We Rise, We Fall

Being able to collaborate with Dave on lyrics for the past two Morta Skuld albums has been amazing for me, as he is a dear friend whom I value greatly. Dave puts much time and effort into his writing, vocals, and performances. Through the rigors of touring, writing, and the music industry, Dave continues to pull himself up, dust off the grime, and create some outstanding death metal. We both know each other pretty well, and while I tell him he is too hard on himself, as a fellow musician who has been in the scene for decades as well, we all know one another as extreme perfectionists when it comes to writing, creating, and performing. Anything less would do a disservice to the scene and fans. Dave is a very appreciative individual who will always take the time to reach out to fans and spend time chatting with them. I thank him for the time he took to do this interview with me, and please read on for this in-depth review with the man himself, Mr. David Gregor.

So, Dave, what’s new in the Morta Skuld camp? You’ve had some personnel shifts in the last few years, so what is the current lineup? You have been at this for about 40 years now, longer than many of your fans have been alive. What have been some of the high points and low points in your musical career? There have been quite a bit of new developments here recently. Unfortunately, we have had some personnel changes that have impacted the band. Both members brought so much to this band and were great to play with for the time we had.

Having done this for about 35 years now, I’ve experienced plenty of high points and low points. The lowest point for me was in 1998 when the band broke up, and I had to start over, and I feel like history is somewhat repeating itself with our current situation. However, we’ve also had incredible opportunities to play amazing festivals all over the world, which has been the ultimate highlight for me.

Your latest album, Creation Undone, was released in 2024, your seventh album. What was the mindset going into the music, writing, vocal lines, and artwork? We know the AI fiends blasted the band a bit for using AI for part of, not all of, the album cover. What are your thoughts on that? I really love this new album—it definitely has everything I enjoy on the records I listen to. I don’t know if the band had a specific mindset going into the writing, but Scott and I approached it as a one-on-one process, often coming up with riffs and writing on the spot.

I know some people reacted negatively to the whole AI artwork situation, and I wasn’t a huge fan of the idea either. The piece was originally given to me by a friend. When I submitted it to the label, they informed us that it was AI-generated, which I honestly didn’t know at the time. The label wasn’t comfortable with that either, so they had an illustrator and another artist redo most of it. The entire background was actually hand-painted, and the graphics were replaced by a human artist, so it really isn’t a fully AI-generated piece anymore.Ultimately, I think people should just focus on the music. If someone doesn’t like the cover, that’s fine—there are plenty of bands I love where I don’t care for the artwork, but the album itself is great.

In 2020, I was honored when you asked me to help out with some lyrics on the Suffer for Nothing album, where I wrote “Machines of Hate”, and then in 2024, I helped out again with lyrics for the songs “We Rise We Fall”, “The End of Reason”, and “Oblivion” for the Creation Undone album. This was such a treat for me, since I value our friendship and brotherhood. How was the collaboration for you on these albums and do you feel my lyrics flowed with those album themes? You and I have been friends since 2017, and I truly value our friendship—I’m so honored to call myself your friend.

I remembered back when I reached out to you while struggling and hitting a bit of a roadblock with lyric writing for that particular album. Knowing how much we had talked over the years, I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask for your help. I was so pleased reading what you came up with; your style was a great contrast to mine and turned out to be very easy to incorporate into the music. Thank you again for all your support and collaboration over the years.

The Morta Skuld sound has remained intact, other than maybe some elements of a little more extreme over the years. Harkening back to your legendary debut Dying Remains album in 1993, how do you keep the sound intact? It’s pure death metal, but how difficult is it for you to keep the Morta Skuld sound intact all these decades later? Also, how did the band name come about? A friend of mine actually came up with the band name for me. It just had such a ring to it that I knew right at that moment that’s what I was going to call the band.

As far as our overall tone and sound go, I feel like it really stems from my approach. I set the tone for the band largely through the way I play guitar. I don’t have a very conventional playing style, which mostly comes from wanting to write my own original material even before I fully learned how to play the instrument.

