( interview in English and Spanish / Entrevista en Ingles y Español)

Here Ricardo Bedoya SCUMZINE magazine, How ' s it going in the band?

1-I think it ' s good to start this interview talking about the new album " IMPERIUM " What do you think about the end result of this work?

We ' re really proud of this album for many reasons. From a musical standpoint I think it ' s our most punishing album— full of our trademark slam riffs, but also musically diverse, which keeps things interes ng for the listener. We tried to really expand what slam can be by adding lots of different grooves and ideas and I think we succeeded on that front too. Finally, for years we struggled to get a great produc on that truly represented what Internal Bleeding is all about, and with this one we finally nailed it— thick guitars, clear produc on and just plain heavy.

2- What is the meaning contained Album tle?

Well, ever since Invoca on Of Evil was released, many in the music press and industry simply dismissed INTERNAL BLEEDING as another generic death metal band. We knew different, our fans knew different and the underground press certainly knew different. They understood that we offered something fresh and unique: death metal that focused on pit-friendly grooves, catchiness and hooks that you could actually remember. At the me, we called this approach to death metal ' Total Fucking Slam.' And though we garnered a great deal of underground acceptance, we had to fight a perpetual uphill ba le against cri cs, naysayers and eli sts who did nothing but talk a lot shit and run their mouths behind our backs or in print. We ignored them and kept plowing forward, but we never forget …. To add insult to injury, our first two albums suffered from horrendous produc ons which no doubt made it more challenging to get people to truly understand our music. And by the me our third and fourth albums were released, we had no label or tour support and limited resources to keep things going. By the early-tomid 2000s, we were a broken and dispirited unit and eventually fell into inac vity and disarray.

Eventually our term— slam— had been picked up by hundreds of underground bands and a whole new genre of death metal was spawned. The seeds we had planted had finally come to bloom yet we were unable to enjoy even a modicum of recogni on for it. It had been an extremely frustra ng twenty years. We gave it our best, but in the end, we fell short of our goals. These experiences, plus other personal setbacks and tragedies, are the impetus behind the album tle Imperium. It means a dominion of absolute power. It ' s a statement to those who ' ve caused anyone to feel slighted, disrespected, tormented and generally abused. It ' s a clarion call to the vic ms of these tormentors— the abused child, the bands that struggle and come up short, the outcast, the geek and the popula ons that have been crushed under the boot of totalitarianism— to rise up, join us and take a righ ul place at the throne of power. With Imperium, the me has finally come to turn the tables on the tormentors and make them suffer.

3- Why decided to take this job with UNIQUE LEADER RECORDS having bands like DEEDS OF FLESH, PYREXIA, OMNIHILITY, RISINGS OF SATURN among other bands What are the expecta ons of the band for all the work?,?; How long does it take to make UNIQUE LEADER RECORDS contract?

It really came down to two important factors: money and trust. We ' ve known Erik( owner of Unique Leader) for many years, and he is a true fan of the band, so we were very comfortable with him on a personal level. He also stepped up to the plate financially, so we could produce a strong record.

It took about two months to nego ate our contract and once that was done, we dove right into recording the album. So far, we ' re very happy with the album ' s prerelease promo on, we ' ll see what happens once the album is released and what kind of promo on it gets.

4- What does the cover of " IMPERIUM " Mean?

The artwork is deeply meaningful to us. We wanted to create an atmosphere that was dark and threatening and were really impressed by the work of Mircea Gabriel E emie. He nailed it almost immediately. At the center of the cover is a half-human / half-alien creature holding a withered skull.

This creature represents the new master that has risen to power. It is half alien because as our fans know, we have carried on a tradi on of using alien themes on our albums since day one. It also represents those who are outcast and treated as an alien to their own race. This alien is holding the skull of his past tormentor, which represents the change in power and the rise of the new Imperium. There are a lot of interes ng things that go on in the background, which we ' d rather leave open to interpreta on.

5-How long have you wri ng and recording the album? And Tell us how was the recording and mixing the new CD " IMPERIUM "?

Wri ng the album took about a year and a half, which really isn ' t too bad. I wish it would have taken a li le less me, but we ' re all very busy with our lives, etc. that it is hard to get together. Recording, mixing and mastering took about a month.

6-How do you compare the American scene when INTERNAL BLEEDING started in 1991 with today?

It ' s a lot different than it was. I think crowd-wise, it has thinned out a great deal and there is less enthusiasm for deathmetal now than there was compared to the years 1992-1996. However, I think the quality of musicians and bands has increased greatly since then. There are so many really killer and musically proficient bands nowadays that it ' s mind blowing. In short, each period has posi ves and nega ves about them so you cannot really say one period is be er than the other, because they both offer good things.

7-INTERNAL BLEEDING is considered the creators of S L A M, What is your opinion on this?

I would agree with that statement. It was our drummer Bill Tolley who came up with the idea of calling what we do Slam; before that we had called our music“ Barbaric Moshing Death Vomit,” Bill hated the term“ mosh” and proposed we describe our music as“ Total Fucking Slam.” That ' s where the term came from and we were the first in the deathmetal world to use it. It had been used in the Punk and Hardcore scene for a long me in the 80s.