Delving into the depths of philosophy and modern societal horrors, Rebel Souls has carved a unique identity, blending raw power with introspection. From their early beginnings on small German stages to their rebirth in Spain in 2014, the band has left an indelible mark on the extreme metal scene. Now, with Léviathan, a weighty and thought-provoking EP, they prepare to bow out on their own terms. In this interview, bassist and vocalist Stefan Hielscher reflects on the band’s extraordinary journey, their inspirations, and the decision to close this chapter.
Serial Metalbums: To start, could you introduce Rebel Souls to our readers, especially those who discovered your music through the review of Léviathan? Could you trace the band’s history, from your beginnings in Germany to your reformation in Spain in 2014, and share what drives you to continue creating today?
Stefan: Thomas and I went to high school together and founded the band around the millennium, in our hometowns in Germany. Thomas had introduced me to metal, we were both passionate fans by then and wanted to do something on our own. I guess this is how most bands come to be. So, we learned to play the guitar and bass respectively, recorded demos with a friend, really poorly though, as we had no idea about proper recording, mixing or mastering processes and played several local gigs. But once we finished high school and the mandatory military service we both moved to different cities, started at different universities and it became more difficult to keep the band alive. Keep in mind that this was all prior to broadband internet, WhatsApp, etc. So we reached a point where we decided to stop Rebel Souls. That was in 2003.
Life went on, our friendship has always remained strong and ten years later, over a couple of drinks we reminisced on the old Rebel Souls days and what a pity it was that we never captured the full potential and strength of the songs on our recordings. On a drunken whim we decided to re-record one of the old songs and have them professionally mixed and mastered. The result convinced us so much that we decided to reanimate Rebel Souls in early 2014. We re-recorded our first demo, Dark Forces, with session drummer James Stewart (Decapitated, Obscura, ex-Vader …), and released it as The Forces Of Darkness through Art Gates Records. We had the chance to be the opening act for Heaven Shall Burn in Málaga, went on a European tour with Noctem, had two mini-tours with Grabak, Hate Legions, Invoker, and played standalone gigs with Dead and Guilles.
Unfortunately Thomas had to step down from his active role in the band in 2019 due to personal and professional obligations, but I was able to recruit Alex, Arnau and Tornay for the recording of our next output, Dawn Of Depravity in 2022, which was mostly songs from our Estrangement.Disillusion.Frost demo, as well as new and unreleased material. Alex and Arnau play in other bands, so it was really difficult to commit to live gigs after the release of Dawn Of Depravity.
We have just recently published our latest record Leviathan, which is a 4-track EP.
Serial Metalbums: Let’s go back to your early years. What can you tell us about your initial demos? What were your artistic goals at the time, and which musical influences guided you? Did you already establish the dark themes that now define your work during those years?
Stefan: Musically we were mostly influenced by Vader, early Death, Vomitory, Krisiun, Morbid Angel. Lyrically, at first it was mostly the typical supernatural stuff: demons, horror, Norse mythology, but as we grew a little older and “matured” we steered more towards Nietzsche and philosophical stuff. So yeah, the themes were always the same, but I fine-tuned the lyrics for the re-recordings in the new era.
Serial Metalbums: In 2017, you released The Forces of Darkness, a significant debut album after your reformation. Could you talk about the writing and recording process for this album? How did you approach its themes?
Stefan: It is basically a re-recording of our Dark Forces demo from 2001, so the songs already existed, but since we had gotten much better at our instruments than in our beginnings we added a little more depth to everything, we added different guitar techniques and playing styles, fine-tuned some riffs, added logical transitions and made the songs more logical in general. And of course we had the honour to work with James Stewart who improved the drums one thousand percent.
Serial Metalbums: Your second album, Dawn of Depravity, released in 2022, marks another important milestone in your discography. What musical or conceptual evolutions did you explore compared to your first album? What sets this album apart, and how was it received by your fans?
Stefan: This album is much more mature, musically and literally. The songs are more complex, more technical, but also more varied - both within the songs but also regarding the whole album structure. We wanted the album to be a journey, with fast brutal, but also slower and groovier songs, even majestic epic parts - as opposed to The Forces of Darkness which is velocity and blasting almost the whole time (kind of a Reign in Blood approach). On the lyrical side we abandoned the horror fantasy themes of the first record and approached more about real tangible horrors of our modern society and how they will eventually lead to our downfall. We received generally good reactions to Dawn of Depravity, even though it is stylistically very different to The Forces of Darkness.
Serial Metalbums: Now let’s discuss your latest release, Léviathan, from 2024. How did the creation process unfold, and what themes does it explore? and how does Léviathan represent the evolution of Rebel Souls? and how was it received by the specialist media and fanzine ?
Stefan: We worked for almost 5 years on Dawn of Depravity and I didn’t want to repeat that for Leviathan. I wanted it to be “quick and dirty”, more spontaneous and not as overthought as Dawn was. The songs came to be quite rapidly, they were existing riffs from Thomas - I just had to arrange them properly to make songs out of them, Warmonger is a song I composed some years ago. Musically the album is a lot slower, yet heavier and moodier, so we were able to show yet another aspect of our music. Lyrically we’re continuing to explore the themes we started on Dawn, the title is not a direct reference to the biblical monster, but to Thomas Hobbes’ social contract theory and how it has been perverted by nowadays political class. Again, we received generally good reviews although some prefer our faster stuff.
EP Review: "Leviathan" by Rebel Souls
Serial Metalbums: What are your plans for the future? Are you already working on new compositions or collaborations? Do you have any specific plans for upcoming tours or major events?
Stefan: Nope, actually Leviathan is our swan song. We are very happy with what we achieved in the past 10 years and musically everything has been said. We don’t pursue any future compositions for Rebel Souls, except the one final song Call of the Wild (which was the first one ever to be composed back in 1999 or 2000 and the last one ever to be released). We think it’s important to end on a high note before things become forced and uninspired. We want to pursue other musical ventures and think it’s a good moment to lay Rebel Souls to rest. It’s been a fun ride. If we have the chance to play live we will, but other than that there will be no activity.
Serial Metalbums: Finally, what is your opinion on today’s extreme metal scene, whether in Spain, Germany, or globally? How do you perceive the genre’s evolution, and are there any artists or trends that inspire or concern you? Can you give us your best releases of the year?
Stefan: Well, it’s also one of the reasons why we’re ending Rebel Souls: If you want to succeed with your band you need to continuously invest, both money and time. You need to work full-time for your band and we have day jobs that don’t allow that. You also need to be a community manager and social media expert to successfully push your content and we hate that, honestly. We founded Rebel Souls in a time where you only needed to release good music, just be a band and concentrate on the music - the record label would take care of the rest. And I feel it’s just not like that anymore.
My personal picks for the best releases this year are Mork’s “Syv” and Blood Incantation’s “Absolute Elsewhere”.
