“By the beginning of 2025, suddenly everything fell into place” – interview with Primal Creation

Primal Creation is a thrash metal band from Belgium, that has just released a new song titled “Fool Me Twice“. We chatted with them at Alcatraz festival, so here’s what we talked about!

Hello and welcome on Chaoszine! Can you introduce yourselves to our readers?

Koen Mattheeuws: Of course. My name is Koen, and this is Ewoud. We are both from the band Primal Creation from Belgium. I’m the lead vocalist, frontman, and Ewout is the rhythm guitar player. And we just had the honor to open the Morgue stage here in Alcatraz 2025.

Wonderful. “Fool Me Twice”, is the latest thing that you’ve put out, I think. So, when you started composing “Fool Me Twice”, did you ever imagine that you would sort of release it on Alcatraz Festival?

Ewoud Herregat: I think by the time we were writing it, we didn’t know yet. Same way we always do, we kind of started writing some riffs. And, yeah, when we released it, I think, yeah, of course we knew already.

Koen Mattheeuws: We knew it, yeah. We released the single in May. But considering we had a lineup change last year, we delayed the release. We recorded the song in the summer of 2024. But through the course of 2024, even before recording, it became clear our former rhythm guitar player decided to quit the band. So, we were like a four-piece by then. Ewout was still playing bass. And we were searching for this new member because we were an avid two-guitar band. One guitar wouldn’t work in a live setting. But we were able to record and write a song. So, that’s what we did in the meantime while looking for a new band member. And, yeah, after a long search, by the end of 2024, it became clear our long-time friend and roadie, Frederik, was gonna quit his football career by the end of May 2025. And we all know him for a very long time. And he played guitar and bass guitar at home for like years. And so, suddenly all the pieces fit. And by the end of 2024, we were a full band again. And so, we could go start planning new shows and the release of the song we already recorded. So, that’s basically how it came to be that we recorded the song in 2024 but released it in May 2025. And so, by the end of 2024 and by the beginning of 2025, suddenly everything fell into place. We were contacted to play here, we were contacted to play Antwerp Metal Fest, some other Belgian festivals. And so, after this lineup with the former guitar player, Cedric, we were like 10 years the same lineup. And now with Frederik, it’s the first lineup change in over 10 years. And all of a sudden, what we were working for, for the last 10 years, was all coming together in 2025. So, we were happy campers, one might say. We’re all guys. By now, four of us have kids. We all have our full-time day jobs, you know. So, it’s a hobby, the band. But it’s a hobby that’s working quite well, you know. It takes us as metal fans, takes us to places like this. It’s mind-blowing.

The song, I think that it fits really well to the current global situation. Do you think that the governments are working for the average person anymore?

Ewoud Herregat: Deep question.

Koen Mattheeuws: It’s good that you asked that. The two of us are right here, because we’re the most politically engaged people in the band.

Ewoud Herregat: I think it depends. In the current climate, there’s a lot of politicians who really just say what you want to hear. Not necessarily what they will do. Which makes it difficult to always have a clear vision on what they promise, what they will do. So, of course, it’s still a democracy. People vote for who they want to vote. But sometimes I believe that they don’t always know what they actually will get when they vote for a certain party.

Koen Mattheeuws: There’s a lot of distortion between what they say they’re going to do and what actually will happen. Because there’s all these things that we don’t always see that influence how these politics work. And then again, this media, especially social media, which was a topic on our last full-length album, is really influencing and clouding people’s views. Because a lot of people don’t have the time or don’t take the effort. You can’t blame them, because they never learned or they never see the sources where their mind could be triggered into critical thinking about what’s going on. Not in my backyard, our former single for 2023 was also addressing that. People are always, and you can’t blame them, they’re looking out for themselves. But you need to have a plan for the society as a whole. And democracy is at the moment not delivering it. The politicians you see in charge worldwide, of course Trump had first, Putin, Erdogan, Netanyahu. Democracy is thinning out, there’s not much left there. So that’s what really keeps my mind, keeps our mind busy and becomes a topic to write songs about. Because our music is anger-fueled with a love for melody, a love for groove, a love for good songs, a love for rhythmic change-ups, but also it’s anger-fueled for me, especially as a vocalist, to go full out and spit my rage about what the fuck is going on. It’s therapy. You see an accident happening and you can’t do fucking shit about it. That’s what mainly the lyrics of our songs are about. Frustration, channeling frustration about what you see going on. Even people know Trump is wrong and they still embrace him being wrong because of some created enemy. It’s always the fault of the left, whatever that may be. Like that’s some kind of homogenous big monster. What is the left? There’s always some left or liberal things that are to blame according to them. He always gets away with everything. Like, I thought we were living in a society dictated by law. Not for him, especially not for him. But he’s just an example and in my view he’s just a symptom. In a way he’s not even to blame. It’s a sick man put up there. He’s just a consequence. I think it is.

