25/04/2026
🔥 Headhunter D.C. – „Pandemic Unredemption – Live at Dopesmoke Festival 2021” LP – INTERVIEW w/ Sérgio Baloff Borges🔥💀🜏
Check out the latest interview with the band’s frontman on Welcome to the Morbid Blog 🍻
🔥 LP available now: www.dissonance.pl 🔥
🔥5 PYTAŃ DO/5 QUESTIONS TO: SERGIO BALOFF (Headhunter D.C.)🔥
Dziś kolejny wywiad i to z nie lada gościem! W związku z premierą winyla „Pandemic Unredemption – Live at Dopesmoke Festival 2021” Headhunter D.C., odbyłem dość obszerną rozmowę z wokalistą i liderem tego jednego z najstarszych zespołów death metalowych z Brazylii, Sergio Baloffem. Poza tematem związnym stricte z tym wydawnictwem cofnęliśmy się w czasie do początków tamtejszej sceny i debiutanckiej płyty Headhunter D.C., a nawet zahaczyliśmy o temat Bathory! Także jest o czym poczytań, tym bardziej, że Sergio odpowiadał bardzo obszernie. Zapraszam!
Today we have another interview, and a with a very special guest! To mark the release of Headhunter D.C.’s live album "Pandemic Unredemption – Live at Dopesmoke Festival 2021" on vinyl, I had a fairly in-depth chat with Sergio Baloff, the vocalist and frontman of one of Brazil’s oldest death metal bands. Aside from topics strictly related to this release, we went back in time to the early days of the local scene and Headhunter D.C.’s debut album and even touched on the subject of Bathory! So there’s plenty to read, especially as Sergio gave very detailed answers. Enjoy!
👉1. Hi there, Sergio! It’s a pleasure to have that short interview with you and recall/introduce Headhunter D.C. to a wider range of metal fans from Poland. First of all please tell me what is going on in the band camp? You have released your last album „…In Unholy Mourning…” back in 2012. It’s already 14 years! Is there any new studio material around the corner, any European tour round the corner?
Hell-o there! The pleasure is all mine, and since now thanks for the precious support towards our Death Cult! Things here in our camp are going fast and in an intense way since we’re about to release our newest full length album very soon after 14 fu***ng years, as you said. A lot has happened since the release of „...IUM...”, both positive and negative things, but of course the negative aspects led us to take so long to come back to the studio to record and release new material, being the usual lineup changes one of the main reasons for that. Anyway, despite of all the delay, as we always have done, we remained very active in the scene in terms of shows and further releases, among tribute appearances, live albums (being one of them recorded in Poland entitled "Death K***a! Live in Warsaw 2013" during our first European tour in that year) and some compilations. As for the new album, we've just finished its mastering and the graphic process is on its way. The album will be entitled "Rise of the Damned...", will feature 11 tracks (9 brand new songs, 1 intro and 1 instrumental) and will be initially released by Brazilian Mutilation Records on CD, vinyl and cassete, but of course we'll look for a cool European and American deal more ahead. Pre-scheduled for a June or July release. A new European tour is also planned for 2027. Last but not the least, we're momentarily like a power trio and it's like this we'll look like on the new album, but we've been looking for a new drummer and second guitarist since some time now to return to the traditional quintet lineup and to the stages asap. Current line up is as the following: Sérgio "Nekrobaloff666" Borges - vochaos, Danilo "D. Morbidus" Coimbra - guitars and Héracles "Demigod" Cardoso - bass. This is Headhunter Death Cult for the rise of the Damned 2026-66! More news coming soon.
👉2. Currently Polish Dissonance Records is putting out you latest live album „Pandemic Unredemption - Live at Dopesmoke Festival 2021” on vinyl and according to what is shown it’s going to look amazing. How you get in touch with this label to start the cooperations on this particular release? Are you also planning to make the CD version more available again? As far as I’m concerned it’s almost impossible to get it in Europe.
The contact with Marcin and Dissonance Records came through a common Polish friend called Tomasz Skiba, an unwearying supporter of Brazilian Metal, who told me there was a Polish label interested in releasing some of our stuff on vinyl in Europe, so the unholy gathering has begun. At first, Marcin had shown interest in releasing our new album over there, but since we already had a deal with Mutilation for this specific release, I offered him the live album and then we had a deal. Once Marcin shows interest in releasing the CD version in Europe too, I won't turn it difficult in any way, so who knows? I'm very excited with this vinyl release in Europe, and considering all the great job Dissonance has done promotion wise, this is going to be an anthologic release for sure. As you know, we have had a historic link with the Polish scene over the years, since the old days keeping contact with zines and bands until our memorable show in Warsaw in 2013 which resulted in the live album released by Be***al Invasion Records in league with our old-school brother Adam Stasiak of mighty Necroscope zine. So I'm more than fu***ng glad for keeping this old alliance with this very special release with Dissonance Records, which I hope to be a long bond to cause "dissonance" in fragile wimping ears, haha! By the way, all those interested in its CD version can get in touch with Brazilian Blasphemy Productions at on Instagram.
👉3. I have watched the full gig recording on youtube and I must say you have seriously kicked some asses with it, haha! But I have an impression that it was recorded during pandemic conditions – everyone except you (for obvious reason) wear protective masks. Was it recorded for live broadcast or before regular audience? Asking as the cameras shows only you. Nevertheless its a killer performance!
