Après quinze ans d’existence, la chance semble enfin sourire à Adam leader du groupe HATE. Avec une signature chez Listenable et un nouvel album « Awakening of the liar » qui n’en fini pas de décrocher des louanges des médias et des fans, HATE est bien parti pour une conquête de l’Europe qui lui faisait encore défaut.
Entretien avec Adam « The First Sinner » -mai 2004-

VS : Hey Adam, ready for nasty questions ? Let's start with a very original one :
Adam : We started Hate in 1990. Since then we've recorded three demos and four albums; three of them are official releases in Europe; "Holy Dead Trinity" and "Cain's Way" are licenses on Blackend Records and "Awakening Of The Liar" is an official release on Listenable. Line-up has changed many times so I think it's pointless to talk about it in detail. Today's linep is: (me) Adam The First Sinner - git, voc, Kaos - git, Cyprian - bass, Hellrizer - drums.

VS : I think that wasn’t easy to run a death metal band in Poland around 1990, to find good musicians with descent material. What kindda memories do you have of this period ? I guess that’s more easy now.
Actually, it wasn't difficult. As I remember everyone wanted to play extreme metal back in 1990. There were many death metal bands around and you could easily find musicians to play with. As for the material, I never played someone else's stuff. Since the very beginning I composed my own music and looked for people who would like to play it. And it wasn't hard. The first complete Hate lineup was formed in 1991 and the first demo was recorded in Power Play Studio, Warsaw, in 1992. It was called "Abhorrence" and relesed on an underground label Hate Productions. I remember it was a really great time.

VS : Of course I remember there was a lot of people into death metal around this time but I also remember polish metal kids were out of cash. When I said material I was thinking about instruments…
Well, there was no problem to get some instruments if you were determined enough. I remember my first guitar which I bought all in littlle pieces...I had to put them together and it was actually a good way of getting to know the instrument.

VS : Anyway you’re a death metal freak for 15 years now and the only survivor of the original line-up. Is this because of your horrible mood ? (ha ha) What’s your secret to keep the faith in music ? Do you feel sometimes like a kindda metal veteran (just
Maybe you'll be surprised but I don't feel like a veteran at all. I founded Hate when I was a teenager so I still have a lot of time to get old, you know. As far as I remember I've never been in better shape in my life and I've never had so many good ideas in my head before! You know, I'm not sentimental. I never look back. The only thing I'm focused on is the next album and next contract. All I want is to rule one day in the genre by recording something really outstanding. Now that I have finally found people who are as fanatical as myself, I know I'm unstoppable. As for death metal, I don't think of the music I play as ''death metal'' or something elese. I think of it as ''music'' and what we are doing now (I mean the material for the next album) is quite far away from traditional death metal. We develop very quickly now, and I think our next album will be quite revolutionary comparing with what we've done so far.

VS : Tell us about the way you’ve composed “Awakening of the liar” ? What kindda ideas did you have in mind when you’ve start working on it ? Are you satisfied with the result ?
I wanted to record a challenging album that would combine the modern production with some harshness of the records from the eighties. The music is quite traditional in its form but at the same time very catchy. From my point of view the album isn't very technical but rather emotional. I don't like too complex, technical death metal in which you have many technical tricks but overall content is poor. It's all bullshit to me. I wanted to create an album that would be quite simple with a lot of emotion in it. I simplified some tracks that were going too technical at the beginning and put more clear melodical lines in them. As for the lyrics, I was quite inspired by some Apocryphical texts to the extent that I just put some fragments of them directly to my lyrics. More about it you may find out of Hate official website under: http://www.hatesatanic.org

VS : How did you sign with Listenable ? How many bottle of polish Vodka did you send before getting your deal ?
None. Laurent wanted to sign us long ago so it wasn't very hard. We couldn't collaborate with Listenable earlier because of the contract we had with American label World War III. After the deal expired we could start talking with Laurent. We negotiated for some time but it was worth it because I got to know that he was a real fan of my band having all our demos in his collection. It means a lot to me if I can collaborate with someone who appreciate my work. It's hard to imagine a more comfortable situation.