2025, as you said, it was a very positive year. But for Heavy Metal it was also a sad year because we lost Ozzy Osbourne. Was he or Black Sabbath an influence for Primal Creation or for yourselves?

Ewoud Herregat: I think that for every metal band ever since it was the first one. Everything kind of led on from that. So definitely not per se as my main writing influence or something. That band wrote so many songs and so many great songs that really echoed in what other metal bands do that it’s inevitable to have them as an indirect or direct influence.

Koen Mattheeuws: For me personally, over 20 years ago I bought on a flea market the albums Black Sabbath, “Black Sabbath” and Black Sabbath “Paranoid” on vinyl. It wasn’t even working, I was studying back in the day. And coming home and putting them on the record player of my parents was like, wow. Of course I listened to some other metal before. That was, wow. Especially with Black Sabbath, I’m much more a Black Sabbath fan than I am a fan of Ozzy‘s solo career. Which is great, don’t get me wrong. But I think the first six albums of Black Sabbath cannot be underestimated of what they mean to every metal genre in existence. If you listen to a song like Symptom of the Universe, that’s what went on to be thrash metal. Of course, obviously doom metal. The imagery of black metal, the lyrics of black metal. The strange drumming from Bill Ward is like prog before prog metal existed. And also, I think it’s great what Black Sabbath did. One guitar, one bass guitar, a very full sound. Bill Ward and Tony Iommi compliment each other like they completely lock in with Bill Ward as well. So this cannot be underestimated in my book, in my point of view. As a person, it impacted me that he was moving on. And especially back to the beginning, I tried to get there, but I couldn’t manage to get a ticket. So I watched it on video. It was like, wow, all these bands paying tribute. And of course, I’m here all weekend. And yesterday evening, Mastodon closed their set with “Supernaut” from Black Sabbath. That was like after “Blood and Thunder“. They were coming back and it was like these psychedelic things on the screen. Behind the mazes, like, are they going to? Yes, they are going to. And Bran singing it from behind his drum kit. I’m getting goosebumps again thinking about it. That was so amazing. As a metal community, you all feel the same thing at that moment.

Are there any Finnish bands that you listen to or that are on your playlists? 

Ewoud Herregat: I would need to think. Most of the time, not that… First that comes to mind, Children of Bodom.

Koen Mattheeuws: Yeah, of course. Amorphis for me as well.

Ewoud Herregat: I think I used to listen more to Finnish metal bands than now. Because when I was 14 or something, power metal was really my thing. So when Sonata Arctica comes to mind, that I used to listen to. Nightwish is Finnish as well. But now, I would really need to look which band is from which country. Mostly it’s more like, I like that band, but not that concerned with the origins.

Koen Mattheeuws: Children of Bodom, the death of Alexi impacted me as well. And I think the whole band. We were all fans back in the day of Children of Bodom. The way he combined this punky, hard rock attitude with his neo-classical… …genius shredding, that was amazing. I got a lot of records from him, and t-shirts.

Ewoud Herregat: It was also one of my first bands I listened to when beginning to listen to metal.

Koen Mattheeuws: It’s really accessible, because it’s a very melodic thing. Yet again, when you’re a kid, the rebellious attitude speaks to you. They really suck you in. The first four albums are classics, very high in my book.

What do you think is an essential quality that an artist has to have in 2025?

Ewoud Herregat: I think putting yourself out there. Being able to put yourself out there, to reach people. Because there’s so much music going on. To really stand out, you need to be able to sell yourself. To be able to convince people to listen to your music. I think that’s one of the biggest things. Of course, next to being able to play your instrument. And being able to write good songs.

