Adam Buszko is also known as ATF Sinner, leader and founding member of Polish wrecking crew Hate, and he disarms from the outset with his charm, sincerity and good humour, discussing with Ghost Cult new album Crvsade:Zero (Napalm), their lyrical concepts and their place in the respected Polish scene.
“The title, Crvsade:Zero, is about the condition of humanity and its road to self-annihilation. The collective effort of humanity is going to be annulled due to the human inability to collaborate and live in peace, an inability to learn from past generations, past experiences. Humanity has just made the same mistakes over and over again, and it’s going to lead this race to its ruin. That’s how I look at it.”
“It’s not a positive message.”
“We have a tendency for conflict that results in wars (and) we have a seeming inability to live without war. Religion, meanwhile, is just a comfortable illusion. It too brings a lot of horror, a lot of conflict. Bizarrely the première of the video for ‘Valley of Darkness’ occurred on the very day of the Paris massacres – here I had a video with religious icons and symbols burning, whilst on the TV I’m watching this shit in Paris unfold. It was weird, very strange, and sent chills down my spine.”
The Polish scene is so healthy at present, seeming to breed bands full of hostile sounds and built for longevity: Behemoth, Vader, Trauma, Azerath, Decapitated, as well as Hate themselves. The possible reasons for this are complex and yet, Adam believes, rooted in the nation’s past.
“It’s a difficult one to answer, but I’ve tried to analyse it. It’s a cultural phenomenon for sure, and one for the sociologists really, but my own interpretation is that Poland has a really nasty history. The nation’s new generation bears the wounds of previous generations – we still talk about the fucking war all the time, with many modern Polish films featuring the war and its atrocities.”
“There’s subsequently a seriousness, a darkness, in Polish music, so that when rebellious teenagers begin to play metal it must be ferocious, it must be aggressive, twisted in a way. I think Vader started that avalanche, being the first band from behind the Iron Curtain that made their name in the West. When they signed to Earache in the 80s they showed that you could make it abroad, and it was really inspiring for us and many other bands.”
It’s this passion and emotion that still burns bright in Adam’s heart, and the desire to innovate is never far away.
“We’re going to be trying hard to develop the band as much as possible in the future. I have a refreshed energy, and artistically we’re finding common language so I think we’ll be working on our next album very soon.”
“This time, however, it should be something more revolutionary and adventurous. This is what I’d like to do with this line-up of grown-up musicians who are determined, focused on what they do.”
“I can’t wait to be back on tour again. We first accompany Vader around Europe, with four shows in the UK and one in Ireland. Then we travel around with the Hatefest festival, whose name I really like, around Switzerland, Germany and Austria. We hope to do Scandinavia, Greece and Turkey later in the year, so we’re pretty busy. It’s high time to get out there and play this new music to the crowds.”
“I actually see big potential now, and what we’ll be trying to do is push it further beyond the limits. Personally I would like to try and get inspiration from traditional Polish music, poems and lyrics, using the old village, tribal style and rhythms rather than the more well-known material (which is) something that no-one in the metal bands here has really done.”
“I have some clear ideas and have actually recorded some material. It’ll be a good direction to follow.”
For someone who has been creating music for so long, and who has suffered such pain, such desire to re-create and the lack of fear in crossing boundaries is nothing short of inspiring in itself. The new chapter of Hate promises to be an intriguing, enthralling one, but for now, we revel in the evil misery of the present.
AS TOLD TO PAUL QUINN
