With the monumental 'Conqueror' still ringing in most Doom fans ears we spoke with the king of Slumber, Karl Simon as to what was new in the TGOS camp and what we could expect in the future.

Hi Karl, it’s been a while sine we last caught up. So how is everything with you and the rest of the guys within TGOS and good old Indianapolis?

Just prior to Christmas you guys embarked on a month long US tour. How did the tour work out for you guys? How did the new material go down with the US audiences?

The tour was great, of course not every show was a sell out, but there were quite a few that went much, much better that I could have hoped and the crowds were generally somewhat familiar with the songs. I think that the new songs went down very well with the people who came out; most of the set was from Conqueror.

We are slated to appear at KIT this spring, and the way it looks it will probably the only date we do in support of Conqueror... sadly. Conqueror will be a year old in May and it'll be time for new stuff, you know? We hated not doing Europe this year but there just was not the chance.

I have to congratulate you on the album, a truly majestic follow up to ‘Suffer No Guilt’! Of the two years between ‘Suffer’ and ‘Conqueror’ how much of it was spent writing, formulating ideas and recording?

A good amount, really. A few of the riffs had been sitting around for a few years, actually: Iceworm had been around for a very long time. Some stuff like To Kill and Be King had only been around for a few months. I'd say that at any given time there are 2-3 song ideas germinating.

The album was recorded in analog, which really does herald back to the early Sabbath / Pentagram albums. Was it intentional to get that real old school vibe to the album? Were you pleased with the final result?

Not really... we always set out to make the best record that we can, regardless of if it's on tape or not. An "oldschool" sound isn't what we are looking for, you know? I think that Conqueror came out great, way better than I could have hoped. The one real benefit of using tape is the natural compression of the medium. It squeezes the sound into a very familiar range, unlike the digital process where the sound wave can just go where it's going to go. Tape reels it in. So in that sense I guess it could be called 'old school'... in that all the great old records were, of course, done on tape. But it's not an affectation or anything.

The title track is based on the Robert E. Howard King Kull character, how did this concept come about?

We knew that we wanted to call the record Conqueror as far back as Suffer No Guilt, actually. So the concept has been around for a long, long time. With the art and the song that got the title things felt very 'right' for King Kull. What really sealed it was the mellow bit in the center - the lines "Slave to tradition, long ages old..." started the lyrical process.

The closing track of the album ‘Dark Valley Suite’, also has a Robert E. Howard influence to it. How influential is Howard’s work to you?

Immensely. I'd say the visions and ideas Howard explored and just the entire world he created in one way or another has touched most of my creative life... and thus the band as a whole. Without Howard there would have never been a Frank Frazetta, really... and those paintings inspire so much, and so many other visual artists - and I like to view my music as soundtracks to mini-movies in my head. The lyrics are almost all inspired by the ideas that Howard put forward in his stories. And last, but not least without Howard the film Conan the Barbarian would never have been made and Basil Poledouris would never have scored it. And that soundtrack is possibly the most important piece of music in this band's pool of influence. As important as Black Sabbath.

We can’t talk about the new album without mentioning the cover, another classic metal cover! You’ve used a Vebjorn Strommen piece how / who came up with the idea to use this piece and much like ‘Suffer No Guilt’ the cover somehow encompasses the sound don’t you think?

We knew that we needed to have a cover that could follow Ken Kelly's 'Revenge of the Viking'. And in this painting I think we found something very special as well. I have to say, as a critic I still think "Revenge" is the better piece - but Veb did an amazing job on this painting. It was a second license again, from a Norwegian press of a Conan story. I found it and Jason fell in love with it, that was all that needed to be said really. I do think that it perfectly accompanies the music on the record. In the same way that "Revenge..." complimented Suffer. It's not an accident though... we work very hard to be sure that there is as strong a linear theme running through the record, from title, to cover art, to design, and of course the songs.

‘Conqueror’ is again released in Europe via I Hate, which really does seem to be a match made in heaven / hell (excuse pun). What makes I Hate give you that perhaps other labels haven’t in the past? How big a blow is it to loose Ola?

On a more personal note 2008 had some great Doom albums released. What were the highlights for you, and does anything being released today come close to the classic that inspired TGOS?

2008 was sort of a lost year for me personally, I've been very involved in my own music and haven't so much kept in touch this year. I have enjoyed a few records. Ogre's "Plague..." was good, I look forward to hearing Lord Vicar too. But on a whole I've spent much of the year working on The Gates of Slumber.

Oh sure I can, I saw their last reunion. I wouldn't expect this one to last more than a few shows either. If it's anything like the last time It'll be great. They destroyed the Double Door in Chicago last time. Easily one of the top 5 shows I've ever seen in my life. But I don't think we can look for it to last.

Jason has also been busy with the Templars Of Doom webzine, have you had any input into the site? What are your thoughts about the site?

Yeah, he's done a lot with it. He's asked me to do some stuff now and again, but over the last couple of years my time has been pretty thin for things not related to TGoS... there's been a lot of personal stuff that I needed to work on, so I haven't been as productive in other areas. I think Templars of Doom is a great resource for Doom Metal fans, Jason has done some very good interviews... it's a talent that he's had hidden for a while!