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So how was the situation for you being from Chile? Do you think it was a good thing because it gave the band a more 'obscure' feeling or do you feel it didn't matter where you were from as long as you did good music?

- In a way it obviously brought the band some attention, but in the end I think it made more harm than good, because it would be extremely difficult to get a record deal. I mean, the labels from Europe and USA preferred to work with European or American bands.

I think we had something great going in those days, with the tape trading & letter writing, it brings back a lot of great memories. How do you think of those days?

- Yeah, it was definitely something very cool, because you actually had to be dedicated and interested. Nowadays it's extremely easy to get music with NAPSTER and all that stuff.

You were not only being in PENTAGRAM; you were also doing an underground publication called BLOWING THRASH. Can you please tell me a bit more about that? (How many issues etc.)

- That's something I did in the years 1985 - 86 I think. I only made it to issue #3, but it was a great experience, and helped me to get to know a lot of cool people. Some of them I got to meet years later, like DESTRUCTION, KREATOR or Gene Hoglan.

Did you do the magazine before you formed the band?

- The band was already going, but without a stable line-up and not in a very serious way really. Actually, when things got bigger with PENTAGRAM, I quit doing the fanzine.

If we go back to PENTAGRAM again, can you tell us a bit about your live shows?

- I think we did around ten shows in all of the band's existence, but surprisingly metal became very big very soon in Chile, so in 1987 we were playing to over a thousand people already.

Was there any violence at your shows?

- As far as I remember, there weren't a lot of fights or anything, but the whole stage diving and slam dancing got way out of hand. At that time we didn't have any security either so everyone did pretty much as they pleased.

Even if you had quite a few good bands in Chile it was Brazil that gave the South American scene a face, did PENTAGRAM ever play there or in any other South American countries?

- No, the only shows we played were in Chile. I travelled to Brazil with a friend in February 1987 and stayed at Max' and Igor's house in Belo Horizonte. I realized that the Brazilian scene had a lot more going on, and actually considered the possibility of moving there for a while, but it didn't happen.

How close were you to getting a recording deal with PENTAGRAM?

- Well, in Brazil I was offered a deal and actually signed it, but later, when we started talking about budgets and studios, etc., all of a sudden the guy stopped answering my letters and phone calls. Other than that, there was some talk with CHAINSAW MURDER as I told you, and Borivoj Krgin offered me to be on the "Raging Death Vol. 2" compilation, but that never came out.

Do you think that it is a sad loss that PENTAGRAM never released a full-length album?

- Of course. I think all of the fans as well as us would have loved to have all of the bands songs with a proper studio sound and cool artwork. Plus it could have been the starting point of an actual career.

Now that a PENTAGRAM CD has finally been put together how do you feel about that?

- I think it's great. People have kept asking for those recordings over all these years, so it's great to finally have it out. Eduardo from PICOROCO RECORDS and myself put a lot of energy into the project to make it a real collector's piece.

I think that for many years people have been interested in releasing this on CD. Why did it take so long and why did you decide that now was the right time?

- For a long time I really didn't want to do it because my current band CRIMINAL was the priority for me, and I was afraid that PENTAGRAM would have overshadowed it. Now CRIMINAL has been very successful in South America so this problem isn't one anymore. Last year I was approached by Eduardo to do the reissue, and I gave him my conditions. We worked on it, and finally agreed on everything. I wouldn't have put out something with bad sound or messy artwork.

I never got the story why PENTAGRAM ended, what was the story with your break up? Was it dramatic or was it more of a silent break up?

- There were so many things involved. In the end it just wasn't a priority for everyone as it was for me, so I preferred to let it die. We did one big farewell show, which was packed, so it wasn't really silent you know.

With your band name PENTAGRAM it is of course the Satanic link, how serious was you with that?

- Not really serious. Like all of us probably, we were kind of interested in the occult and dark side of things, but if you read the band's lyrics you'll see none of the typical satanic clichés like VENOM or SLAYER had on their first albums. Needless to say, we didn't take it as seriously as our colleagues from Norway, hahaha...

And what about the names you called yourself, you were BEHEMOTH, why did you choose that?

- Just because it sounded cool. To be quite honest, I was kind of stupid at that time, in regards of being ashamed of my real name, or my short hair. You probably know the story.

You even had a Euronymous in the band, almost anyway, he was called EURYNOMOS, and did you know about the Norwegian Euronymous in MAYHEM?

- At that time we didn't probably, but later of course we learned about MAYHEM.

What is your current view on all the music released in the '80ies, do you still like stuff like SODOM, VULCANO, SARCOFAGO and so on?

- The bands you just mentioned I never really liked that much. I always preferred stuff that was a little more complex. But of course I still listen to a lot of stuff from the old days, like SACRIFICE, NASTY SAVAGE, VOIVOD, NUCLEAR ASSAULT, VIO-LENCE. PENTAGRAM was a Death Metal band, no doubt about it, but as you can see we were never fixed on Death Metal as the only thing we listened to.

Well, after PENTAGRAM you have been doing some other stuff, a bit different than PENTAGRAM but feel free to tell what you have done since then?

- Okay, soon after the end of PENTAGRAM, I started the band FALLOUT with some ex-NECROSIS guys. The style was very METALLICA influenced, and the band didn't last long, although we played a few songs and recorded two demos. After that it took me a while to put another band together, which I finally did with CRIMINAL in 1991. We have released three albums already, toured South and North America, and played with a lot of top acts. If people are interested they can check out our website at www.criminal.cl Our second album "Dead Soul" was released by METAL BLADE in Europe, and we're looking for a label to issue our third album "Cancer", which came out in Chile half a year ago.

I assume CRIMINAL must have been a pretty big band; do you get a lot of people coming up to you after shows and remember you from the PENTAGRAM days?

- Yeah, always. Also people call for certain songs during our shows. It used to bother me in the beginning, but now I'm perfectly okay with it.

So what happened to the other PENTAGRAM guys? Are they still involved in music?

- Well, you must know that our bass player Alfredo killed himself over ten years ago. The other two guys are still playing, but not professionally. But here's the big news: We are rehearsing for a couple of reunion shows to be played in May, and it's sounding great. We would even do some shows in Europe if there were interest.

Thank you so much for doing this; it has been a pleasure, any last words?

- Just thanks to everyone who's been into the band for so long, and to you Metalion for being true to Metal.