INTERVIEW: Adam Buszko – Hate
When the undisputed kings of Polish extreme metal, BEHEMOTH, were still crafting a pure, Norwegian-influenced brand of black metal, HATE were already the masters of the blackened death metal hybrid BEHEMOTH would become known for. Led by front man and creative driving force Adam Buszko, HATE have been one of the strongest Polish metal bands for almost three decades now. Although never reaching the same giddy heights as their Gdansk brothers in arms, the Warsaw outfit has dominated the underground, releasing a slew of albums ranging in quality from strong to incredible. 2019 sees Buszko and co. release their 11th full-length, and Metal Blade Records debut, Auric Gates Of Veles (read our review here). We spoke with Buszko before the North American Devastation Of The Nation tour started in May for an in-depth look at about the new album and the influence of Slavonic mysticism!
Hey Adam, thanks for taking the time to talk with us today! You’ve just announced Auric Gates of Veles, how is everyone in the HATE camp doing just now?
Adam: Yeah, we are fine. We’re preparing for the tour which is coming up next week, on Friday, in America. It is our return to America after some years. It’s like a travelling festival, actually under the banner of Devastation Of The Nation tour, so we are joining DARK FUNERAL, BELPHEGOR and INCANTATION and two other American bands [VALE OF PNATH and NIGHTMARER] on this tour. It’s a fully fledged tour – 27 shows around the East and West coasts, and in Canada. We are really looking forward to it, and getting ready for it now.
With the announcement of Auric Gates Of Veles a couple of weeks ago, you released the album’s first single: Sovereign Sanctity. How has the response to the new song been so far?
Adam: It’s been really good. We’ve had a lot of positive feedback from people who had an opportunity to listen to it. But in just a few days we are launching a video for this song, we shot it here in Poland with 9LITERFILMY in Katowice, in Southern Poland. It’s almost ready now and its going to be launched next week. This is a very interesting video, I think. It’s probably the biggest visual production we’ve ever made, or made so far. I’m really curious to see what the reactions will be, you have not just the song but also some kind of visual representation or explanation of the lyrics in the song. So I’m really curious to see what people will say, how they will react. I wouldn’t want to say too much – I’m giving you some preface now – it’s better to just watch it and have your own opinion about it!
Like Trememdum, Auric Gates Of Veles is conceptually centred on Slavic mysticism. Is delving into the pre-Christian history and mythology of Poland on this album, in part, a reaction to the power the Catholic church still holds over Polish politics?
Adam: Not really, I keep myself far from politics. Of course, I’m well aware of what’s going on here and of course I don’t like it and don’t support it. But what I do with HATE is a separate thing, it doesn’t have any direct connection with politics or even with our normal lives. We are trying to bring this big theme to people which is the Slavonic world before Christianity came here. There has been quite a lot of material written on it in the last two decades because its not a well-known period of history. It is still being discovered, I would say. What I base some of my lyrics on is Slavonic mythology – which is really a reconstruction of it, gathering pieces from all the Slavonic world, coming from Russia, through western Slavs like Poland and the Czech Republic and then to the Balkans. Initially, it was like one big ethnic group that shared a lot of things some beliefs and some philosophies. It’s really interesting and it’s a great source of inspiration for me since I started reading about it, it was more than 10 years ago.
On the previous album, Tremendum, it was an inspiration for some lyrics there. Now we are getting deeper into this theme, exploring more stories and more elements of it, and not just in the lyrics but also musically. On this album you can hear some riffs, some ideas, that that in the background have some Slavic folklore, but it’s never obvious. It’s more like an echo, here and there. It’s not folk music at all, as you probably know! But some things are inspired I would say some folklore also. I would to visualise it as much as possible, that’s why we did this video, and the production on our live shows will also be developing into this direction, we have quite a big project about it, and I think we’ll start realising it right after the this American tour. Because, of course, it’s not possible to take a full production with us to America now, at this stage. But in the summer we were planning to play a tour. It will consist of mainly performances at festivals, and that’ll be great occasion for us to show the new production.
Which specific elements of Slavic paganism and history influenced the lyrics of Auric Gates Of Veles?
Adam: Well, we should talk about particular songs now, I think, because it’s there in the lyrics. For example, the central figure in the lyrics is Veles, this figure is in the title also. Veles is a representation of, in the Slavonic world, the dark element of existence, generally speaking, so some say that it’s like a counterpart of the Devil in the monotheistic religions or philosophies, but that’s a simplification, it’s not like that at all. I would say that Veles is something much more or was something much more. He had a lot of attributes and a lot of functions, I would say, and powers. He was a very important deity representing, generally speaking, the dark element of existence, but not just this, it was all about fertility, it was about some yearly rituals that were dedicated to him, and to that natural energy, because that’s how the Slavs understood the world around them. The deities were nothing more and nothing less than representations of natural elements. In this tradition, the humans are children of those deities, not the product of creation. We come from those elements. You can even relate it to the theory of evolution, it’s compatible with it. Because you haven’t been created, you come from it, you come from those elements directly, literally.
