Sunday, April 22, 2012

Of True Hate- An interview with Konrad "Destroyer" Ramotowski of Hate


             (Konrad "Destroyer" Ramotowski left, Adam "ATF Sinner" Buszko, random girl and myself)

Of True Hate 

Hate is a force to be reckoned with, the single emotion which can turn your fellow human beings into wretches, which can justify any act of destruction. Hate, the Polish Death Metal band from Warsaw, is also a force to be reckoned with. The Metal titans stood the test of time, being irreplaceable members of the same scene which spawned other giants such as Behemoth, Decapitated, and Vader.  With their latest opus "Erebos" being a fan favorite and their recent heavy touring is bringing the evil, heavy war machine that is Hate to the masses, We found this time an auspicious one to sit with guitarist Konrad Ramotowski for an interview

Key-
M- Metalist
D-Konrad “Destroyer” Ramotowski
-

M- cześć Konrad, have been a fan of your music for a long time, thank you for this interview
D – Hello! Thank you for good words.


M- How was Hate formed? Could you tell us a bit about the early beginning of Hate? when did you join Hate ?
D – Hate was formed in medieval past by ATF Sinner and some guys that wanted to play death metal. With a lot of line-up changes they've recorded some demos and albums becoming quite popular in Poland. After  recording “Awakening of the Liar” in 2004 - the first album for french label Listenable – some things around the band has changed for better, for example there was first European tour with Decapitated in 2005. I  joined the band in 2006 as a session guitarist after recording the “Anaclasis” album, playing on tour with Carpathian Forest and Keep of Kalessin. After the tour I became a regular band member.
 M- what do you feel you contribute to the band? How do you seek to advance with the project?

 D – I have a lot of useful ideas and I'm responsible for almost all guitar leads and solos for last two albums. All guys have their part of responsibility when it comes to work around the band's things, I mean websites, merchandise, transportation etc.  and of course I have my part too. It's like our own company and it's amazing. 

M-how do you feel your music has changed since the early days?  What elements do you feel are stronger now than they used to be?
D – The most important thing is that our music is no more just typical Florida-based death metal, like it was in “early days”. We decided to do something new, fresh - still extreme music, but not so typical or predictable. Now it is much more complex, including a lot of influences from black metal, industrial and even rock – music that inspire all of us.
M- what inspires you to write? What’s the riff writing process for Destroyer of Hate?
D – When I write solos, I have a lot of inspirations in rock, blues and heavy metal music. There is a lot of great guitarist like Slash, Zakk Wylde or Gary Moore that inspire me to play. When it comes to riffing – I improvise and sometimes play something interesting:)
 M- what do you feel is special about Erebos in contrast to the earlier albums?  How has the working process changed between that, than earlier works?
D – At the moment it's the most diverse and complex Hate's album. Most dark, radical without any doubt. It's our best sound production. We tuned guitars lower than before and it gave us  better, crushing sound. We  were well-prepared for the session. We recorded a detailed demo version before coming to the studio. ATF Sinner and Hexen entered it to start recording drums only two days after long USA tour – it was insane:) After last five years of hard touring we are much more experienced and it makes some things going faster and effectively. We recorded “Erebos” in five weeks only! It was very intensive work. In the past everything took longer time.
M- how much of your life revolves around the band? Do you feel it is a large part of your life?


D – At the moment, the band is my priority. We spend a lot of time touring around the world, working for our name all the time. During last few years my  involvement in  the band is growing, and yes – it's a large part of my life.

M- what do you think makes Hate as a band unique? For example, I noticed that the subject matter of songs is often deeper, and more personal than other bands on songs such as Wrists in the Erebos record, and Immortality of the record, Anaclasis: a Haunting Gospel of Malice and Hatred, what are some of your philosophies and beliefs?

D – I think that in last years we earn our musical style – something that we can call “Hate's sound” or “Hate's riffing”.  Using the electronics as an important element,  especially  playing live, makes us different than others. We listen a lot of music styles, and you can hear it in our compositions.  When it comes to our ideology or philosophy – we are interested in dark part of life and human nature. We represent the rebellion against all captivating systems that supress human powers. Some inspirations come from classical philosophy, mythologies, occultism and history. What is the most important, we don't want to use “traditional” symbols and trivial blasphemies so typical for death-metal scene. We are bored with these. We look further and want something serious.   
M- in recent years, Poland in particular has one of the most fruitful Death Metal scenes, with veterans such as Behemoth, Vader, Decapitated, Lost Soul, and yourselves alongside newer bands such as Escape From and many others, why do you think Poland has become such rich, fertile ground for Death Metal? What makes that scene so unique? 


D -Well, it's a question for a sociologist. And a good one! I was asked this question a lot of times, and I cannot find a really good answer for it.

M- recently you have been touring with other important Metal acts such as Sepultura, Melechesh, and Belphegor, as well as performing in large festivals such as Metalcamp, where do you see yourself going from here? What's the future of Hate? 


D –  Today we start our headlining European tour with Vesania and Negura Bunget. We play 20 shows. In November/December we have more than 40 shows with Mayhem in the USA. It means that we have 150 gigs altogether these year. We signed a new contract with Napalm Records and we are going to record a new album next year. I can see very good future for Hate. As you can see we work very hard for our success and some years we can see results.  


M- last but not least, any words to the Israeli Metal crowd?


D – I've heard a lot of good things about Israel metalheads, so I do hope that we will visit your country and spread our musical disease soon.
M- thanks again, here's to seeing you guys on the road some day!
D – Thank you for the interview!





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