We’re meeting here for a chat after a weekender you guys just played. Tell me — how was life on the road? How were the shows?

Yeah, it was awesome. We were out with Reverend Hound.
We were booked with them for October 4th in Kempten — they’re good friends of ours. Then, pretty last-minute, a show in Dornbirn came up for October 3rd, and we were like: “C’mon, let’s play that one too — with Reverend Hound.” There was also local support from Never Say Die from Dornbirn.
The Schlachthaus in Dornbirn is a cool venue. But I’d say there were too few people there for such great bands. It was actually a really great night, just not super well attended. We definitely had fun, enjoyed being together, and even when we were playing partly for the other bands, we all supported each other and had a great evening.
On Saturday we moved on to CamboMetal — that’s organized by our good friend Marc. We also played at his 50th birthday party last year.
Marc’s a fantastic guy and he’s really built something great in Kempten. The show was sold out. The one before that too. So yeah, it was packed, and the night was killer. We played as the opener, the place was crammed, and everyone was in a great mood. That was a really awesome night. Reverend Hound played again, and Then Comes the Night were on the bill too.

I saw some photos — it looked pretty packed.

It was great. Big thanks to everyone who supported us — that was really fantastic.

So, how’s Olymp doing in fall 2025? How’s the year been so far?

It’s been a pretty awesome year for us. We still have the release of our new album coming up, with a release show on November 8th, 2025 — attention, shameless plug! — with Liquid Steel and Axxed.
We’ve played 11 shows this year, which is quite something for us, and the year’s been full of highlights. I mean, things like the Burgbrand Festival, where we played in front of a castle ruin — with great bands like Turbo Kill and Smoulder.
Then Trveheim — a legendary festival for NWOTHM and heavy metal in general — and yeah, the absolute highlight: we were in Brazil in April and got to play two shows, in Piracicaba and São Paulo. That was really insane.

Before we get into that: can you briefly introduce yourselves as a band?

Olymp is basically the follow-up band to Moral Hazard. Moral Hazard was founded in 2011, and the four of us in Olymp have been playing together since then. In 2018 Moral Hazard broke up. Well, actually, we’d already started Olymp as a side project before that — in 2018. Wait, no — Moral Hazard ended in 2019, and we’d started Olymp in 2018. Then I ended up doing vocals — kind of out of necessity. Like, “Yeah, we need someone to stand up there — you do it.” And since I realized I actually loved doing it, it just stayed that way.
As for us as a band — it’s amazing with these guys. Our drummer Dommi, I’ve known him since we were 12 — we played soccer together and went to the same school. Same with Armin — we’ve known each other since we were, what, 14 or 15. So those are friendships over 20 years. Andre joined in 2011, and it’s just awesome to have a band with your friends and share something like that.

So Olymp was initially a side project during the Moral Hazard years. In terms of sound or songwriting, did you already have a new direction in mind?

Yes and no. That’s a great answer, I know (laughs).
Mascha (the singer of Moral Hazard – note) had a baby in 2018 and had to take a break. So we started Olymp during that time as a side thing. Everything was a bit „räudiger“ (a german word for „rougher“, literally describing a skin disease of animals) than with Moral Hazard, and yeah, we immediately clicked with that. We just went into the rehearsal room, didn’t overthink it — just played — and that’s how the sound came about.

We played again with Mascha and Moral Hazard in 2019. After that we talked about maybe keeping both bands going, but eventually decided it made more sense to continue with Olymp.
And since then — full focus.

„Räudig“ is a good keyword. But before we talk about the sound: The new record comes out November 8th, with a release show. I couldn’t find any info about the title or the cover yet, just that there’ll be vinyl. Is that on purpose?

Half on purpose, yeah. We kept things quiet for a while. We’d marked November 8th, 2025, as the release date without being totally sure we’d make it with the vinyl. At first, we were confident, but at one point it was a bit of a cliffhanger. That was partly because we were a bit late finishing up the recording, mixing, and mastering process. We also got in touch with Bernie from Metalizer Records fairly late. But Bernie immediately supported us, and now everything’s rolling.

