Paul: Laceration was a stupid name, and it did not flow with our newly adopted heavier style. The name change occured in 1991 or 1992, I can't remember which.

If you count the cd sampler given away while you were on tour in 2004, the band has released eight albums. How would you say the band's sound has matured since the beginning?

We've taken more time time on each album to work on the elements of the music that is most important to us. The longer we do this, the more we end up writing for ourselves, and not caring what the reviews will say. It's all about us being happy, and hopefully others will enjoy what we do. We just keep moving in the direction we choose to, as long as were all ont he same page. It's simply a natural progression.

There have been many record label and band member changes. Why is this?

Novembers Doom has had to endure many lineup changes over the years but whenever its occurred its always been for the best, for the future of the band. Many people have left either due to relocation to other cities/states much too far away to stay an active member (as in the case of ex-members Mary Bielich and Eric Burnley) or due to the ever present "musical differences". Fortunately for us, almost every person who has exited the band has done so on good terms, and in most cases we are still friendly with our ex-bandmates. Eric Burnley handled much of the keyboard work on the new album "The Pale Haunt Departure", in fact.

Our current record label is THE END RECORDS, from the U.S. We've had to change labels so many times over the years due mainly to contracts running out, and either the label or the band, or sometimes both, deciding to move onto different things, simple as that. Again, we've been fortunate that our split with past labels has in most cases been handled amicably and professionally, and we look at each label with gratitude and well wishes for everything they did for us during the time we worked together. Every label did what they could for us at the time, and we learned a lot along the way, and for that we're thankful. We are quite happy with The End Records being our new home and we hope for a long and productive relationship with them!

Recently, Novembers Doom has released their latest album "The Pale Haunt Departure" on The End Records. What would you say stands out more so with this release than anything previous?

It's easily our heaviest release and the most thought out from beginning to end. To us, it's the best ND release so far. There's a general flow to this CD that the others never had. We seemed to be all over the place, and this time, we wanted it to sound like every song on the CD belongs there.

One thing that attracts me to your music is that you have that deep dark voice and without screaming control everything going on, but also has that heavy metal/death rock music going on with it. It's like two different worlds interacting. Would you say that has a positive or a negative effect on your music, considering most other bands in your genre are just screaming to the point where you think their voice is going to die on them.(?)

I'd like to think it's a benefit. It keeps things interesting, and breaks up the songs from sounds too much alike. I think it's a good thing to give people as many different sounding elements as possible, to keep them listening, and keep them coming back to us.

What's the reasoning behind the name "The Pale Haunt Departure"? The name of the album has always had me wondering what it meant or where it came from.

The name is a general synopsis of the entire CD. It sums up a lot of what the lyrics are about. It's about the struggle between faith and hope, desire and loss. It's about wanting to believe in something so badly, and then the time comes to realize you may have been wrong. It's about waiting for the light to come take you to a better place, but you're left here waiting forever.

You recently joined the band Subterranean Masquerade. How did that come about?

I did not join a new band at all. From the day Subterranean Masquerade was mentioned to me, it was a recording project. Tomer Pink phoned me and asked if I would be involved in his project, because he really liked my voice in ND. I Obviously said yes, and recorded the EP and then the full length. That's about all my involvement to the project. I don't write any lyrics, and on the full length I had little input. I just went in, and sang it the way I was asked to. It's a unique sounding CD, and I hope it does well, but it is not a full time commitment by me at all.

Will Subterranean Masquerade also be a live performance band, or just a studio band, due to the fact that Novembers Doom plays quite a bit of shows?

I know Tomer is trying to set up a tour, and take the band on the road, but I will not be able to take part in that. I have too much going on in my life with ND, and in my personal life, and I have little to no time to even rehearse that material, let alone go on a tour. If he would like to record again, I'd like to be a part of it again, but not in a live situation at all.

With both the new Novembers Doom and Subterranean Masquerade albums completed, what's next for you? Touring? Heading back into the studio?

We will be touring the US in July, and Europe in October to support the CD, then we'll get home, enjoy the holidays and begin writing the next CD, hopefully have it released in late 2006.