EKBOM? BAM!

If I’ve counted correctly—excluding your live CD/DVD *Brutalive the Sick* (2015) and your EP *Dogs Always Bite Harder Than Their Master* (2018)—you’re now at your 10th album with the release of *Ekbom*. Congratulations! How does it feel to reach such a major milestone in your career?

Julien: Thanks a lot! Yes, releasing a 10th album is always a big deal—we hope it will make a lasting impression and delight our fans. We really pulled out all the stops to ensure nothing was left to chance and to pour everything we had in our guts into it!

First off, let’s talk a bit about the new album’s visuals: a stunning black-and-white illustration of a half-woman, half-zombie, half-spider creature adorns the cover. Who created it, why this specific image, and what is the story behind the album’s title?

Oh yes, this magnificent piece was created—just like the artwork for our previous album, *Obscene Repressed*—by the incredible Robert Borbas, aka Grindesign. He’s not only a brilliant artist but also one of the most renowned tattooists in the scene! The artwork symbolizes the visual and cenesthetic hallucinations associated with Ekbom syndrome—a delusional form of parasitosis where the sufferer experiences sensations of things crawling under their skin and sees insects scurrying beneath the surface.

Is there an overarching theme or concept connecting the songs?

Absolutely. Once again, it’s a concept album. It tells the story of someone suffering from a psychiatric disorder, covering their childhood and adolescent traumas and how their symptoms develop. This time, the story centers on a young woman who cared for her cancer-stricken mother throughout her teenage years and grew up with the conviction that the enemy killing us lies within. When she decompensates, she presents not only a clinical picture suggestive of Ekbom syndrome but also visual hallucinations of a man—half-demon, half-insect in appearance—who watches her constantly and smiles as she cuts into her skin to extract the insects.

Looking back at your musical journey, what are the key lessons you’ve learned over the course of your first nine albums, and how are you applying them to this one?

First off, I’d say you must never forget to enjoy yourself at every stage of creating an album—staying authentic to what you want to play and owning your identity rather than chasing current trends (so you don't end up becoming a "TikTok band," for instance! Haha!). This new album is pure Benighted essence; the four of us poured our rage into it with sincerity, passion, and zero compromise.

How would you define the Benighted sound? Was there a conscious group effort to create a distinctive signature sound?

We try to evolve our sound with every album to ensure its identity remains unique. *Ekbom* is no exception; for this record, we worked with our producer Kohle from Kohlekeller Studios (Powerwolf, Aborted, Crematory...) to achieve a sound that is both more massive and more modern. We wanted to highlight not just the brutality, but also the musicality of the album! Yes, really—musicality! Lol!

Do the sonic richness and technical complexity of your compositions force you to make strategic choices regarding gear and instruments to ensure you’re just as effective live as you are on the record?

Yes—to save time and ensure faithful sound reproduction, both Manu and Pierre play on Quad Cortex units, for example. We really want our stage setup to facilitate the same simplicity and efficiency found in the sound we craft on the album! As for Kévin, he’s such an inhumanly good drummer that his kit always sounds incredible live!

What challenges did you face while creating this album, especially as a band with such a long career behind it?

Naturally, the first challenge is to avoid repeating ourselves and to give the album a distinct identity that sets it apart from previous ones. In terms of both technique and musicianship, I think we’ve reached a level that is unmatched in the band’s discography so far.

Was the writing and recording process for this album different from previous ones? If so, how?

No, we’ve kept the same method: Manu composes absolutely everything, then we work together on the song structures—incorporating my ideas for vocal placement, arrangements, and so on—and finally, Kévin and Pierre make their instrumental parts their own by injecting their own styles and ideas.