VS : How do you explain, you’ve start almost at the same time as VADER and 15 years after they are pretty famous all over the world and you’re not (yet?). Does it mean HATE doesn’t worth VADER or do you think you’ve been unlucky ?
I don't think neither of what you said. Firstly, Vader started in 1985 and managed to sign their first record deal in the west in 1992 when we were recording our first demo. At that time they were a grown up band with a lot of experience, so they always were several years and several albums ahead of us. Secondly, I don't like to compare my band with any other one, because every band has its own history and its ways to get successful. In this respect, we are still behind some other fellow-bands but I'm more than sure that the future is ours not theirs. If we talk about the value of music, it's hard to measure this by the number of albums sold. If you would like to compare music of different artists in this way, Madonna or a freak named Sean Paul are still some cds ahead of any metal band. The real value of an album can be seen several years after the premiere. If the album is still alive in people's heads, it means that you did some good work. Thtat's exactly what I want from each next Hate album – to live as long as possible.

VS : It seems you’ve got some problems to keep musicians in the band ? What’s wrong with HATE ? Do you think young musicians have lost faith into the old school style and that they prefer the new wave of brutal death metal ?
I don't know what you're talking about. I've got two relatively young musicians in the band who want to make progress in this kind of music. They don't care about old school or new school. We don't see the music through such categories. All we want is to kill with uncompromising, satanic blasts to the end of our days and it has nothing to do with old or new way of playing. Music is a universal language. You cannot do anything new if don't know what was done before. But the most important thing is to progress. If someone I play with doesn't understand this simple rule, he must go. It's simple as that.

VS : Do you see HATE as a satanic band, a nihilist band or an anti-christian one ? In your opinion, what’s the difference between all these ideology ?
Hate is definitely satanic band, but we don't proclaim any sectarian ideas that would make us religious figures. I don't consider satanism as a religion but a spiritual movement without any hierarchy or leaders. To me Satan is not another god one should worship through bloody sacrifices or stuff like that. Satan is an anti-god and satanism is anti-religion. There is no point in practising some stupid rituals – usually a parody of Christian ones. Satanism is something much more individual, deeper than dogmats or fetishes. Everyone should go his or her own path looking for individual development. If we talk about anti-christianity, it's a part of Satanism too. You cannot be a Satanist if you don't reject Christianity and its inhuman ideas and restrictions. Christianity has been, over the centuries, the most lethal, intolerant and ignorant religion on earth. Christians have destroyed and murdered the best minds of the past, restraining the progress of the civilization. You must reject all the Christian shit if you want to be an open-minded person. It's like the first step. As for nihilism, I'm quite far from those ideas. I rather believe that the world is determined in this or that way and I'm not a fan of believing in nothing. It's a very pessimistic view of this world.

VS : Is there any chance to see you guys on a french stage before the end of the year ?
Hard to tell at the moment. As far as I know, we are gonna play some gigs promoting the new album in Europe but it depends mostly on the label. I would really like to visit your country and kick some assess and I'm sure it'll happen sooner or later. For the time being you may admire our first DVD stuff which is out in July on Metal Mind Productions through worldwide distribution. A highly recommended stuff!

VS : Your actual playlist (not especially metal)
Diamanda Galas – Defixiones.
Nigel Kennedy – Kreisler
WASP – The Last Command
Krisiun - Angeless Venomous
Mayhem – Chimera
Suffocation – Souls To Deny
Gorgoroth – Twilight Of The Idols
AC/DC – Highway To Hell

VS : Thanks for your time, last words are yours. You can say “hi” to your family if you wish ? So conclusion ?
Thanks for this interview. I wanna say something to everyone who support Hate in your country: Praise The Beast motherfuckers to the end of your fuckin' days! Never stop this madness.