That’s how they understood the world, and that’s how they worshipped those elements, those natural powers around them. And Veles was what was one of the central elements. But of course there were many others, like Triglav, one lyric is also dedicated to Triglav. And in the song Path To Arkhen, for example, the main thing is the place which is Arkhen, and Arkhen is nothing more than Arkona, which was actually big temple, or I would say a system of temples on the island of Rugia. Now it belongs to Germany. This is called the Rügen, so it’s a historical place, it’s a real place. But the Slavs called it Rugia. But those temples were called Akrona, or Arkhen, as the Nordic people called them. I prefer that name, that’s why I use it in the title and in the lyrics for this particular song. It is about the survival of Arkhen, meaning Arkona here, example.
In other songs, we have lots of topics that come from that Slavonic background. For example, Seventh Manvantara is digging very deep into the history of Slavonic tribes. It’s about Zarathushtra, or Zoroaster, it can be pronounced in many different ways. But, you probably very well know this, he was a historical figure, a prophet, that lived somewhere in the east, probably in the territory of Iran or Afghanistan, who started the whole spiritual movement Zoroastrianism, which some of the elements the Slavic tribes adapted. Some of the lyrics are more direct, for some others, I would say you need to know a little to understand that this is also connected to this Slavic world.
One song that I would say is more contemporary, The Volga’s Veins, is about Russia, and more contemporary history. And this Volga – which Russian called “The Great Vein,” by the way, or “Mother River,” – we look at the world through the eyes of the Volga in the lyrics in this in this particular song, so you can see, for example, the some historical events, like battles and conflict, mainly. In every lyric, you can find some things that are related to the Slavs, and why is that? Well, to me, it’s an important tradition, something that I personally feel related to. And some of it deserves to be made popular, because it’s there are some really great ideas and very inspiring things in it.
Given the lack of written records, and the scarcity of information of the pre-Christian Slavic people and mythologies, was it difficult doing research for the lyrics of Auric Gates Of Veles?
Adam: Yeah, you’re right. But as I mentioned, for the last few decades a lot of work has been done on it. You have quite a lot of publications in the last ten years, at least in Poland. For example, there’s one guy, his name is Czeslaw Białczyński. He dedicated 30 years of his life to reconstructing some facts, some beliefs, and he even described some rituals. It’s like ethnographic research. Also, the research is based on Russian archives, and archives from Czech and from the Balkans. It’s like a piecing these things together, because it’s a work of a detective, I think! But as I say, there are some really interesting articles and books about it. Some are purely scientific. Some are more, I would say, popular, you know, kind of books and articles for everybody to understand what’s going on. But it is all super inspiring for me, and it is absolutely worth making more popular. Maybe I will contribute to it a little bit too!
Are there any sources you would recommend for anyone interested in doing their own research into the Slavic mysticism that influenced the album?
Adam: The problem is most of them are in Polish, I must warn you! One guy, as I say, is Białczyński. Some of the research has been translated into English, I believe. There are some really nicely made books, [detailing] a lot of the Slavonic mythology into in two chapters, like two separate books. It’s like a great work collective work by the way. There are a few authors, but the main one is this guy I mentioned, Czeslaw Białczyński. It’s a great thing, it’s a great book, it’s a great work, I think, a great effort. There are others, of course, there is some ethnographic articles. The problem is most of it hasn’t been translated yet, because it’s still pretty fresh. Księga Tura and Księga Ruty, they were published, two or three years ago, so it is still quite fresh. But I’m pretty sure it will be translated and published in the English-speaking world, though, it’s a question of time only.
The artwork for Auric Gates Of Veles is incredible. Can you tell us how the art ties into the concept of the album?
Adam: I was looking for somebody who could make cover by hand, like a drawing, and moreover, somebody who knew about these those Slavonic myths. I found an artist, his name is Andrzej Masianis. He’s a quite well recognised artist in Poland for his exhibitions in galleries, but he’s not very well known for making covers of metal album But he was open for working with us. So he made a drawing by hand depicting the pantheon of Slavic deities with Veles as a central figure. Later, our graphic designer made some small changes in it, just to adjust it to make it the proper album cover, but it is more or less in the same form. The band logo was made in the same way, which is also great. We’ll be using this this new logo from now on! We also made some special pictures for the layout, they are only in the layout, they won’t be published anywhere else. Together, it expresses the atmosphere of the album, I think, the atmosphere of the music, and especially the content, you can just by looking at it, you can understand what it is about.
Slavonic mysticism has been the main influence for both Tremendum and Auric Gates Of Veles. Given that these are two of the strongest albums in HATE’s discography, is this something you will continue to explore on future albums?
