photo by Emilyvphotography

The slightly terrific troupe STERBHAUS (spearheaded by Marcus Hammarström of Shining, previously of Elvira Madigan) from Stockholm/Sweden finally releases their much asked for Christmas-EP in physical format on Friday the 13th of December 2019. Together with this the band also announces its own demise in 2020 as well as the release of a live album (fully filmed and released in video format also) and a very last final studio album in late 2020.

The tremendously effective Christmas EP “Krampusnacht” with artwork by Brom (renowned in his own right but now – due to his involvement in the videogame Diablo 2, tentalizingly enough engaged in the Diablo 4 installment) was first released digitally in 2016 December – and has been enjoyed annually as a free downloading treat every December month. This unorthodox Yule time effort will now be available physically for the first time and the title track – which is dedicated to Santa Claus Alpine opposite devoted to punishing those children who have been naughty (-there should be quite a few of those these days) has been completely re-booted for this release with a new edit/cut, production, mix and master.

Marcus explains:
“I absolutely love that ‘Krampusnacht’ song. I think it’s honestly one of the best we ever did, apart from our coming album ofc ;-). But that recording of 2016 never really sat right with me. Something was so obviously off and I just got a big knot in my belly every time I heard it, ’cause I new how it was supposed to sound but didn’t. If we rehearsed it or played it live – which we only did once in Stockholm as far as I remember, it was always special and felt ripping and heavy as bloody hell. But on that recording it was another thing. I was actually even a bit angry and frustrated cause once you get a song out there, it’s final… most of the times.

But funny thing is that our recent silence which had postponed that physical release actually provided me with an opening to get this whole thing fixed. So I spent a month after summer going through takes and cuts and re-editing it until it sounded just as we play it normally. And I did find a lot of weird issues that I honestly have no idea why they made it to the mix the first time. I then contacted Ronnie Björnström, hauled up money from my own pocket and got it fully reproduced, remixed and remastered. So I’ve been spinning this new version at home for weeks now and it’s like a brand new song for me… And it sounds like it was always supposed to. So you can bet I’m pretty excited about this! But hell, that’s not all… the vinyl is going to be the sexiest thing ever. The artist ‘Brom’ has always been the best one ever when it comes to imagery as far as I am concerned. I even had a dialogue with him back in 2004 or something, when I was recording the Elvira Madigan album ‘Regent Sie’ and I am just beyond exhilarated to sport an album with one of his best works. Again, the vinyl is gonna be hot!!”

Earlier this week STERBHAUS was relaunched in order to accomodate its own death and all releases scheduled up until that very last day in 2020. Not much has been revealed yet of the many reasons for the band disbanding but one rather undramatic cause is that the members just simply need and want to focus on other artistic and musical undertakings, many of which are currently obvious (Marcus Hammarström as a member of Shining and Erik Röjås as a member of Ondskapt). There are however quite some interesting other activities and bands/projects that at this point can’t be revealed. The band used this relaunch opportunity – on the 1st of November, to release a previously unknown bonus track intended for the 2012 album “Angels for Breakfast …And God for Lunch” which is a quite heavy version of the 1969 song “For a Thousand Mothers” by Jethro Tull – and should definitely be heard, a new homepage and a new web shop.

Marcus:
“Well, we can’t really go into Why we decide to break up at this point. It has been building up to this for the last couple of years but instead of wallowing in our demise, we would like to focus on all the upcoming activities and releases before we call it a day. We’ll probably disclose more in future… I don’t know, but I don’t think that matters much right now. None of us are on bad terms with each other and we just feel this is what we need to do. I think our EP, live album and final studio album is far more interesting at this moment”

Sterbhaus Line-Up
Marcus Hammarström – Vocals/Bass
Jimmy Ahovalli – Guitars
Erik Röjås – Drums