Dirk Verbeuren from many notable bands including Soilwork and currently Megadeth took some time to speak about his grindcore/death metal
band Bent Sea that just released "The Dormant Ruin" in September of 2025. He spoke of many things regarding his music including its beginnings, creative processes, and the other people that help him make this a reality.
Bent Sea was a band started by you with the assistance of other musicians in 2011. What was the initial drive for beginning this band? It stands out as such a different sound than what I have heard you perform before in other bands.
Bent Sea came from a strong desire to express myself with absolute freedom. It started with a series of drum improvisations which formed the foundation for the Noistalgia EP. Everything was spontaneous and made up on the spot. I just followed my instinct and let the songs write themselves. They turned out to be mostly short, high energy bursts, which might be unexpected for those who know me from Megadeth or Soilwork. But bands like Napalm Death, Repulsion, Fear of God, Terrorizer, Carcass, Brutal Truth, Rotten Sound and Nasum are in my blood. Grindcore is an essential component of my musical universe.
Is there a meaning behind the band’s name?
The name Bent Sea has a Lovecraftian undertone. Undefinable geometries, impossible angles, maddening visions, unfathomable creatures lurking in the depths. It also has a concrete, real-life meaning in that our oceans are being polluted, overfished and destroyed at an accelerating pace. Without the seas and their unique ecosystems, the fragile balance of which evolved over millions of years, humanity is doomed to perish. I do hope that my music and words will help wake people up to what’s happening. The name was taken from the song “Gods of the Bent Sea” by the fantastic British experimental dark ambient duo Endvra.
I was unaware until hearing your newest release by Bent Sea that you are a guitarist as well. For most people you are primarily known as a drummer, which instrument did you begin with and how do you approach your music differently from each perspective?
I started with the violin at age 6. I also sang and briefly studied piano. Once I was a bit older and got into metal, I started messing around with my dad’s acoustic and electric guitars. I fell in love with playing drums at age 14 or 15, after hearing Dave Lombardo on Slayer’s Reign In Blood and Mick Harris on the early Napalm Death albums. There was also Grindcrusher, a compilation by the UK label Earache, which turned me into a massive fan of pretty much all of the records Earache put out in those days.
At age 15, playing music wasn’t so serious to me. I just enjoyed it, simple as that. I’d come home from school and run upstairs to go bash my drums for an hour or two. playing along to whatever I was listening to at the time- mostly a lot of death metal, thrash and grindcore, but also bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Primus.
Picking up the guitar for Bent Sea felt daunting because I was insecure about playing an instrument I had very little experience with. I’d done some writing for Scarve and Soilwork, but the impostor syndrome was pretty strong. Hannah, my wife, convinced me to go for it. I wrote and recorded all the guitars for Noistalgia over the span of a few days. Once I realized I was able to pull that off, my confidence grew and my guitar playing became more solid, layered and complex on the splits, and even more so on The Dormant Ruin.
I imagine that given your touring schedule finding time to complete The Dormant Ruin was challenging. How did you structure your time with so many other obligations present?
It was challenging at times, but I promised myself from the get-go that Bent Sea would be “no pressure”. I write and record when I feel inspired and I’m ok with things taking however long they take, at least to a certain degree.
Megadeth is my priority and takes up most of my time. I feel very fortunate that I can write and record uncompromising music whenever I feel like it. Before I was in Megadeth, I remember wishing I could be like Mike Patton, having a gig in an established band and recording all kinds of crazy shit on the side without having to worry about it making money. Music untainted by business, if you will.
I admire people like Justin Broadrick, Mick Harris and Shane Embury who create vast catalogs of sincere, non-commercial music without compromise.
What was the creative path for you on this album? Was it all artistic expression, or did you have an overall message you hoped to convey with the release?
I decided early on that the lyrics for Bent Sea would be of the socially aware kind. Anyone who’s paying attention knows that we’re not headed in a good place as a species. Our planet is under huge pressure because there are way too many of us, and humanity as a whole is greedy and short-sighted. As a long time vegan and activist for animals and nature, I have a lot to say on the matter. So, the music is pure artistic expression, whereas the words serve a deeper purpose. I’m probably an idealist but I hope that some of what I talk about will make people re-evaluate some of their choices.
Why did it take so many years to create the first full length album for Bent Sea?
