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INDEX
INTERVIEWS
GUESTBOOK
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SATANIC
BRUTAL DEATH
MOLESTING
THE UNCONVERTED
1. Hello! For those who might not be familiar with the band, do a little introduction to our readers... Necrography, putrid facts, most famous victims and the remains...
Hell-o Gab. Hellspawn was formed around the year 2003 by Drosin, Kolman and me. Gary joined the band a year later, and it has been the lineup ever since: there were no changes, what surprises me after all those years hehe. Our first recording was “Demo 2005,” which later became a part of your split. What’s interesting about it, is the fact that we recorded at the the Selani Studio – the place where Vader recorded their first albums, including the tremendous “De Profundis.” A few years later, when it came to recording new stuff, we decided to build our own studio. All the basic equipment that is required to record your music in considerably decent quality is more or less at the same price as a session in a good studio, so there we were the four of us trying to figure out what to invest in without any knowledge in the field hehe. But we made it, and after several practice recordings, we finally recorded ‘Child of Hell’ in 2008, which waited until now to finally be released.
2. What happened lately in the camp of HELLSPAWN? I didn't hear about you since quite some time, until the CDr version of your new unmixed recording arrived in my postal box, and shew you're still alive and quite kicking! I'm not aware of the last happenings, maybe you played a lot of gigs and stuffs like that? Tell us about it…
I know it’s hard to believe, but the band doesn’t bring us any money hehe, so we have to focus on our jobs, education and so on leaving Hellspawn a bit aside, so that’s probably why you haven’t heard much about us lately, but we’re still alive and that won’t change any time soon. We’ve spent the last year waiting for “Child of Hell” to be released and played very few gigs, but hopefully the situation will change now that the record has finally been released.
3. The songs
from this CDr promo doesn't contain many changes compared to the
previous recording, it's the same evil and fast death metal, except
it might be a bit more complex or technical sometimes, but globally
it's the same band and same brutal message! I guess the peoples
who liked your previous recording wouldn't be disappointed!
How
long did it take to write these 9 new songs? How would you compare
them to the previous ones? Is there something new at the level of
lyrics, band's spirit or message?
I can’t tell
you how long it took to write the stuff because it was so long ago
hehe. I think that some of the songs were created shortly after
we came back from the Selani Studio in 2005. In the period between
the two recording sessions, we created more than 15 songs, some
of which were never to be recorded and are now forgotten. I wonder
how would they sound like now, but we’ll never find out, I guess.
4. This promo was recorded in your own studio, are you satisfied with the production? Is it a real home studio with hardware machines and big stuffs everywhere, or do you use only 2-3 computers and torture them with your brutal sounds?
The production is the best that I was able to achieve at that time with the equipment that we then had. The equipment was (and still is) reduced to the absolute minimum: we focus of the quality of the used gear, not it’s quantity. We use my PC (the very one I’m being interviewed on right now hehe), several decent microphones, a Yamaha mixer and an Alesis DM5 drum module with Roland triggers. (Those are used only for the kick and snare drums – we use microphones for the rest of the drum kit). When I listen to “child of Hell” now, I know what would I do now to make the production better than it is on the album, and I ensure you that our next album will sound a lot better. That’s not to say the “Child..” doesn’t sound good. Because I think I does sound OK, but there will definitely be a enhancement in production quality in the future. We have already recorded four of the songs that will be included in the next album, and trust me that now it kicks even more ass hehe.
5. It seems the few last songs from this recording aren't from the same session... Am I right or is it some hearing hallucinations? (Maybe it was meant to be another demo or something). Don't tell me there was a change of musician in the middle of the recording, such kind of bad luck is too exhausting...
There was no such thing. All of the music was recorded during a single session, and you’re the first one to say something like that. Probably it’s the drugs, bro… use them wisely, don’t abuse.
6. In your music I feel an atmosphere that's full of hatred, but is also quite corrosive... Is this the real aura of HELLSPAWN? Hatred and corrosion? How do you usually call your band's music? Would "Death metal" suffice, or is something like EVIL DEATH METAL, BRUTAL EVIL DEATH METAL needed? (Maybe you spell something in polish after all...)