That concert has happened in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021 and has been recorded without regular audience for obvious reasons. Only the band, roadies, sound engineers, cameramen and the festival organizers were into the studio, but I can tell you the energy on stage was almost the same as if we were before a crowd - keeping the necessary proportions in mind, of course. All the circumstances of that tragic moment we were living in Brazil and in the entire world and all the consequences that this was bringing us are reported in a full text written by me especially for this release in which I contextualize everything that permeated our lives during that morbid and very difficult period. Great that you enjoyed our performance on the video, thanks for your words! Just to keep everyone informed, the audio on the live album has been remixed and properly mastered especially for this release, sounding 666% heavier, more brutal and more visceral than the raw and sometimes unequalized sound of the YouTube broadcast video.
👉4. Let’s get back to the distant past now. Headhunter D.C. is one of the oldest extreme metal/ death metal bands from Brazil. Your cult debut „Born… Suffer… Die” from 1991 was released by Cogumelo that was also responsible for spreading the word about Sarcofago and Sepultura to the world. How you recall those days of the scene and recording of your first LP? Maybe you are going to make it available wider again since the 2016 reissue is long gone?
Wow, sometimes it's hard to believe that "Born...Suffer...Die" is about to turn 35 years now in 2026! Time flies! Yeah, we were formed back in 1987 (86 if we get back one year when Túmulo was around), so we are one of the oldest Extreme Metal acts from Brazil/SouthAmerica, but surely the oldest Death Metal band in constant activity in Brazil that never wimped out or changed its music style. Now we are going to 40 years on the road next year and we are so proud of it! Recalling the days when we recorded our debut album on Cogumelo, I remember how wild and hot was the Brazilian scene back then, and the Belo Horizonte scene was still burning like the early years! We used to follow the BH scene since it's very beginning by corresponding with the earliest bands from there, getting demos and the first albums released by them - I remember getting my Sepultura/Overdose split vinyl from the Overdose fan club I was part of back in early 86 -, so witnessing that scene so closely for some few days for the first time when we travelled to the city to record the album was like a dream come true. That time we've met in person members of Sarcófago, SexTrash, Chakal, Impurity, Witchhammer (who we had already met in 1989 when they played here in Salvador sharing the stage with us), Overdose and others and two years later we returned to record "Punishment At Dawn" and live in BH during almost the entire year of 1993, then meeting more bands like Butcher, Attack Epiléptico and many many others. Good old days! By the way, Cogumelo and Mutilation Records are preparing a super special "Born...Suffer...Die" vinyl re-issue to celebrate the album's 35th anniversary in 2026, so wait for it!
👉5. The last question will be about Bathory. In recent years there was a Polish tribute release to this band, there was also a special issue of our local Oldschool Metal Maniac magazine devoted fully to this band. That is why my attention went for the 2019 7” tribute to Bathory you have shared with Posthumous and Tripalium. How important is Bathory for you presonally and for Headhunter D.C.? Why you have chosen to cover „Total Destruction” amon gany other tracks and why was this release so short, there were no other bands interested in participating or is was just supposed to be a small release?
Paraphrasing myself, "Quorthon's music means the Elders' songs in perfection echoing in the present days(...)", that's how I start some liner notes for that 3 way split 7" tribute. Bathory always meant a lot to me since I discovered the band back in mid 80s and once I became a Death Metal vocalist, Quorthon vocals became a huge influence and inspiration source to my high pitch style of screaming, especially in my first days when I used to do these type of vocals more often - not mentioning that Bathory also influenced Headhunter D.C. a lot in the early days, even if indirectly. The raw sounding of "The Return..." and "Under the Sign of the Black Mark" undoubtedly helped shaping our sound! And before some newcomer asks how can a Black Metal band influence a Death Metal band, well, just read the very first Quorthon interviews and you'll know he used to call his early music as Death Metal, not Black, but not only due to this Bathory influenced us. Anyway... Well, at first we have recorded "Total Destruction" for another Bathory tribute compilation that was supposed to be released by German Garm magazine only with Brazilian Bands on a double or even triple CD (according to the guy who was in charge of it) so many were the bands to appear on it. We firstly thought about covering "Call from the Grave" that we used to play live back in the 90s, but according to the list of the bands and their respective cover songs there were at least 3 or 4 bands already covering it, so we decided to change it. "Enter the Eternal Fire" was also another option, but if I remember well there were even more bands covering this song, so… Haha! Since the guy simply disappeared and the release has declined, we joined forces with Posthumous, that would also appear on the original tribute, and agreed to release a 3 way split tribute 7" with the support of Brazilian Misanthropic Records who put it out. By the way, Tripalium is an obscure project by a former Posthumous member and features me singing (high screaming?) on "Raise the Dead". A couple of years later a Brazilian Bathory tribute CD has been released by Brazilian Hammer of Damnation Records featuring some of the bands that would appear on the original release by Garm Magazine, which is a great tribute as well. Check it out!
Zdjęcia autorstwa/Photos by: Leandro Cherutti (left) & Andre Santos (right)
👉Zamówienia na płytę/ Orders: https://www.dissonance.pl/
👉International orders through eBay: https://ebay.us/m/VOIRzM
Dissonance Records
