Micke: Yes, we are doing the final touch of the album this week. The main difference between our previous albums and "The seal of Belial" is the speed I guess, this album will be a bit slower in general, but of course there are some fast parts as well.

Scorpio: Something else? Maybe you've added some new elements to your music?

Micke: No, the ingredients will be quite the same as usual, with additional ads from flute and female vocals.

Scorpio: Had something interesting, funny or strange happend at studio during the recordings?

Micke: Actually I don't know that, since I haven't been in the studio at all for this recording.

Scorpio: So, you just have recorded first drum section and then you went home, yes? But maybe bandmates tell you something interesting?

Micke: No, we have not talked about anything during the studiotime. the recording has been split up very much since Andy has been on tour with King Diamond this autumn, and there has been only a few days every now and then. The recording has been going on since august.

Scorpio: This time you decided to include Intro and Outro to the album. Do you think its better for album to have such tracks?

Micke: It is ok as long as the intro is quite short I think... I really hate long intros of several minutes.

Scorpio: Do you plan to include bonus-tracks?

Micke: No. Maybe for some special editions... But nothing is planned for now.

Scorpio: So when will The Seal of Belial be released and what label through?

Micke: It will be released by Regain Records that we signed a deal for in late 2002, right after we left No Fashion Rec. We don't know the release-date yet, but hopefully it will be out before the summer 2004.

Scorpio: Have you already decided what will be on cover? And who will make album artwork?

Micke: Yes, the cover artwork will be done by Mantus again, he also did the layout for "Angelgrinder" and we think he is great and he does the layout exactly the way we want it.

Scorpio: Can you tell me what will be on cover, or it's just a secret?

Micke: It will be something based on the seal of Belial, but it is not finished yet so i really dont know any details yet.

Scorpio: Last September you had recruited new guitarist - Hjalmar Nielsen. Do you like his playing?

Micke: Yes! Hjalmar is a very skilled guitarist and he fits perfect in the band.

Scorpio: And also you, Micke, returned to LORD BELIAL's ranks. Why did you were off the band for some period? Decided to have a rest?

Micke: Yes, I just got tired of it all and I wanted to take a break... I did not planned for how long the break should be, but the break ended up much shorter than I could imagine...

Scorpio: Always wanted to aks: are you (Micke), Thomas and Anders native brothers?

Micke: I and Thomas are brothers, Anders is our cousin.

Scorpio: Maybe you also have a sister - black metal musician? :))

Micke: Nope, no sister.

Scorpio: Were all you 3 obedient boys?

Micke: Hahah, I guess we were as all the other boys...

Scorpio: And what did you parents think about the music you like and what to they say now, when you play in the band?

Micke: Even though our (mine and Thomas) father doesn't really enjoy the music style itself, he knows what it is about since he is a musician himself. Our mother really likes our music and she has been on some of our gigs (in the front-row, banging her head).

Scorpio: Cool! That's great when mother supports her children in any of their business!

Micke: Yes!

Scorpio: Your surname is Backelin and if we will put "l" after "B" and threw away "e" will get "Black in". So, nothing special that you play black metal! :)

Micke: Hehe, we did not choose the surname by ourselves... I don't think it has anything with the music to do at all :)

Scorpio: You have a daughter and Thomas have also children and also girls. What happened men? Don't you want to have sons? :))

Micke: I have another kid on the way right now... let's hope it will be a son then hehe

Scorpio: So, you really want to have a son. And how will you name him? :)

Micke: It does not matter at all if it will be a boy or a girl actually... we don't know what name it will be given yet.

Scorpio: Your don't use corpsepaint like for example other Swedish blackers MARDUK and DARK FUNERAL and you use your real names instead of pseudonimes. Why?

Micke: Hmm... Why not? We don't really find it that "evil" or "true" with corpse paint, personally I think it looks quite funny... some of the paints can look ok but most of it really looks stupid. We did use pseudonyms some years, but we just quit using them since there actually was no need for them... it did not add anything to the band... everyone knew our real names anyway haha

Scorpio: Tell, please, what bands use funny corpse paint, and whose one is looking OK? Compare for example corpse paint of DIMMU BORGIR, GORGOROTH and DARK FUNERAL.

Micke: I don't really care about it, I can't put the finger on any special band that use funny paint but I believe about 95% of them are uglying my eyes... I don't use to compare them and I don't even care if a band use paint or not, I am not impressed by their look at all, I care about the music, image is nothing important to me.

Scorpio: You also run a fanzine Extreme Terror. How many people work there?

Micke: Right now there are 7 people involved in ETZ (8 with the mighty Bo-Toddy). The zine is going through a complete makeover right now and maybe we will let more people in...

Scorpio: How did you decide to create a fanzine?

Micke: Me and Thomas has discussed it for several years, and when we decided to really start up a zine, we bought a domain, rented a web hotel and started to write reviews and it only took 4 days before ETZ was online...

Scorpio: What famous bands appeared on its pages?

Micke: Some of the interviewed bands are HATE ETERNAL, VOMITORY, KHOLD, MESTELTEIN, MERCILESS, FORGOTTEN TOMB, KOVENANT, THE CROWN etc... We have about 250 reviews online now I think...

Scorpio: Do you buy the most stuff, or labels send it?

Micke: It's maybe like 50/50... I have bought about 700 CD the last 2 years. Some bands use to send CD-r... I throw most of them away ... cheap boring shit :)

Scorpio: On your website I've found the link to Belial Center, which support Swedish Satan Church. What is you connection to this organisation?

Micke: They are friends of ours and we also support them in any way we can.

Scorpio: Do you know something about Ukraine, Russia, Belarus? Do you know something about metal scene of our region?

Micke: Not much at all I must say... unfortunately

Scorpio: Maybe you will give the post address, where the bands could send their promo stuff for review in you Extreme Terror?

Micke: Sure! Micke Backelin, Sadesbingen 78, 461 61 Trollhattan, Sweden. Do not send registered packages; please contact me by email first if you intend to register your package. micke@extreme-production.com or micke@lordbelial.com

Scorpio: I've heard that last year you were touring with FORLORN and MAGNUS NOCTUM and in Hungary you van hit the van of MAGNUS NOCTUM and they cancelled their appearence on the concert. Tell more please.

Micke: Yes, it was a fucking snow storm in Hungary and MAGNUS NOCTUM suddenly hit the brakes and stopped their van right in front of us... We had a quite big Chevy van with summer tires so we had no chance to stop... we hit them in maybe 50-60 km/h and that was too much for their little van, so they had to cancel the rest of the shows... to bad for them to not be able to fulfil the tour, but at the same time it was luck that no one got seriously hurt.

Scorpio: Maybe there are some other interesting tour stories?

Micke: I use to be too drunk to remember anything... but for sure it always happen lots of weird things... all the time.

Scorpio: Now the game for your imagination. :) I will name some invented bands name and you say what shoul band with such name play, OK?

NOCTURNAL HORDES - Black metal with lots of keyboards

CUCUMBER IN YOUR ASS - Grindcore from France or Holland

STONE SWORD - Power metal

GURGULITATE - Old style Death metal or maybe Grindcore

AUTUMNGRIEF - Garageband with 15 year old kids trying to play true evil black metal

SLAVESOUL - Sepultura wannabees

VENUS MIRROR - slow keyboardmetal with female vocals

Scorpio: Final Words Of Belial:

Micke: Thanks for your support! Visit www.lordbelial.com' and don't forget to buy the upcoming album "THE SEAL OF BELIAL".