I’m not to
keen on labeling, but there’s something about the ‘hatred’ theme
around our music. After many concerts we were approached by people
who never listened to death metal and told us that they fucking
loved it, because there was so much hate coming from the stage,
which surprises me because in everyday life we are calm guys – as
long as we’re sober, that is. So if you’re looking for labels maybe
HATRED is a better choice than EVIL or BRUTAL. (Not that we aren’t
brutal or evil, cuz we fuckin’ are).
7. I saw you're still searching for a label to release your first album... Didn't you get some offers after the CDr split with IMPUREZA and HATEFUL I released few years ago? After all, I spread about 3000 copies and it could have helped... Are you in touch with some possibly interested labels? Maybe some of their offers weren't good enough?
There were two labels willing to release “Child of Hell”: Exploratory Drilling Productions and Gruft. We chose the first one, because it belongs to my good friend Smiglo, who I knew would put very much effort to release the stuff properly, and he was also the first to offer us the deal. Despite the year-long delay, I’m quite satisfied with the outcome. You should receive your copy soon, so you’ll know what I’m talking about. I must say that I hoped for a better response from labels, when I sent promo versions of the album, especially after the acclaim which we received after Demo 2005, which, in my opinion, was not as good as “Child…”, but maybe the times have changed, and death metal is as popular as it used to be a few years back.
8. Do the musicians of the band play in other projects? Some might even have recorded demos or albums? Did some of you play in other bands before, other bands some readers might know because of a "famous" recording or even a very obscure mysterious demo (After all, a part of my readers are quite deep in the depths, so who knows...)
Nothing worth mentioning really. Gary was in a meth-core band which did a little on the Polish scene, but they never recorded anything decent when he was in the band, and they split a few years after he left them to focus on Hellspawn: a wise decision, I shall say hehe.
9. Poland might be the country to produce the biggest quantity of paper zines dealing with underground metal... Sometimes it's quite amazing, there are so much that I can't read them all... Do you like such kind of obscure/ necro publications, or do you prefer other ways of communication? Maybe someone in HELLSPAWN also contribute to an ugly fanzine? (Or maybe a webzine?)
Yes, that’s true. There still are many zines, but I don’t think they are very successful. I mean that there are not that many people to buy those things. We have been reviewed or interviewed in some of those publications, and it’s a specific kind of promotion. Because, as I’ve said, they aren’t very popular, but the people that buy them are diehard metal maniac, who have been into metal for ages, and for them, I guess, this is the proper way of communicating with the rest of the metal community. So I respect that kind of promotion, but when it comes down to the numbers I don’t think it is that successful, if you know what I mean.
10. Few years ago, the polish Death metal scene was very active, many metallers even clearly identified a polish Death metal sound, and we used to see many albums released... But this phenomenon seems to have calmed down... There might be fewer bands... Am I right, or is it a false idea I might have because of Internet's never-ending changes? (After all there might be as much bands, but they might have more problems to reach us, the putrid listeners... What a paradoxical situation since Internet is meant to make everything so much easier...). So are there fewer, as much, or less bands? Are there some that kill, and some you could advice to my filth readers? Do you like Internet or do you break and burn computers every week end?
I’m young, so I have to like the Internet, bro hehe. Definitely there was something about the Polish stage before the Internet era, but I wouldn’t say that there was anything such as the ‘Polish Sound’; we had (and still have) great bands, but I don’t think there is anything unique about their sound, which for instance can’t be said of Swedish or Brazilian bands, which definitely had some unique features in their music. I think that Internet and fucking MySpace have changed the scene completely: every band is just spamming every bit of space with their promotion and stuff, which was cool in the beginning but now there’s too much of it. For example you have 2-year-old bands promoting their mediocre video studio reports on youtube and myspace, and I don’t blame them – everyone wants to promote themselves – but who fucking cares about a studio report of a young inexperienced band? And there we are, with a shitload of promotional materials just spamming everything on MySpace profiles and band emails hehe. Coming back to Polish bands, I think that I can recommend Embrional, they are relatively young on the stage, but they fucking kick ass like hardly any other band, so you should check them out.