Koen Mattheeuws: And perseverance. Keep on going. Never mind the setback. You know why you’re doing it? It’s passion, thrive on that passion. That’s my opinion about it. I’m very lucky to be in this band with four other guys that really have this determination, this passion to go for it. Just a few months before we played Alcatraz, we invested in an in ear monitoring system. Ewout figured it all out in his spare time, with a kid of four months old. And it worked. It had excellent sound in my ears on stage. Perseverance, you know? Keep going. Keep trying. Figure things out for yourself. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. Dedication. And being able to go further on what you said. Being able to speak to people. I was just coming from backstage. And I watched Evergrey with my girlfriend. On the way there, from the backstage to the main stage, some guy held me back. He was very enthusiastic about our show. And he also said, “I really like your lyrics. I read them all.” I was like, “Wow. Nice. That really touched me, man.” I was genuinely surprised. Most people are here for the music. And of course, some people are focused on the lyrics. But he was really like, yeah, I see what you’re saying, man. That was one of the best compliments as a lyricist and a vocalist I can get. It appears we are touching something that was asking to be touched. It’s amazing to witness it, to feel it today. When we were on stage, people were shouting along, fist-pumping along, dancing. I felt a connection with some people in the audience. That’s magic, really. That’s why we do this. To be part of something bigger.

I am a huge pancakes lover. What do you like to eat for breakfast?

Ewoud Herregat: For breakfast? I think for me it’s mostly just some granola with yogurt. That’s mostly it.

Koen Mattheeuws: Yeah, same. Granola with yogurt. A sandwich with chocolate spread. Or Biscoff spread. Have you ever heard of Biscoff? Yeah. The factory is like 5 kilometers from where we live.

Ewoud Herregat: Exactly.

Koen Mattheeuws: The original, the OG Biscoff factory is our region, basically. My son of 7 years old, every morning a sandwich with Biscoff. When I make it for him, I want one for myself.

Have you ever been stopped or pulled over by a police car?

Ewoud Herregat: The standard alcohol checks, I think. For me, that’s the only time I was ever stopped.

Koen Mattheeuws: I was stopped once in the morning, going to work. There was this traffic working around, so traffic jam. Horrible. There was this bridge that sometimes goes up and you have to wait 15 minutes and it goes down again. They were working in front of that and my job is like 2 kilometers after the bridge. For weeks going on, I was really stressed out. I needed to get to my job. There were these trucks, they were blocking my way. I was like, fuck this shit, I’m done with this. So I used the emergency lane to go to the right. That’s not fair, it’s not because, but I saw other people do it and it tempted me and I did. I wasn’t wrong. And so this cop, by a bike, followed me, pulled me over and I had a ticket of 150 euros. And he was like very arrogant, but maybe that’s my perception because I was pissed off. I wasn’t wrong, I know. I deserved the fine. I was late at work, even. If he hadn’t pulled me over… Nevermind. It happens.

I wanted to play a little game with you, if that’s alright? Let’s say that after this interview you receive a call saying that you have a distant relative in Rome and you’ve inherited a pizza place. What are you going to do about it?

Koen Mattheeuws: I love Rome. I love me some pizza. But what am I going to do?

Ewoud Herregat: Go over there, try to find some people to work with.

Koen Mattheeuws: Run the business and all profits into the band. Sounds great. New instruments, buy ourselves a new van, go on tour for a few weeks. That would be it. Work less with the profits from the pizzeria and go on tour. Hire some dedicated Italian pizza lovers to run it. Invest in it, go check on it two times a year. Pay them well, so they run it well and then all the rest goes to the band.

Thank you very much for being such a good sport and for taking the time to do this interview with me. Is there anything else that you want to add to our readers?

Ewoud Herregat: Well, come check us out.

Koen Mattheeuws: Be sure to check us out online. On Spotify, on YouTube. You have this video clip, a lyric video. We’re on Spotify, all our music is on there. And of course the socials. Instagram, Facebook. To keep up to speed with what’s going on with us. For sure we’re planning on releasing new music in 2026. We’re in full writing mode. When this series of gigs is over, we’re planning on putting it all together. Do the finishing touches on the song. An EP or a full album, that’s not really clear. But we’re focused on releasing new music in 2026. Because we had these runs of releasing singles. Because of the situation with the band and the lineup change and all that. We’re really focused on bringing something new out there. We’re bursting with ideas and put it all together. And in 2026 a new run is on there. As well, keep being critical, keep asking questions. Don’t lose yourself in some conspiracy shit. But ask questions. If anything seems too good to be true, it probably isn’t. It probably is too good to be true, so stay out of it. Be critical. I hope that’s what people do. Maybe together we can build something good. Out of this shit hole.