Your favorite death metal band is Death. Let the fans know why the band is so important to you, your favorite Death album (Yes, you must pick one, them’s the rules), seeing them perform live, and why the band and Chuck have had such an impact on extreme music?

I was reflecting on some of my biggest musical influences recently, and Death has always been a huge one for me. I don’t think I really would have taken the path I did if it wasn’t for Leprosy. I’ve only seen Death perform twice—I believe once was when we were supporting them at the Day of Death here in Wisconsin. If I had to pick a favorite album, it would definitely be Human. So I hope you’re happy busting my balls about this, and didn’t we do a play-by-play of Death? I believe Joe Denby did the podcast, and all the fans of Death should check that out.

How did you get into heavy music, and why guitar, and why choose to also sing? Do you have a favorite guitar you use to record and one to play live? How difficult is it to sing and play guitar at the same time – have there been moments like, shit, where do my vocals come in and what are these challenges like for you, as you get younger in age?

For me, the music got heavy with Black Sabbath and the first time I heard Paranoid. It continued once I heard Ozzy Osbourne and the Blizzard of Ozz record; Diary of a Madman is still in my top five favorite albums to this day. I can definitely say over the years that singing and playing have become a little easier, but sometimes you still have those riffs that are difficult to sing over, and you just have to adjust your playing style accordingly. My Schecter baritone is still one of my favorite guitars that I play and have recorded with over the last 25 or so years, and it is also my main live guitar.

What are some things you enjoy doing other than music? Hobbies, books, movie genres, travel? What is the root of David Gregor’s happiness? What is important to remember when trying to be happy and getting fulfillment out of what life has to offer?

While I don’t have many traditional hobbies, I am a huge fan of a wide range of movies and shows, particularly Breaking Bad and The Shield. On a more personal note, when it comes to happiness, it is honestly something I have always struggled with. I have a lot to be grateful for, but finding genuine happiness can still be a challenge sometimes. Looking back, I wish I had slowed down to “smell the roses” a bit more instead of constantly striving to do the next recording.

Throughout the decades, how has the music scene changed, and do you think the death metal scene, while at an all-time high now, is moving in a good direction? What have been some of the challenges from when your 1997 Surface album was released to the Wounds Deeper than Time released in 2017, after you put the band back together in 2012? Why did you decide to put the band back together?

I don’t know if I would say it is at an all-time high at this point, as it was a few years ago. The last year has been extremely difficult for a lot of bands as far as the financial aspect of traveling and touring goes.
One of the biggest challenges that I’ve faced is just getting people to believe in us—whether it’s a record label or a venue. There are just so many more bands now than there were back in the ’90s, which makes it a bit more difficult for bands that aren’t on a higher level. After the band broke up in ’98, I started another project from scratch. Once that project ran its course, I was wondering if people would still be interested in our band. Releasing the Serving Two Masters EP was merely to test the waters and see if there was still any interest.

Speak a bit about touring, playing shows now, and any challenging aspects of that. What are some bands past or present that you absolutely love, and name a few bands here,if offered, you would love to tour with, and why?

Touring has always been rough for us since we don’t have label support, but we’ve always tried our hardest to get on good tours and get our music out to the fans. While we’ve done some smaller tours, we haven’t done anything major yet, and I’ve always wanted to do at least one major tour before I retire.
We’ve gotten to tour with some great bands in the past; Malevolent Creation and Massacre were really fun tours. If I had to pick my dream tour lineup, I would love to go out with Obituary, Cancer, Incantation or Hatebreed—I’m a big fan of all of them.

What is on the horizon for the rest of 2026 into 2027 for Morta Skuld, regarding touring, shows, recording? Anything you would like to let some younger bands know who are trying to break into the death metal scene, and what are some comments you would like to shout out to the legions of Morta Skuld fans out there?

Right now, the future is a bit uncertain, as losing two key members will definitely take time to replace. However, what I would love to do is record another album and get on a regular tour with some bigger bands. As far as advice to younger bands, I would say get an education first and have a plan B.

To the fans, I just want to say that I truly appreciate all of your support for the band over the years. Please continue to support us, check out our material, and let your friends know that if they want to listen to real old-school death metal, this is the band to check out.