When Death Metal - fans talk about their favourite bands from Poland, they often don´t only talk about VADER and BEHEMOTH. In many cases you can hear another name that is standing for quality since 1990: HATE! This very cool band now offers us a new album called "Anaclasis - A Haunting Gospel Of Malice And Hatred”. An unusual title to unusual Death Metal - music, because the band adds some progressive and industrial elements to their sound. But is this really still "Polish Death Metal”?! This is only one of the questions Adam The First Sinner, founder, guitarist und vocalist of HATE, tries to answer… InterviewHi! How are you by now?

Extremely well, thanks.

Your new album is called "Anaclasis - A Haunting Gospel Of Malice And Hatred”. That is a strange title. What is it about? Is it a concept - story?

Anaclasis is a reflection or refraction of light. It´s a scientific term from physics. Refraction of light creates a space in which some people (medias) can see astral bodies. I used this word in the context of communication with a spiritual world - the world of daemons which I believe is parallel to ours and influences our reality in some way. The subtitle - "A Haunting Gospel Of Malice And Hatred” - means that it´s a story told by daemons about their spiritual suffering, "a daemons martyrology" of sorts. That´s the whole concept in brief.

The cover - artwork shows some (pregnant) female demons. Who or what are these creatures? This picture looks very frightening!

As for the cover, it was done by Graal - our long time graphic designer - in accordance to my ideas. I wanted the artwork to correspond with the music as much as possible. It´s sick, unpredictable and extreme and so is the music. Making the cover the way it is cost us quite a lot of work: We photographed a pregnant model lying on the floor on the plan of a cross in various positions. I wanted the cover to be as realistic as possible and so we needed very good pictures to get this effect. I think it´s the best artwork we´ve had so far. Moreover, it conveys the climat of the music really well.

Do you see any musical differences to your earlier releases? How far, would you say, is "Anaclasis - A Haunting Gospel Of Malice And Hatred” different to your other albums?

We wanted the new album to be quite an innovative stuff comparing to all the death metal - shit around and our previous albums too. We added some new elements to the music as well as change the sound quite a bit. This time we offer something more progressive, evil and dirty than anything we did before. We don´t resign from characteristic choruses because they make music closer to a listener, but we don´t want to play death metal in the same classical way any more. We want to push it further to the limits of extremity and give it some new sound. "Anaclasis" is our first attempt to achieve this. I hope people will find it killing. Comparing to "Awakening Of The Liar", the new album is more complex, sounds clinically clear, and is also industrial in parts.

You and your music are often compared to VADER. In other interviews you said that VADER and you exist in a parallel way with influencing each other. I realize that Death Metal - bands from Poland (or even from whole Eastern Europe) seem to be influenced neither by the Scandinavian Melodic Death Metal nor really by the early US Death Metal. Would you say that you have created your own style of this music? Or can we even talk about "Polish Death Metal”?

Well, I often read in the Western press about such a phenomenon as "Polish Death Metal”. But honestly, we don´t feel emotionally attached to the Polish scene. I think we´ve always been a bit aside of it. You know… most people here in Poland think we´re not typical Polish D - Metal. It so happens that there are many good bands in this country and several have made their names world - wide. We all influence each other, but if you look at it closely there are many different styles among Polish bands. For example VADER and BEHEMOTH are two completely different paths; LOST SOUL is some MORBID ANGEL - like act, DECAPITATED got finally their own core - like style on the new album etc. And we are different from them all in some ways too. So the only thing that connects us is one country we come from and sometimes producers/studios.

You have just introduced a new guitarist called "Hellbeast”. Is he now a fix member of HATE?
And what happened to your former axeman "Kaos”?

Kaos, our former guitarist, left the band in January for some personal reasons. It was his own decision and we parted ways with him in perfect peace. Since then we´ve been a three - piece, collaborating with a session musician at times. After recording session for "Anaclasis" we started looking for a new guitarist. When we anounced on our website that we needed a guitarist, many talented peope came forward; some of them from such distant places as Ukraine, Holland and even Brasil! We were just amazed by such response! After numerous auditions we have finally agreed on Hellbeast (a guitarist from our home town Warsaw) to be a new mamber to the lineup. He´s a young, talented man known from such underground death/thrash bands as CHAOSPHERE and DAMNED. He has just outstripped all the other candidates. As I mentioned, we recorded "Anaclasis" as a trio but it was a temporary situation after Kaos´ departure. Now I´m really glad we´re a four - piece again. We´re rehearsing a lot these days to make the songs as tight as possible.

On the eleventh of December you play a very special gig in the "Proxima Club” in Warsaw for your deceased friend Doc. How well did you know him? In Regard to all the bands that play there that evening he must have been a very respected person. Do you think all these bands that play there for him have been some kind of his big family?

Yes, you may say so. And the concert was very special. All the income from it was given to Docent´s family. All the bands, technicians and organizers worked on the concert for absolutely free. The atmosphere was absolutely unique… it´s just beyond description. Many people were crying when VADER played some Docent´s songs. I have never seen such a thing on any concert. Yes, I knew Doc for many years and his leaving was a real blow for me. He was a great personality and one of the most intelligent men among metal musicians I met. He read newspapers (and not only porno or metal mags) which is not common among musicians. Unlike most of them, he was interested in new technologies, politics, history etc. He didn´t have many friends ´cause he was a level above most of others. That´s how it looked. But everyone respected him and now many people feel some kind of empty space after he´s gone.

How do your plans for the future look like? Will you go on tour to promote your new album?
It seems to me that you don´t tour so intensively, because the last dates have been in February 2005 according to the dates on your homepage. Is there any band that you would like to go on tour with?

There´s a European tour in our plans for 2006. It´ has just been confirmed by a concert agency "Metallysee” that we´ll be supportig KRISIUN and MARDUK on their European tour in February / March. There´ll be at least 30 gigs across Europe, but I don´t know further details as yet. We´ve also been invited to some summer festivals in Germany, Ukraine and Chech Republic. Next year we´d like to enter the studio to record next album. Probably a kind of continuation of "Anaclasis". As you see, our concert plans are going to change for better now…

Do you have some special final statement for your fans here in Germany?

Thanks for your questions which were interesting most of the time. I got a message for Hate supporters among your readers: can´t wait to see you again "Children of the Nephilim”! Hope it comes as soon as possible. Praise your daemons!