Dear friends, after some pause, our "Talks" series, in which we consider a title in question from the point of view of its author(s), returns. Two weeks ago, we published a brand-new iteration of the autobiography "Revoltikon", thus opening the opportunity to have a chat with its author and the main protagonist at the same time, the Czech death metal icon Bruno. Enjoy!  

BRUNO: I do have in mind the sequel to Revoltikon

The Revoltikon is back among the readership; an information that surely came as a treat for all the Krabathor and Hypnos fans who tried for years to get their hands on Bruno’s autobiography, but in vain. For a long time, the book was sold out, so the only avenue left was to post classifieds and see if one gets lucky. That is finally no longer the case, as the Prague-based publisher MetalGate came with the third edition. And for that occasion, we talked things Bruno, obviously about the book itself, as well as about his two fateful bands.

The Revoltikon first came out in 2014, over ten years ago. Did you consider expanding the new edition with what followed in the years after?

No. That would be unfair to those who got the original edition and now would have to buy it anew just to get new chapters. That would seem a bit like hustle to me. That said, I have been thinking about a sequel ever since the book first got published. I just need to make enough time, which however seems unlikely for now given all my other activities, especially the music related ones. And given the fact that Revoltikon covers 28 years of my career in music, penning a sequel after ten years may still be too early.

And what about revisions? Every author in hindsight has the urge to go back, add something, omit something, rephrase something… Did you? 

Yeah. In fact, I found out that I would put something differently, leave something out or include something else last year when I was reading the book in studio for its audio version. That however would take away the authenticity. This is how I wrote it back then. MetalGate did that to some extent when they re-edited the text so now it is in an optimal orthographic manner. An added bonus is the brand-new and well-done graphic design.

Revoltikon was very well received. What did it mean for you then?

A satisfaction. Everybody likes being praised, and in fact I do not recall getting any negative feedback. Already in primary school I enjoyed writing. I had the best essays, I read a lot and regularly borrowed a lot of books from the library each month. At the same time, I take it as an appreciation of the work that comes with penning a book as such. I wanted it to have lots of facts; to be a kind of comprehensive archive that can be consulted whenever we are unsure about something.

And the Břitva Award in the Book of the Year category? What did that mean for you?

Personally, not much. But don’t get me wrong, I do very much appreciate the work of Láďa Oliva and his team, who organize these awards without any mainstream interest, without sponsors, and I can imagine how disheartening that can be. Still, they do not give up and have surely helped many bands by having them perform at the awards ceremony.

Ten years is a long time. How is Bruno now compared to 2014?

Older. More wrinkles, less hair.

In general, 2014 was an important year for you. Krabathor made a comeback. How do you regard that in retrospect?

I am glad that it happened and the most credit for that goes to Tomáš Fiala from Obscure Promotion, for it was he who kept pushing us to reunite. I refused several times but caved in eventually. It was big, emotional, symbolic, a beautiful memory not just for us who performed. One of the highlights of my career and a marvelous feather in our cap. The only downside was that our longtime manager Pedro was not there. He deserved that feather as well.

Speaking of Krabathor… What about new music? Or new shows?

You know, I am somewhat… sick of the constant questions about Krabathor.

Fair enough… When can we look forward to the next Hypnos album?

I was hoping for it last year already. And I am still hoping that it will happen by the end of the year. Other things though keep me busy. For nine months I have been recording the audio version of Revoltikon; after that, I will be working on a live album to come out on CD and DVD, as last December we recorded a show here on our home turf in Uherské Hradiště. On top of that, a lot of gigs again, despite me wanting to take it easier this year, precisely so that we can work on the new album.

You dedicated your life to death metal. I know however that you listen to other genres as well, so did you ever feel like playing something else?

Once I toyed with the idea of putting together a project that would play something in the vein of gothic doom. Back then, I was listening a lot to bands such as Type O Negative or The 69 Eyes. But that was 15 or 20 years ago.

On shows and festivals you meet the young generation of Czech extreme metal bands. Are there any that recently caught your attention?

There are several bands that I think are on the international level. If I were to count in the Slovak scene as well, then surely Doomas who grew into a mighty band, both on stage and on albums. Killing it on the Czech scene are Inferno – again great shows and albums. Same goes for Exorcizphobia; Refore keep improving their game a lot recently. In death metal, the number one bands for me are Brutally Deceased and Heaving Earth. I am also a long-time fan of Dying Passion who are an incredible band. I also like the new song and music video by Colosalist or have great hopes for Destroy! from Central Bohemia. These are the bands the world should know about, but those are only the ones I like. I am sure there are others who I do not listen to, but who are on the same level, being enjoyed by many people.

Any other ambitions in literature?

A few years ago, I wrote the first few subchapters of the Revoltikon sequel, which I called Heretikon. Then I had to put it on ice, sadly, because of being busy and having other priorities, but I do plan to finish it eventually.

Please bear in mind our edition is only in Czech, though there are plans for the English edition. If you would like a copy of the Czech reissue regardless, drop us a line.

Photo by Jiří Veselý