( 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 .