Adam: Yeah, absolutely. I feel that the journey has just begun, you know, there is much more to say. Also, these themes can give you some new perspective on life in the present day. Some things haven’t changed that much, we still have similar questions we that we asked to ourselves. I will definitely continue with it, that’s for sure, and I would like to get even deeper in the future into this subject, because it’s just begun to open up before me, I would say. I am friends with some people who are involved in some… It’s hard to explain in English! It’s like a reconstruction group, but it’s not really about reconstruction. It’s more about the revival of some of some archaic motifs, and archaic rituals. Actually, some of those people are in our video, the new one. The woman that you will see there, she’s not just an actress in the in the video, but she’s been quite deep into this for more than ten years now. She agreed to work with us on it, because she listened to the album, she listened to the songs, and she, she just wanted to take part in it because she found it interesting. So I’m pretty sure that there is a lot to say, and there is a lot to explore, and I will be doing this.
Last summer you released a teaser for a new song called In The Shrine Of Veles, and the demo is included as a bonus track on Auric Gates Of Veles. Did the original song evolve into another song from the album, or was it cut from the main track list?
Adam: Well, it’s a bonus on the album as you said. This version of the song comes from the pre-production session. We never recorded it again. It is in its initial form from the pre-production, and it sounds it sounds really authentic to me, that’s why I decided to leave it like it is. So we haven’t changed it, we haven’t rerecorded it, it’s in this initial form. Also Metal Blade wanted it very much to be a part of the album, they asked me a few times about it. There was no question about it. We simply added in this initial form. It was an important song to me, a kind of forming song for this album because it was one of the first two songs that we wrote for the for this album and recorded in the last month of 2018.
What can attendees of the Devastation Of The Nation tour expect from the HATE set?
Adam: We’ll probably play some new songs. When it comes to production, I’m afraid its going to be pretty limited, because everyone on the tour has a limited time for their performance, so I think its gonna be short, concise, to the point. But it’s a great opportunity to return to American soil because more tours will follow this one, especially because we have working visas for one year now, so we will try to make the best use of them. That’s the plan.
Which songs from Auric Gates Of Veles are you particularly excited to debut live?
Adam: All those main songs like Sovereign Sanctity, Seventh Manvantara and again, Path To Arkhen, even though we played it on a few festivals before, but I think that we will play it in a slightly different form with more background songs in it. It should be more impressive in this in this form that we were going to present on the upcoming shows! Not in America, actually, because we won’t have that much time, and we should go across some albums. We should also play something from Erebos, and also from Crusade:Zero. But, on those longer shows that we will be performing in Europe, that’s for sure. I’m absolutely sure that there will be more songs from this album, four songs at least I think.
A planned UK tour for last summer was unfortunately cancelled following the collapse of Edinburgh’s Heavy Scotland festival. Are there plans for HATE to return to the UK later this year?
Adam: Well, I don’t know yet, I must say. The plans are very dynamic now, they are changing every day. We will see about it. The one thing that is certain is that we’re going to play a tour in September teaming up with VADER, it covers the whole Scandinavia and some of Europe later on. I’m not sure where and how many shows there will be. Yesterday I was told it’s at least 17 dates. So looks like quite a lot for just Scandinavia, you know what I mean? Yeah, so it’s not it’s not only Scandinavia, it’s probably like eight shows in Scandinavia and all the rest of this all of the shows will be somewhere in the European countries, maybe in in the UK, which I would love to play. And Scotland especially! I really do hope that we will have an opportunity to come with these shows to Scotland and the rest of the UK soon. It will be confirmed soon. But if it’s not on this tour, I am sure that will be working on some shows in the UK, we are super open for it since the tour collapsed and the festival collapse. I feel that we should make up for it.
There was talk of HATE releasing a new DVD to celebrate your 25th anniversary in 2015, but this never materialised. Is a follow up to 2009’s The Litanies Of Satan in the works – perhaps for your 30th anniversary next year?
Adam: We will see what happens. The whole DVD project didn’t materialise because Napalm Records, the previous label we worked with, was not so much interested in it. But now we’ve changed label, and it is like a new opening, we’re talking about some projects for the future that we can make together with Metal Blade. It looks like Metal Blade is much more open for our ideas, so much more is possible now than it was before. I’m pretty sure we will get back to this idea. Maybe it won’t be as a special anniversary release, but a DVD is something that I would love to make. Especially with the songs from this new album. I’m pretty sure we’ll be getting back to this idea maybe in autumn this year, maybe later. But it depends on how intensive this period of promotion will be, it looks like quite a lot of shows is coming. And not just here in Europe, but somewhere else too. But we will try to make it.
Thanks once again for talking with us today, Adam. Finally, do you have any parting messages for Distorted Sound Magazine’s readers?
Adam: Well, first of all, I want to send greetings to all HATE followers and everybody who is supporting the band. And I’d like to say that we would like to make up for those shows that were cancelled, it’s one of our purposes to come back, if not for a full tour around Great Britain but just a few shows that would that would be satisfactory for the people waiting for us out there. And thank you very much for the interview, and for an interesting set of questions. It’s been a pleasure!
Auric Gates Of Veles is set for release June 14th via Metal Blade Records.
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