The drums for The Dormant Ruin were improvised in one night at producer Daniel Bergstrand’s studio during a long layover in Stockholm. This was all the way back in 2014. I didn’t listen to those drum recordings for several years, because I somehow convinced myself that I had played like shit. One day, I opened up a few of the sessions and realized that there were in fact a lot of cool ideas. So I decided to move ahead, and wrote and recorded the guitar parts in 2018 and 2019.Then, of course, in early 2020, the pandemic hit. Coupled with everyone’s busy schedules, it took another five years for Sven, Shane and the guests to record their parts, for Daniel to mix the record, for Lawrence Makcrory to master it, and for me to get the artwork and layout together. Then, another year to sort things out with Give Praise Records and for the vinyl to be pressed. So yeah, it took forever.
The good news is that during that drum session in 2014, I improvised over forty songs. So, another LP which is already in the works and it won’t be too long until that’s ready. But first, we’re gonna put out an EP with some really sick remixes.
You have been joined by many talented people on this and previous releases. How did you choose everyone to be a part of this band? I’d imagine the talent pool you must draw from is quite extensive.
They’re all people I highly respect and admire. Not everyone is suited to playing such extreme music, so I consider myself lucky to call these people my friends. After recording Noistalgia, I needed a vocalist and Sven de Caluwé happened to be in town with System Divide. He agreed to help me out and has been part of Bent Sea ever since. We first worked together in 2003 when I recorded drums for the Aborted album Goremageddon. He’s one of the best extreme vocalists in the world, without a doubt.
In 2011, the same year I started Bent Sea, I was working with Devin Townsend, preparing to perform his album Deconstruction live. Devin is inspiring, brilliant and an absolute blast to be around. I asked him if he would play bass on the EP. He not only nailed that in no time, but mixed and mastered it, too. I knew Devin would be too busy for Bent Sea, so I asked Shane Embury, who I’d became good friends with over the years. Who better to provide grinding low end than one of the inventors of the genre? On top of that, Shane is a truly great person, a true creative mind. We also play in Tronos and Blood From The Soul together.Sylvain Coudret (Soilwork, Scarve) is one of my oldest friends and one of my favorite people to play with. He’s a stellar guitarist who can play anything effortlessly. He recorded Eddie-Van-Halen-meets-Trey-Azagthoth style leads on each of the Bent Sea releases. John Cooke (Napalm Death, Venomous Concept) was in the studio when Shane recorded his bass parts for The Dormant Ruin, and offered to track some leads, so as a huge Napalm and Venomous fan, that was a no-brainer.
The song My Fall is a tribute to my mom who passed away in 2016. It’s a standout song with its slow groove. I thought Kevin Sharp would be the perfect person to do that song and its emotional subject matter justice. He did a stellar job.
Would you consider Bent Sea to be mainly your creation or is it a collaborative effort?
Bent Sea is my creation. Sven, Shane and the other musicians add their personal ideas and interpretations to their respective parts. My bandmates truly excel at what they do. Sylvain’s solos, I could never write that stuff, let alone play it! So, the end result is definitely collaborative. but I write all the initial music and lyrics.
Once your other touring commitments are over are there any plans for live Bent Sea dates? Would you choose to be the drummer or the guitarist on stage?
I would love to take Bent Sea to the stage someday. It hasn’t been a serious consideration given everyone’s commitments and the time it would take to learn playing these crazy songs. But if it did happen, you’d find me behind the kit, the instrument I feel the most connected to. My guitar skills are alright, but I’d rather leave that up to a much more seasoned player than myself. If we play just one show someday, that would rule. Maybe it’ll be an excuse for me to finally visit Obscene Extreme Fest!
There are aspects of other genres of extreme metal on The Dormant Ruin. I’d still say it is primarily a Grindcore album. What about Grindcore as a genre appeals to you?
I was listening a lot to Godflesh, Dodecahedron and Ævangelist when writing these songs. The dissonant chord progressions these bands specialize in are hugely appealing to me, and given the dark subject matter, it felt fitting to incorporate that approach into The Dormant Ruin. Mick Harris, James Plotkin and Justin Broadrick’s works always inspire what I do. Autechre is also a huge influence; I find their music endlessly fascinating.
I’ve enjoyed pushing creative boundaries since my early days in Scarve. The urgency and immediacy of grindcore speaks to me, but a lot of what I hear ends up feeling too redundant or repetitive to hold my attention. Some young bands really hit the nail on the head: Shock Withdrawal, Cognizant and Chepang, for example. Coupled with the timeless classics and the household names (Napalm Death never disappoint) keep the genre alive in my book.
Thanks for taking the time!