Back to your question: We actually plan to reveal the cover today. It’s quite possible that while we’re talking, it’s being posted (laughs).
Huge thanks to Giulia, by the way. She’s the illustrator who did our first cover, and I think she really outdid herself this time. It’s amazing.

Here, let me show you.

„Rising“ Cover Artwork

That looks fantastic! There’s so much love in the details. The first one had that too — I called it a “busy picture” in the best sense back then. Same vibe here.

Yeah, again there’s a reference to every song hidden in there.

Your first full-length „Hades“ came out in 2023 — two years to the follow-up.

Funny you say “Hades,” because technically that record didn’t have a title — it was self-titled. But you’re not the first to call it “Hades.”

Got it, sorry! The self-titled record from 2023 is now two years old. I’m curious — when did you start writing again? Are all the songs new? You were touring quite a bit after the release.

To put it in context — we started recording the new album about a year ago. So, if you take the first album as a reference, we wrote these songs within about a year. Two songs were already finished around the time of the 2023 release, like “Olymp” for example. I even joked at the release show: “Hi, we’re Olymp. We’re now playing „Olymp“ the song that’s not on the album „Olymp“.”

So by the end of 2024, all songs were done?

Exactly. The songs were finished then. So they came together between late 2023 and late 2024.

Did your songwriting change for this album? Did all those shows influence it — or was it more of an organic development?

Good question. I think our live experiences definitely had an influence — and maybe even the whole pandemic period, to some extent.
What we really felt after releasing the first album was that drive, that energy. You put something out and it just feels great. You get positive feedback from all sides. We make music for the people who want to have a good time, so when we get that kind of genuine feedback, it really shapes how we write.
Interestingly, there’s even one song on the album that has two riffs that are ancient. I wrote them with my good friend Stefan — greetings, by the way. We were 13 or 14, sitting in a rehearsal room going, “We’re gonna make the greatest thrash metal record ever.” (laughs) We only managed five songs before it all fell apart, but yeah — two riffs from back then made it onto this record.

So, concretely: what can mortals expect from the gods, sound-wise?

Divine sound. (laughs)

Any big changes? You mentioned thrash riffs earlier.

Yeah, I think we already had a bit of a thrashy touch on the first album too. If you think of “Pandora,” that’s pretty thrashy. Or “Death and Glory” — that one’s fast and punchy. Kind of “early thrash.”
That hasn’t gone anywhere on the second album. I think “rough” still fits. (smiles) But we do have something like a half-ballad this time — there’s a white rose on the cover. That’s a nod to the White Rose resistance group in WWII. The song’s a bit calmer in comparison.

Let’s stay on the sound for a second. Your EP was a bit more playful — almost “Maiden-esque,” I’d say. The opposite of “rough.” On the self-titled record you got dirtier again. You recorded and produced everything yourselves. Was that the same for the new one?

Exactly.

Did anything change sound wise? How do the new recordings sound?

That’s hard to say since I did the mix myself (smiles). But yeah, it sounds great, no doubt about it. I’d say compared to the self-titled album, the new one is a bit clearer.

The last one was deliberately very, very, very early-’80s sounding. I think now we’ve cleaned things up a bit overall. The highs are more pronounced, without neglecting the mids.
The drums really pop out nicely, and the cymbals are well-defined — that was important to me.

Now that you’re with Metalizer, the current songs were recorded beforehand but would you be open to recording or mixing externally in the future?

Yeah, definitely.
I really enjoy doing it myself, no question. But I think our sound could benefit from outside influence at some point. Right now, it’s also a matter of resources. We do love the fact that since we handle everything ourselves, there’s no pressure. We don’t have to record full tracks within a few studio hours. We can scrap stuff and re-record if needed. That’s a big plus. And of course, it means we have everything under control. So yeah, even if I say outside input could be good, we still have a clear idea of what we want our sound to be and that definitely shouldn’t turn into, I don’t know, hair metal or something.

