First of all, you guys are touring with Mayhem in North America. How has the tour been so far?
It’s been a great tour so far. We had some… unexpected adventures here and there, especially with our means of transportation because the [bus] driver was late by 3 days in the beginning of the tour. But after that everything has been going smoothly.

There is a great atmosphere in this tour because we are touring with our friends: Keep of Kalessin and Abigail Williams. We have toured with these bands before so we know each other very well. Same with Mayhem, they are very friendly guys. I’ve known Attila for about 8 years, the other guys are really ok, we party a lot together so… it’s really good.

The turn-out on this tour is really good surprisingly. I didn’t think that Mayhem would attract so many people to the shows here in the USA. So… it’s all great.

When comparing to the last time that you were here (March 2011 with Rotting Christ), have you noticed any differences in the public?
Yeah, absolutely, I can see that people are more conscious of what we do; they know us better and better. Not just our faces or the way we look, but the message that we try to come across.

I think it’s a great market for us…North America in general. Canada is probably a little bit better than the USA but still, for us it is a great place to be as another representative of Polish extreme metal. I feel like being in the right place at the right time.

You have announced on stage tonight that you will be coming back to North America with Morbid Angel next year. Do you already know the dates?
The tour is planned for March/April 2012. As far as I know, it’s going to be a bunch of bands (7 all together). So, it is going to be a small travelling festival and it will be at least 25 shows in the USA.

We are really looking forward to play in this tour because I have always been a fan of Morbid Angel. Even though their last album has been so criticized, I still like it I must say. I find some moments of this records really interesting and I am pretty sure that a lot of people will come to see them, after such a long break. And also from what I saw in Europe, they are very effective in live shows with their new material. Even with those so called “techno” tracks. It is just a form but, there is a message behind it and it is totally different than the “techno” message, if you know what I mean.

Yeah, Morbid Angel is still big, still a very important and influential band and we are really happy that we will be playing with them. And again, it is a great opportunity for us to come to America once again. We will probably be promoting a new album by the time… we’ll see. Anyway, we will be recording the next album next year for sure.

I heard Krisiun will be in this tour also…
Moreover, there will be SepticFlesh on the bill. And the most interesting: this tour for us will be extended to Brazil. One show in Mexico City and four shows in Brazil. We’ll see… it’s not confirmed yet.

Do you think that it is already time to come to the US as a headliner?
No, because America is still a new market for us. This is our fourth tour in America, 3rd stay, so we are not well known here yet. There is still a lot to be done, especially when it comes to the distribution of our albums here, exposure to the metal media, etc.

Now

we have signed a new contract with Napalm Records and next year we will be releasing a new album on them. They have a much better distribution in America than our previous label, Listenable Records from France. So, it is going to be a progress for sure and an important change for us.

Who knows? We’ll see about it. I would love to play as a headliner in the US because we have a big repertoire and these 25 minutes is simply just the beginning of what could happen.

You have released Erebos a year ago. Now that this time has passed and you have already had the time to evaluate the album’s results… can you see a big difference between the time “before and after” this album?
Yeah, absolutely. Since the release of Erebos we have been given more and more good offers, in different parts of the world. So, it is a real change.

After releasing Erebos we have toured Russia, Europe twice and America twice. And, thanks to this album we have signed a better contract with a bigger label. This is the real progress, as well as the booking agency in Europe, Rock the Nation, which is representing us from now on. Next year we’ll play in a lot of summer festivals in Europe, thanks to this new contract. Next year will be a busy year.

Have you guys already started to work on the new record?
Yeah, there are some new tracks “in the making”, like 4 new songs, almost finished. Right after this tour we will be working on more compositions. What I can say is that it is really promising to my ears.

There is going to be a change also, musically. Not a big change but still, we want to incorporate some new elements in our music that haven’t been exposed in it yet. Like, some more extreme stuff, some heavy metal stuff, and some melodical stuff. So, I think it is going to be a powerful combination of everything that modern extreme metal has to offer.

I’m really looking forward to the recording session. We have already booked the studio in Poland, we are working with a producer from a western country but I can’t say any details yet because it is not 100% confirmed.

It is going to be a bigger production for us and it will probably take more time to record this new stuff than the previous record. We recorded “Erebos” within 3 weeks.

You said that you will explore new elements. In Erebos you have already explored some “industrial” and “ambient” elements…
For sure and we will be continuing in those directions. But there will be some elements that haven’t been used by us before. It is going to be like… more melodical stuff… we will be using more melody. And also, it will be a very clear concept album, with a very strong message. It will be a much more strictly satanic stuff than the previous one, which was more philosophical. We are going to focus on something more clear and simple when it comes to the message.

You have already mentioned the criticism made towards the newest Morbid Angel record, due to new elements used in their music. There are borders between metal and something different than metal. Are you planning to get close to these borders?
Yeah. I think there are still some musical areas that haven’t been explored by metal bands so far. I like all those experiments. Some are really successful, really effective, some appeal to me and some don’t appeal to me at all. But still… trying is good…trying to cross those borders. Otherwise it is noth

ing but simply copying yourself or some other ideas that have been in this genre for years.

So, we have been trying to explore, we have been trying to go more experimental here and there on the new album. I am not saying that we will go “techno” (laughs). But, I think that we will be more determined to push those borders because otherwise we would record another “good” album, not discovering anything, you know?

It’s not that interesting… believe me, especially when you have been doing it for about 20 years. I want to get to some point where I can get real satisfaction from what I do and say that I explored new things, that I had some inputs into this genre, something new. Of course it is not easy to discover something totally new but, combining different thing, combining different sounds, using more sounds from outside metal is good and might be very refreshing for this music.

What do you listen to? Where do you get your inspiration?
I listen to a lot of different stuff, a lot of rock, heavy metal… like doom rock. Namely: Devil’s Blood from Holland, Very good one, highly recommended by me. They use melody to the fullest. I think they are much influenced by the 70’s and also by some very modern stuff … some techno, electronic, dark ambient, which I really like.

Are you worried that your fans might react differently to this new album or that’s something that is not crossing your mind right now?
I don’t think much about it. I also believe that my standards are so high that if I like something, if I am convinced that it is good, more people will be convinced that it is good too, you know?

And also, it’s a good way, a good opportunity to gain new fans, people who listen to some other stuff or at least are not so die hard death metal fans.

I don’t want to be perceived as an old school death metal band… quite the contrary. Because I have been there, I’ve done that. I don’t want to go back, I want to go forward, I want to do something else, something new, something equally aggressive, equally hard, extreme… but new.

So, how do you want your fans to see you? You have already defined it in the past as an “extreme metal” band. Is that it?
Yeah, absolutely, because “extreme metal” is a name that can contain many things, not just old school death metal or Norwegian black metal, or whatever. We don’t want to be defined as any of those styles and we don’t even want to be defined as a Polish death metal phenomenon, which is the way that we are usually seen, because we are compared to Behemoth, Vader, etc.

Most people don’t even realize that we have been influenced by them as much as they have been influenced by us because we have been around for 21 years now.

About 2012: it seems that it will basically be only recording and concerts for you guys, isn’t it?
Yeah… and we would like to focus on “visualizing” our music too. So, I would like to shoot at least 2 video clips for the new album. We also want to do some “visuals” for our shows, maybe using some projectors or some screens… some new elements… not just the band. For sure not the fire and the stupid altar that some bands do, you know? It is too fucking simple.

Any words to the Spirit of Metal readers?
About the new hate album: expect the unexpected. About next year: expect us being everywhere.