cultural issues, make everybody talk about their personal responsibilities and it’s a good tactic. You’ll know this from Thatcher. Margaret Thatcher famously said that there's no such thing as a society; there's only individuals and families. It’s the same game being played. Don’t worry about what we're doing. Focus on your personal responsibility and your personal tactics. Clean your house and make your bed in order. We're never going to get there because nobody's perfect. Right?
Hotel Hobbies: Musically, Hypocrisy: Weaponized has some chugging riffs. It is a slower thrash type track which is a little different to the others. It adds variety to the album, a really interesting track.
Martin Haumann: Awesome! That song specifically was in a way, a collaborative effort; the bassist had a riff that he said wouldn’t fit anywhere else with things he was working on. He said to see what I could do with it. In the middle where it breaks down it’s thrashy and I used to play in a thrash band. Talking to the bassist, I think he muted it or something. For me as a drummer, I think when you want to play those types of parts, to make them chug you don’t want to open the hi-hat too much. You want to have it sizzling like it's fighting to open, but your left foot is kind of keeping it a little bit closed. Actually, now that you mentioned it, the first part is my own take on Immortal like riffing and then the next part is actually inspired a little bit by Paul Bostaph and some stuff he did with Exodus. You play a triplet thing there and put in double strokes. I had a verse, but I didn't feel it was Mother Of All. I was trying to work around it. Like, what could we do with triplets? How can we make it groove, you know? And make it fit the rest, and so that that's probably why it sounds thrashy, because I guess without thinking about it, a lot of them are. There’s a lot of thrash influences.
Hotel Hobbies: On the last song, Pillars, the story has reached a point where there is an inescapable force that dwarfs human power or human control. It is a cliffhanger. It is a dark and almost hopeless end to the album.
Martin Haumann: 100%. I'm happy that it feels that way because that's what it is. In my view that is reality. This album is a promise to myself, a question to myself on my journey and a question to the listener. There are all these questions. A very, very famous YouTuber, Alex Friedman was on the Joe Rogan podcast and then they had a long debate about Palestine, where we had some very antagonistic sides talking to each other. He was asked what gives you hope in this situation, and Professor Finkelstein, who knows a lot about the issue says he doesn’t have any hope for the situation. So, if there is no hope, should we do anything?
Listeners will sense that something is wrong on the album and it is kind of hopeless. Then why should they do something? Well, I'm not going to answer that. I hope the listener will find a part of themselves that can answer that question. That is what I'm asking people to do. Fixation on hope is kind of impotent in a way. The only thing we can do is we can act. And what makes us act well? Some people are not going to act at all. Some people gain from not caring and others have a feeling that something's wrong. Well, what makes them feel that? Has the leviathan taken over everything or is there are part of us that can reason why we feel this bad. I hope the reason is something inside every human being that has a sense of what's right and what's wrong and that things could be better? Well, we'll see. I'm working on a book to kind of accompany the album. I don't know if it would be like a music thing or a separate thing and I don't know if anything will come of it. Maybe I'll never finish. We'll see. It's work in progress. There's a lot of music to be played! I'm very happy that you took the time to read the notes and the lyrics. It makes a huge difference for an interview I can tell you.
Hotel Hobbies: I wanted to ask about the album’s artwork which is both quite simple but extremely powerful.
Martin Haumann: All credit goes to Henrik, our guitarist. He had some different ideas. I had ideas but had the impetus to do it after we talked about the concept of the album. He captured the leviathan lurking and he’s done an amazing job. He had big shoes to fill after Travis Smith on the last one. I was surprised and happy just how well it came out.
Hotel Hobbies: You have mentioned playing live. You have some festivals booked. What’s the bigger plan beyond that?
Martin Haumann: We have a bunch of concerts, that we are going to announce very soon at a very cool brewery. Then we are going to be in Copenhagen and we are going to play Vega there in May. We're also going to be playing Metal Magic Festival, which is an incredibly cool festival in Denmark with a bunch of other great bands. We will also have a release type party and hopefully we’ll get out to Sweden and just play more around Europe. It’s hard if you’re not already established or have billions of views! I really want to get out and play with it with the rest of the guys. I want to spread the message of the album. I would love to come to UK too! If you know anybody, let me know! Touring in Europe is expensive!
Hotel Hobbies: I want to say thank for your time. It has been very enjoyable. Thank you for the great in-depth insights and the time to answer the questions.
Martin Haumann: Thank you so much! Thank you for taking the time to take the material seriously. I appreciate that. Take care. Thank you. Bye bye!
Global Parasitic Leviathan is released on 12th April 2024
Pre-Order:
https://motherofallofficial.bandcamp.com/album/global-parasitic-leviathan (CD, vinyl, digital)
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