How do you create your sound? You still play a self-built amp, right?

Yep, that’s right.

Is it based on something — or your own design?

It’s based on a JCM 800, the 2204 series. A real workhorse: Tubes, 50 watts, knobs turned up high. Well, mostly. Gain around halfway, but with a Tubescreamer cranked in front.
For the recordings I used a similar amp, just an 18-watt JTM-style version again with the Tubescreamer full on. We recorded via DI and then reamped through that amp. Armin’s guitar also went through the same one.

So you didn’t just use a similar amp — you actually used the same one for both guitars.

Exactly. That wasn’t the case on the first album. You can really hear it now — the guitars match perfectly left and right.

You mentioned the Tubescreamer, your pedalboards are pretty minimalistic, right?

Yeah, that’s definitaley right. I’ve got exactly three pedals: The Tubescreamer, a tuner, and a booster. The booster’s actually built into my amp — boosts the signal after the preamp.
Armin’s setup is similar: Just a Tubescreamer, plus a noise gate because he struggles more with feedback. And a tuner, that’s it.

So completely without modulation effects.

Yes.

And you both play Ibanez…

Yep. I play an Ibanez Destroyer — a pretty big beast. Anyone who remembers Maiden’s “Number of the Beast” tour knows what kind of guitar that was. Mine’s not red though — just natural wood finish, but still beautiful.

About Metalizer Records: Your label mates from Liquid Steel are playing your release show. How did that connection happen? Did they hook you up?

We already knew Metalizer through Liquid Steel, yeah. But the actual impulse came differently: We went to the Metalheadz Open Air every year, and Bernie from Metalizer is always there with his booth. We’d already chatted with him there; he even took some copies of our self-titled record for his mailorder.
We always got along great, and then around mid-year we sent him the material we’d finished so far. He didn’t reply right away…damn! But it turned out he just wanted to talk in person. A week later, we played a show in Munich, he came with his son, watched the gig, and afterwards we talked at the merch stand — and basically sealed the deal right there.

Now you’re releasing the record together. What else is planned?

We’ll release it on CD and digitally — Bandcamp and all the usual platforms.

Olymp and Bernie of Metalizer Records (middle)

New Merch?

We still have a box of T-shirts from our Brazil trip. Our logo patch recently sold out — which made us really happy. Knowing there are maybe 200 Olymp patches out there somewhere is pretty cool.

We also still have patches from Brazil — a really nice design, a hydra wrapping around the Brazilian flag. That’s also the design for the shirts. We’ve ordered new patches too, since people really dig them — including a big one, 20 centimeters wide, a cutout patch with our logo.

Back to 2025 highlights: Trveheim and the Brazil shows. How did Trveheim happen?

Pretty classic story: We applied.
We’d already had a few beers with Lenny, the booker, at Metalheadz. You know how it goes — everyone knows everyone. I think we could’ve even filled in last year on short notice but couldn’t make it. So it was a mix of connections and reaching out. But I really want to highlight Trveheim it’s such a damn great festival. Everything fits: sound, people, atmosphere. It is exceptional.

You drove there, played and stuck around?

We went there Friday, played Saturday. Somehow we made it onto the stage. It always works out somehow. And when you play your second-ever festival show, in the afternoon, and the place is full and people are shouting and singing along, that says it all.

And Brazil? How does that compare?

So the name was “Venezuela Metal Fest,” but in practice it was more like a mini-tour: four bands, two shows. The audience in Brazil is incredibly warm. I’ve probably never been hugged so much after gigs. It was amazing. You could really feel how special it was for them to have a band from Europe, from Germany, coming over especially in the underground heavy metal scene. Some people literally save up just to be able to go to shows, and then they get an international package like that. It was something really special.

How did it even come about?

