Hi Kornel. Yes, the album is out. We recorded it in my studio. It took a little longer than I imagined, but in the end everything was brought to a successful end. The idea for the new album came about 2-3 years ago. We started recording in June 2025 and I finished it in early October. I mixed and mastered it.

The album was released under the Necroeucharist label. We had already collaborated before, he released the cassette of Mordum's "In Peccato Mortali", so we are happy to collaborate with him again. Martin is basically a friend and we also collaborate on the opposite basis, which means that I recorded solos for him, for his project Dominion of Suffering. The album was released in a print run of 300 copies. I will see about other media than CD, we would like to do an LP either through pre-orders, but we will see how the CD release turns out and what the response to this work will be.

So the last regular album "Blasphemy" is of a completely different level than the new "Portal", just because the ideas were created by different people. At that time, my partner in the creation was Pepo Madaroš, who had a great deal of authorship on "Blasphemy". I joined Mordum in 2014 when my teammates from Contempt actually left me, because you probably remember when I played at your UzhGoreRot festival as a one-man show. But the guys already had things ready for Mordum and Roman Köröši, the guitarist, had more things ready in advance, so at that time I felt some deficit in my work. I also had ideas, so we agreed that we would actually renew Contempt with the fact that the majority of my ideas would create things for Contempt and Roman's riffs would be for Mordum. So that's how we differentiated it and it's nice, because each of us creates a different type of music. Another important thing that differentiates "Blasphemy" and "Portal" is the drummer. On "Blasphemy", Dodo Kesely played, and on "Portal", Robo Kuzma plays, which also gives the album a completely different atmosphere.

Lyrically, "Portal" moves in post-apocalyptic fantasy, as well as the mysterious corners of the human mind. Basically, the lyrics are mostly in a fantasy style. In the background, we in Contempt always had similar lyrics aimed against fanatical religions, some lyrics with social themes, against the senselessness of killing. So I think that are classic metal lyrics. Skulls, blood, flesh, demons and monsters. Ha-ha.

I generated the cover via AI, I had hundreds of images before I found what I thought was appropriate, of course it's already my collage of several designs.

Yes, we will perform in Poprad at the end of the year. However, we have already christened "Portal" at a concert on November 1st together with Wayd from Prešov. We agreed with them in the spring that we could release it on the same date. Even though the album was officially released on November 16th, which is actually when we date the band's formation, so the album was released on the band's 35th birthday. I do not rule out that we will also have a party in Poprad. As for the songs, most of them will be from the new album and of course some things from previous albums.

Yes, we still play live without a bass guitarist, it's hard to find someone passionate who would suit us. We're not looking for anyone yet, but we wouldn't mind finding a good player. We're not planning any big tours. Robo has 3 other bands besides us, so it's sometimes harder to coordinate. But we can always come to an agreement. And we're all in our 50s. But we'll definitely try to play some concerts or festivals.

Robo and I also play in Mordum. As I mentioned, I came to Mordum around 2014 where the guys already had a complete set of material for the new album, and that's the truth. So I joined them, because I was the only one left from the Contempt line-up at the time. Later, when drummer Gabi left, we approached Robo and he agreed without hesitation. We had a project together called Genital Deformity around 1994 where Roman, Robo, Viliem (R.I.P.) from Obliterate and I played. So we knew each other long ago in our early days. And yes, when we decided to somehow reunite Contempt, we agreed that we would not look for another person. So Roman took over the position of guitarist.

Jano is a huge fan and we appreciate his interest in the Slovak metal scene. He released the CD "Atypic" for us, which are actually two demos from 1995 and 1997, "Paradise Garden?" and "Eyes", and he also released the album "Blasphemy" from 2009, which was only released as a CD-R at the time, due to the clip that was burned into it, but it was re-released without the clip as a pressed full-fledged album. These CDs are available from us.

Well, I listen to a lot of music lately. I've been drawn to new Testament album. One of my favorite bands is Meshuggah. But I also like death metal classics like Death, Obituary, Morgoth, Morbid Angel from the old school. I also like more progressive bands like Dream Theater. The last album I bought about a week ago is Meshuggah's "Contradictions Collapse", their first album on vinyl. I really appreciate that album, it's basically a reminder of my youth. I'm not much of a collector, but lately I've been buying some vinyl, but it's just albums that I really like. I'm not a fanatical collector.

I also thank you for the space in your 'zine. I hope the listeners will like the album. We are doing the best we can and while we have the strength. Stay brutal. Peace.