“Known Unto God” arrives more than three decades after your last studio release. Looking at the EP today, do you see it primarily as the closing of unfinished business, or as the beginning of an entirely new chapter for Cyclone? Which is the impact you have til today for it since its release?
Yeah, we see it more as an entirely new chapter. Of course we don’t deny who we were, we are actually proud of what we achieved way back. And we still bring alot of those songs live with the same energy as ever. But we didn’t have the feeling we had something unfinished.
The title track is inspired by the anonymous soldiers buried in Flanders Fields, but the EP also touches on fear, deception and human conflict. With wars and political instability dominating today's headlines, do you feel thrash metal has become more relevant again as a voice of confrontation rather than simple entertainment?
Uhm, well, there are bands that only handle about fiction and fantasy. For us that’s different. We are pissed off by a lot of today’s crap. And yeah, we think there is more and more bands tackling those subjects, being angry with a lot of shit in this world, being lied too by our governments, tired of being fooled around, exploited, etc.
We prefer those kinda bands. Bands that voice an opinion that is not afraid of saying stuff of which a lot of people will turn away.
One of the strengths of “Known Unto God” is that it sounds old-school without becoming nostalgic. How difficult was it to strike that balance between honoring the Cyclonelegacy and writing songs that belong in 2026 rather than 1986?
Yeah, we felt that it had to stay Cyclone but with a nowadays fresh touch. So, we didn’t want to recycle or copy our old stuff but rather come up with something that still has that old- school thrash essence but doesn’t sound old. It’s not that we started searching for those right things or riffs. As always, just like in the past the riffs and ideas came spontaneously and we immediately felt we were on the right track. It’s not that you will invent the wheel again but we certainly gave it our best shot to try to sound somehow kinda original or better said us. And we adapted our sound just enough to still sound as Cyclone and give it that fresh nowadays touch. That in combination with catchy choruses and riffing on the edge of aggression and melody.
The songs are shorter, sharper and very riff-driven. Did the writing process become more disciplined this time around, with every riff needing to earn its place, or did the material naturally evolve into this more direct approach?
Yeah as said before the ideas, riffs just came spontaneously. It’s not that we said we want to make shorter songs but we felt we didn’t have to fit in unnecessary riffs or tempo changes. We wanted it to have a natural flow but for sure we are our own worst critics when it comes to liking riffs, a riff really has to stand out, we really need to feel the riff, the vibe. But the length of the songs just came naturally as we felt it.
"We didn’t want to recycle or copy our old stuff but rather come up with something that still has that old- school thrash essence but doesn’t sound old. "
Modern recording technology offers almost limitless possibilities, yet many classic thrash fans still crave an organic and dangerous sound. When recording “Known Unto God”, where did you draw the line between taking advantage of modern production and preserving the raw aggression that defined classic European thrash?
As you say modern technology offers a lot of possibilities. So we recorded all the guitars and bassdigitally in our home studio but it were all natural recordings played in one take and no layers of 6-8 guitars, just two guitars , one bass line, same with the vocals, sang them in one take and also only one vocal recording, no 3-4 different layers over each other, just one aggressive vocal, same with the drums, played in one take, no triggers, so we kinda recorded it old-school but with modern tools.
"Nothing Is Real" introduces a stronger NWOBHM flavor than listeners might expect from Cyclone. Has reconnecting with your earliest influences opened the door to exploring even more traditional heavy metal elements in future material, or will thrash always remain the band's dominant weapon?
We come out of that era. End 70’s early 80’s NWOBHM and US Metal, so a lot of influences from that era. On every album we did there were traditional metal influences even on our second album from 1990 “Inferior To None”. Tracks like “The Other Side” and “Crown Of Thorns” had that slower pace with a lot of old-school riffing. And yes for the future it will certainly have its place in new songs. We take it as it comes, we never search for riffs, a good riff is a good riff, slow or fast but we are of course lucky that we have a good mix in slow and fast thrashy stuff.
Will we see your two thrash cult albums “Brutal Destruction”and “Inferior To None”reissued now that you are back for good?
Yes. We just ended a long case before court to finally be able in having all the rights back and re-release our albums. We re-mastered both albums and hope to release these as soon as possible.
Cyclone experienced both the excitement and the frustrations of the original 1980s metal explosion. Looking at today's music industry, driven by streaming, algorithms and short attention spans, do you think it has become easier or harder for a genuine underground thrash band to build a lasting legacy?
I think it’s sometimes easier to start as a total new band nowadays. In our case, we are an old band, we have a old-school following and after 30 years you release something new. You are not regarded as a new band cause in the press they confront you with your past, can be good, can be bad, and depend on who does the review. Some compare to the old stuff and think it’s not old-school enough or doesn’t sound like the first album. Others think the opposite and think it sounds great. Anyway as an old band it’s hard to convince the youngsters, it’s hard to convince record labels as you said, they go and check your social media’s, how much followers, how many likes, etc. Sometimes you get the feeing it’s all about that and not about your musical qualities. With all the tools we have nowadays it still is hard.
Your comeback has been built step by step through live shows before returning with new music. Did standing on stage again influence the songwriting for “Known Unto God”? Were you consciously writing songs that would hit even harder in a live environment?
We started again with the intention of only playing a couple live shows. We had a massive good crowd response and we kept on receiving great offers to play some of the greatest metal festivals so we kept on going and without wanting it in our jams at rehearsal great riffs popped up and we just picked up where we had left back then and started making new songs spontaneously. For sure the great live response had an impact we never expected this kinda reaction so it for sure carried us away, in a good way luckily, very happy with the outcome.
Has creating “Known Unto God” given the band a renewed hunger to push forward creatively, and can fans expect the next full-length album to be even more ambitious and uncompromising?
Well, it for sure gave us a boost, and yes there is a hunger to play live. Everyone in the band is having a good time; we all are motivated by the way things took their course. Well, we are actually writing new songs, every jam at rehearsal brings great ideas, great riffs. So yes, we hope to do a full-length album and we hope we can deliver something even better than “Know Unto God” but as said before we don’t force things it has to come in a spontaneous way but what we have so far sounds very promising.
Finally, thrash metal has always thrived on honesty, intensity and refusing to follow trends. After everything Cyclone has experienced, from the underground tape-trading days to today's digital era, what does it still mean to be a true thrash metal band in 2026?
Well, it is the case for us for sure, honesty, intensity; we have always played for the love of music. We are not a band that thrives on gimmicks, stage shows, explosions, outfits, etc. We are just us, five ordinary guys, and die-hard fans of the genre. We’ve always lived by the motto “let the music do the talking”. This hasn’t changed since the beginning, and for what’s to come, we don’t need to prove ourselves, we haven’t gotten anything to prove. We just wanna play, have a good time and make people who love us happy by trying to play wherever we can.
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