Thank YOU for your interest in Bent Sea!
band Bent Sea that just released "The Dormant Ruin" in September of 2025. He spoke of many things regarding his music including its beginnings, creative processes, and the other people that help him make this a reality.
Bent Sea was a band started by you with the assistance of other musicians in 2011. What was the initial drive for beginning this band? It stands out as such a different sound than what I have heard you perform before in other bands.
Bent Sea came from a strong desire to express myself with absolute freedom. It started with a series of drum improvisations which formed the foundation for the Noistalgia EP. Everything was spontaneous and made up on the spot. I just followed my instinct and let the songs write themselves. They turned out to be mostly short, high energy bursts, which might be unexpected for those who know me from Megadeth or Soilwork. But bands like Napalm Death, Repulsion, Fear of God, Terrorizer, Carcass, Brutal Truth, Rotten Sound and Nasum are in my blood. Grindcore is an essential component of my musical universe.
Is there a meaning behind the band’s name?
The name Bent Sea has a Lovecraftian undertone. Undefinable geometries, impossible angles, maddening visions, unfathomable creatures lurking in the depths. It also has a concrete, real-life meaning in that our oceans are being polluted, overfished and destroyed at an accelerating pace. Without the seas and their unique ecosystems, the fragile balance of which evolved over millions of years, humanity is doomed to perish. I do hope that my music and words will help wake people up to what’s happening. The name was taken from the song “Gods of the Bent Sea” by the fantastic British experimental dark ambient duo Endvra.
I was unaware until hearing your newest release by Bent Sea that you are a guitarist as well. For most people you are primarily known as a drummer, which instrument did you begin with and how do you approach your music differently from each perspective?
I started with the violin at age 6. I also sang and briefly studied piano. Once I was a bit older and got into metal, I started messing around with my dad’s acoustic and electric guitars. I fell in love with playing drums at age 14 or 15, after hearing Dave Lombardo on Slayer’s Reign In Blood and Mick Harris on the early Napalm Death albums. There was also Grindcrusher, a compilation by the UK label Earache, which turned me into a massive fan of pretty much all of the records Earache put out in those days.
At age 15, playing music wasn’t so serious to me. I just enjoyed it, simple as that. I’d come home from school and run upstairs to go bash my drums for an hour or two. playing along to whatever I was listening to at the time- mostly a lot of death metal, thrash and grindcore, but also bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Primus.
Picking up the guitar for Bent Sea felt daunting because I was insecure about playing an instrument I had very little experience with. I’d done some writing for Scarve and Soilwork, but the impostor syndrome was pretty strong. Hannah, my wife, convinced me to go for it. I wrote and recorded all the guitars for Noistalgia over the span of a few days. Once I realized I was able to pull that off, my confidence grew and my guitar playing became more solid, layered and complex on the splits, and even more so on The Dormant Ruin.
I imagine that given your touring schedule finding time to complete The Dormant Ruin was challenging. How did you structure your time with so many other obligations present?
It was challenging at times, but I promised myself from the get-go that Bent Sea would be “no pressure”. I write and record when I feel inspired and I’m ok with things taking however long they take, at least to a certain degree.
Megadeth is my priority and takes up most of my time. I feel very fortunate that I can write and record uncompromising music whenever I feel like it. Before I was in Megadeth, I remember wishing I could be like Mike Patton, having a gig in an established band and recording all kinds of crazy shit on the side without having to worry about it making money. Music untainted by business, if you will.
I admire people like Justin Broadrick, Mick Harris and Shane Embury who create vast catalogs of sincere, non-commercial music without compromise.
What was the creative path for you on this album? Was it all artistic expression, or did you have an overall message you hoped to convey with the release?
I decided early on that the lyrics for Bent Sea would be of the socially aware kind. Anyone who’s paying attention knows that we’re not headed in a good place as a species. Our planet is under huge pressure because there are way too many of us, and humanity as a whole is greedy and short-sighted. As a long time vegan and activist for animals and nature, I have a lot to say on the matter. So, the music is pure artistic expression, whereas the words serve a deeper purpose. I’m probably an idealist but I hope that some of what I talk about will make people re-evaluate some of their choices.
Why did it take so many years to create the first full length album for Bent Sea?
