Rockezine.com interview with Hate on Apr 24, 2004

with Adam The First Sinner on Apr 24, 2004

With Awakening Of The Liar Hate have released their best effort so far. Time for some questions!
		First of all congratulations on the new album ‘Awakening Of The Liar’. Are you satisfied with the result? Thanks. Yes, we’re really satisfied with the album. We wanted to record a challenging stuff that would combine the modern production with some harshness of the records of the eighties and I think we realized this goal at 100%. It’s definitely the best stuff we’ve done so far.
		What, in your opinion, is the main difference with your previous work? When comparing “Awakening” with the previous album “Cain’s Way”, you may notice how big progress we’ve made for less than two years. The compositions as well as the sound are much better. Working on the album we learned a lot and became better musicians, more conscious of what we create and the goals we want to achieve. The core of the music hasn’t changed much but it’s kind of grown up with more individual features.
		We also attached greater importance to trance and melody giving up some more complex, technical fragments. We just wanted to make the tracks as clear and comprehensible as possible without too much technical parts. As for the sound, we used natural drums only without any module or effects. For guitars we used some old distrortions from the eighties and combined their sound with today amplifiers to get some more clarity. Also vocals were lay down traditionally without any effects. Some verses I lay down twice to put more stress on them. This time (unlike in case of Cain’s Way when we worked with a producer Rob Srzednicki) we took care of the whole production ourselves and I think the result is great. Also lirically the new album is much deeper and thought over than the previous ones.
		I noticed, like mentioned in the biography, that with every record you make great progress in many ways. In the mean time your standards have become pretty high. In what ways do you think you can keep improving yourselves? When I speak about self-improving, I mean, first of all, the state of awarness of what you want to achieve in music. I mean searching for your own, individual style as well as developing your technical abilities as a musician and author. It’s a process and it takes some time to find your own perspective, some elements that are recognizable as yours. When working on this album we found our own style, something that differentiate us from other bands and I’m sure we’ll be developing it even farther this way.
		What inspires you lyrically? And has that changed over the years? As far as my lyrics go, I’ve always been deeply into Occult and Satanism which I don’t consider religion but rather a spiritual movement without any hierarchy and strict dogmas. Working on the lyrics, I’m like obsessed with some religious texts such as The Apocryfa, Necronomicon, Bible, Qumran Scrolls (and some other less known stuff) that serve me a great source of inspiration. I do not treat the content of those volumes very seriously; what they contain is mostly myths and legends - testimonies of ancient cultures, but still very inspiring. And it’s interesting how, for example, the Bible can debunk the whole myth of Jesus Christ. I think the Holy Scripures contains more anti-God arguments than any satanic volume.
		As for Satanism, my idea of it is not about being evil all the time, setting fire on churches, killing priests or pointless shit like that. To me it’s about passing the energy I feel every day and every minute, which is so powerful that I cannot contain it in myself. I must share it with others through what I create. Overall, my lyrics are some kind of manifests, mostly satanic ones, that may help people choose their own way in the spiritual world. If you ask me about what has changed over the years, I must say that the overall meaning of the lyrics is more less the same.
		What has changed is my motivation and the depth of the verses I write now. At the beginning, my lyrics were mostly simple “kill God” verses inspired by early Deicide, Venom and good shit like that. I wrote mainly because I needed strong lyrics for my music. Today I write because I feel a strong urge to express myself. I’m much deeper into Occult now than I was in the past. The lyrics are now thought over carefully and contain my own, personal views and thoughts. I treat the messages I put in them as important as the music itself.
		Hailing from Poland do you think you’ve had to push harder to get through to the scene of Western Europe? Or can it be an advantage to be a bit of an exotic act? And how about the US? Coming from Eastern Europe is not cartainly an advantage for publishers in the west. On the other hand, there are many good bands coming from Poland that made it through to the west and proved that they can compete with the first league. I mean bands like Vader, Behemoth, Decapitated etc. that are not seen as an exotics artfrom the east. Quite the contrary, they are perceived as one of the best groups in the genre. As for US, after releasing two albums we’re much more considered there than in Europe where our albums were only licenses on Blackend Records without any promotional support. “Awakening of The Liar” is our first official release in Europe, which is being promoted in a proper way by Listenable.
		You have been around for quite an impressive long time (since 1990). Do you think a lot has changed in the death metal scene and the metal scene in general? How have you coped with those changes? Well, to tell the truth I do not see too many changes in the genre since the early nineties. Death metal is still focused on some inspirations from the first half of the nineties and many bands just stick to what they did years ago. On the other hand, there are some good bands (mostly of black metal origin) that push the whole genre forward, adding to it some fresh ideas. As for Hate, we haven’t concentrated on playing any innovative stuff but rather on doing our work within the rules of the gener. But that seems to be changing recently. The newest tracks (composed after “Awakening”) are more diverse and influenced even by some non-metal music. I hear too many death metal bands that sound similar and I want to be different, more radical in combining different sounds. I’m sure the next Hate album will be a great step ahead in this respect.
		During the years you have recorded for various labels. Why so many changes? We always looked for better options. We wanted to have a good exposure on the market (even with early albums - far from perfection, by the way) but the labels haven’t always understood our ambitions. That’s how the conflicts started. But now, with more grown-up attitude we base our relations with labels on partnership rather than one-side demands.
		You are now on Listenable in Europe and Mercenary in the US. Do you think that with these labels you will have long term partners? I really count on Listenable to be our long-term partner. The label seems to be doing much for us at the moment in Europe and I hope it’ll change our position for better. As for Mercenary, the collaboration goes quite smooth so far, so I hope we’ll continue it as long as possible.
		Will there be an ‘Awakening’ tour? Where will you go and with which bands? It’s too early to tell. I’ve heard about plans of a tour promoting the album but no dates have been confirmed as yet.
		What other plans do you have for the future? We’re releasing our first DVD this Summer on Metal Mind Prods. The material was shot in February during one gig in a TV studio in Cracow. It is called “The Litanies Of Satan” and contains 15 live tracks, interview, pictures and lots of other materials about what we’ve done so far. I saw the material several days ago and I must say it’s a killing stuff. Over 70 minutes of bloody ceremony. Highly recommended. In August we’re entering the studio to record the material for the next album. Most of the music is already written and must say I’m really excited about the direction we’re going now. It’s too early to dicsuss it in detail now but I can tell the next album will be more diverse and radical than everything we did up to now.
		Is there anything you would like to add? Thanks for the interview. Hope we’ll have an occasion to get the Netherlands on tour. In the meantime, you may get the latest info about us under: www.hatesatanic.org Thanks once more and Praise The Beast!
(Walter de Korver)