11. Hmmm... Is the Polish language easy to learn? I tried to insert my filthy nose in your country' tongue, but it seemed to be quite painful, French having Latin roots, while Poland comes much more from the east... In Polish, are there many laws and particular things to know? Does someone need to learn and learn many words and concepts for years until he's ready to spell it correctly? (Maybe a bit like Japanese?) and do every word change according to the context (Maybe like German? Many words change, like verbs, and it's painful)... What kind of other tongues are generally "spoken" in Poland? Maybe Russian or some Czech or something like that? What would be good enough in Poland to convince someone of speaking your language? Maybe the vodka? The cheap bitches? Or the many metal zines? Héhéhé
If you want to learn Polish, forget about it. It’s way too fucking difficult. Most Poles use it in a lousy way. Even politicians and people in the media tend to make mistakes when using it hehe. There are many rules, declinations, conjugations etc. to learn, so you can forget about it. Polish also has a Latin tradition, just like French, and many word which are in Polish come from French (often via English or German), but it’s hard to find any other similarities. There are only a few European languages that would prove to be harder to learn for you than Polish. For example, Hungarian or Turkish (not necessarily that European) are fucked up. Regarding the languages that are spoken in Poland, people here get to know English better and better. Some know German (I’m trying to learn it myself) and some still remember Russian; if you know the history of Europe you fucking know why. I’m pretty good at English because I study English philology, so it’s easy for me, but most English-learning Poles never come close to this level, not that I’m bragging, man.
12. Does the name HELLSPAWN mean more than a Morbid angel song? What does it mean for you? Please, say "Hellspawn" in polish :-)
I would translate
Hellspawn into Polish as “Diabelskie Nasienie” [eng. Devil’s Seed].
It’s true that the MA song inspired the guys to choose this name,
and I think that says a lot about the kind of music that we play
and it fits the band perfectly.
13. What does Death metal mean for you? Can Death metal be good if it's too based on brutality or doesn't contain enough of it? (After all, even the most old school Death metal bands contain some brutality, otherwise it would be only a flat and devoid of rhythm dark atmosphere of some kind). Do you like other kinds of music than "Pure fucking death" or do you hardly open your hears to anything much different from thrash and maybe heavy metal?
To me, and I know that many would disagree, DM is the highest form of metal. I don’t know why I do perceive it that way, maybe it was the cult surrounding Morbid Angel, or maybe because it was the first extreme metal genre that I came across, it’s hard to say. Nevertheless, I highly value DM, and I couldn’t be happier playing any other kind of metal. Over the ‘brutal’ DM band, I favor the more ‘hateful’ and ‘evil’ ones. So my favorites are Morbid Angel, Hate Eternal, Diabolic, Nile, rather than bands like Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation, etc. That’s not to say that I don’t listen to those bands. And of course I don’t listen only to DM, I fucking love Pantera and Motorhead, and I spend a lot of time listening to those two bands. In general, I also love hard rock, or stoner rock, like Down or Black Label Society.
14. Do you love cock as much as I do?
Fuckin’ A
15. Ok, it's the final question... But there will be no final countdown! Since I guess you're not fans of EUROPE (Ah!). Tell us more about your future projects, breaks some bones, and feel free to conclude the morbid way!
Yea, Poland
has the kind of image that is not too fond of Europe, because many
people around here are very much right-wing, or even nationalistic,
but you have to remeber that those are the stupid ones, and the
stupid ones are usually the one that are the loudest, so that’s
probably why Poland has such an image. But I think that people are
generally happy to be within the EU, so it’s not as bad as you think.
(Note of the morbid editor : I was talking about the FM Hard rock
band « Europe » who played a song called « The final countdown »…
Quite interesting answer anyway).
Regarding our future plans,
we will of course focus on promoting our new albums, and hopefully
we’ll manage to pull of some gigs, if you want us to play in France,
I see no problem – just contact me. Thanks for the interview Gab,
it’s been a pleasure to answer to your questions, since we’ve known
each other for quite some time now. And finally a word for your
readers: stay fucking brutal and buy our fucking album, unless you’re
fags, that is. \m/
Website: http://www.hellspawn.metal.pl
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