The drums for The Dormant Ruin were improvised in one night at producer Daniel Bergstrand’s studio during a long layover in Stockholm. This was all the way back in 2014. I didn’t listen to those drum recordings for several years, because I somehow convinced myself that I had played like shit. One day, I opened up a few of the sessions and realized that there were in fact a lot of cool ideas. So I decided to move ahead, and wrote and recorded the guitar parts in 2018 and 2019.Then, of course, in early 2020, the pandemic hit. Coupled with everyone’s busy schedules, it took another five years for Sven, Shane and the guests to record their parts, for Daniel to mix the record, for Lawrence Makcrory to master it, and for me to get the artwork and layout together. Then, another year to sort things out with Give Praise Records and for the vinyl to be pressed. So yeah, it took forever.
The good news is that during that drum session in 2014, I improvised over forty songs. So, another LP which is already in the works and it won’t be too long until that’s ready. But first, we’re gonna put out an EP with some really sick remixes.
You have been joined by many talented people on this and previous releases. How did you choose everyone to be a part of this band? I’d imagine the talent pool you must draw from is quite extensive.
They’re all people I highly respect and admire. Not everyone is suited to playing such extreme music, so I consider myself lucky to call these people my friends. After recording Noistalgia, I needed a vocalist and Sven de Caluwé happened to be in town with System Divide. He agreed to help me out and has been part of Bent Sea ever since. We first worked together in 2003 when I recorded drums for the Aborted album Goremageddon. He’s one of the best extreme vocalists in the world, without a doubt.
In 2011, the same year I started Bent Sea, I was working with Devin Townsend, preparing to perform his album Deconstruction live. Devin is inspiring, brilliant and an absolute blast to be around. I asked him if he would play bass on the EP. He not only nailed that in no time, but mixed and mastered it, too. I knew Devin would be too busy for Bent Sea, so I asked Shane Embury, who I’d became good friends with over the years. Who better to provide grinding low end than one of the inventors of the genre? On top of that, Shane is a truly great person, a true creative mind. We also play in Tronos and Blood From The Soul together.Sylvain Coudret (Soilwork, Scarve) is one of my oldest friends and one of my favorite people to play with. He’s a stellar guitarist who can play anything effortlessly. He recorded Eddie-Van-Halen-meets-Trey-Azagthoth style leads on each of the Bent Sea releases. John Cooke (Napalm Death, Venomous Concept) was in the studio when Shane recorded his bass parts for The Dormant Ruin, and offered to track some leads, so as a huge Napalm and Venomous fan, that was a no-brainer.
The song My Fall is a tribute to my mom who passed away in 2016. It’s a standout song with its slow groove. I thought Kevin Sharp would be the perfect person to do that song and its emotional subject matter justice. He did a stellar job.
Would you consider Bent Sea to be mainly your creation or is it a collaborative effort?
Bent Sea is my creation. Sven, Shane and the other musicians add their personal ideas and interpretations to their respective parts. My bandmates truly excel at what they do. Sylvain’s solos, I could never write that stuff, let alone play it! So, the end result is definitely collaborative. but I write all the initial music and lyrics.
Once your other touring commitments are over are there any plans for live Bent Sea dates? Would you choose to be the drummer or the guitarist on stage?
I would love to take Bent Sea to the stage someday. It hasn’t been a serious consideration given everyone’s commitments and the time it would take to learn playing these crazy songs. But if it did happen, you’d find me behind the kit, the instrument I feel the most connected to. My guitar skills are alright, but I’d rather leave that up to a much more seasoned player than myself. If we play just one show someday, that would rule. Maybe it’ll be an excuse for me to finally visit Obscene Extreme Fest!
There are aspects of other genres of extreme metal on The Dormant Ruin. I’d still say it is primarily a Grindcore album. What about Grindcore as a genre appeals to you?
I was listening a lot to Godflesh, Dodecahedron and Ævangelist when writing these songs. The dissonant chord progressions these bands specialize in are hugely appealing to me, and given the dark subject matter, it felt fitting to incorporate that approach into The Dormant Ruin. Mick Harris, James Plotkin and Justin Broadrick’s works always inspire what I do. Autechre is also a huge influence; I find their music endlessly fascinating.
I’ve enjoyed pushing creative boundaries since my early days in Scarve. The urgency and immediacy of grindcore speaks to me, but a lot of what I hear ends up feeling too redundant or repetitive to hold my attention. Some young bands really hit the nail on the head: Shock Withdrawal, Cognizant and Chepang, for example. Coupled with the timeless classics and the household names (Napalm Death never disappoint) keep the genre alive in my book.
Thanks for taking the time!
Thank YOU for your interest in Bent Sea!