It started in 2019, when we released our EP. I’m not exactly sure how, probably through the YouTube channel “NWOTHM Full Albums.” Pedro from Living Metal and Armadilha, his bands heard us and was working on a compilation of underground bands from all over the world. I think there were 20 songs in the end. It was called Hail the Metal World. He asked if we wanted to contribute a song. We recorded “Icarus” for it.
Since then we’ve stayed in touch, and a real friendship developed — we talked about all kinds of things beyond music. Just fun stuff. At some point I jokingly wrote him, “So, when are we coming to Brazil for a few gigs?” And he replied, “I’ll organize it.” And then you’re just sitting there like… „Wait, what?“ (laughs)

The deal was: we’d cover our flights, he’d handle the shows and accommodation. He teamed up with Guerra Santa through the Venezuelan Metal Fest. Guerra Santa are based in Argentina, but the guys are originally from Venezuela. The singer fled with his wife and baby on foot through the jungle to Argentina. Crazy story.

They wanted to bring people together, so they did it through the Venezuelan Metal Fest. International bands, mainly from South America, a small event centered around metal. I think it’s already been held in Chile, then Argentina, then Brazil. The fourth band with us was Faraon from Argentina.

So you land in South America, hop into a van, and go on a four-band travel party?

Yep all four bands together in one real tour bus, from São Paulo to Piracicaba. Three hour drive to the the show, three hours after. You can imagine how much sleep we got.

You really take a lot away from that, don’t you?

Totally. It was an unforgettable experience. Before the concert in São Paulo we had a signing session at the “Galeria do Rock.” It’s a kind of multi-story shopping center—just rock, metal!
We had stops planned at Impaled Records and Hard Records. Fun fact: Kerry King (Slayer) had been there the day before.

We did lots of record trading and had many great conversations. At our signing session there was a teenager who had painted a picture of us. Actually, she’d painted it twice: she wanted to keep one with our signatures and give the other to us. That was incredible, really. Makes your heart melt.

Of course we were also in lots of vinyl shops. In one of them André suddenly went: “Come here, you’ve got to see this. This guy is a legend.” That was Luis Galanca, who released the first metal compilation in São Paulo and pretty much the first in Brazil. One of the very early pioneers of Brazilian Heavy Metal. We took photos. I bought a copy of the S.P. Metal compilation. He said: “Ah, great, but the sound isn’t that good and you’re musicians. I’ll throw in another record.” Then he gifted me another album. Fantastic. We’ll never forget experiences like that, I’m sure.

Back to Germany: how’s traditional heavy metal doing—especially in southern Germany? Is there more happening than a few years ago?

Yeah, I think so. Especially when you look at how many festivals there are nowadays. Anyone who’s ever been involved in organizing a concert can imagine how intense it is to organize a festival. These events usually come from the scene, by fans for fans. There’s massive passion behind it. That’s a good indicator that a lot is happening. You can only hope that it’s rewarded by people going to concerts and festivals.

At the same time, the economic winds are getting harsher. Presales don’t take off like they used to for a long time, especially since covid. You notice money doesn’t flow as easily as a few years back.

You know both sides: band and promoter. You put on shows at the Ballonfabrik in Augsburg.

We do that as a band together. Of course we have a few helpers around us especially our bar, which is basically always run by the same guys: Alex and Oli first and foremost. Sammy’s often there, or Flo. At the mixing desk it’s always Bene, who makes the sound we value so much at the Ballonfabrik.

A wonderful closing point. Thanks, Butschi. To finish, a round of quick answers. Ready?

As ready as one can be.

• Playing live or studio? — Playing live.
• Playing live or promoting your own shows? — Playing live.
• Club show or festival? — Club show.
• Ibanez or Gibson? — Ibanez.
• Ibanez or ESP? — Ibanez.
• Ibanez or Jackson? — Ibanez.
• Zeus or Ares? — Zeus.
• Aphrodite or Hera? — Aphrodite.
• Beer or whiskey? — That’s actually tough, but beer always wins.