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, their comeback from appalling tragedy, their pounding new album Crvsade:Zero (Napalm) and the band’s silver jubilee.
“The main purpose in creating the album was to open a new chapter in our biography after the tragedy in 2013, when our then-bass player Mortifier died on our tour bus after suffering a cardiac arrest.”
“Our previous drummer Hexen, who left the band a year ago, departed due to the effects of this, or that’s how I perceive it, so with two new members this is a new opening for us. We needed to rebuild, to find new people and make the phenomenon work again.”
“Working on these songs, I really wanted to cope with all the bad emotions that had gathered for a long time. It was a kind of therapy for everybody actually, working on the album and playing a few shows in the period that followed the tragedy. I’m pretty sure it influenced us as individuals, as well as the band as a whole and also the music – I can’t precisely say how as I’m not in a position to judge it for others.”
“We wanted evolution: simply to continue the feel of our previous albums and do songs that, from our point of view, were deep and authentic.”
“But the new material is more emotional for sure, more anguished and stark here and there, and exhibits the enormous shock and pain we were going through at that time.”
“It took time but, now with this album we’re ready, and I can’t wait to be back on tour again.”
In the immediate aftermath of Moritifer‘s death, his wife Aleksandra filled in on bass duties for a number of live shows, while former guitarist Kain has assumed that role more recently. There are no firm plans to permanently enlist another bassist, however.
“For now we’ve decided to remain as a trio, with Kain as a session musician, which suits him. For the new record we brought in Heinrich from the band Vesania, who’s a marvellous guitarist.”
“He was in the studio with us for some time and played around ninety percent of the bass lines you hear on the record. He was a sound engineer on Solarflesh… and has been a friend of the band for many, many years, so it was like asking a family member to join us for the sessions. I think he did a really great job so it proved to be a great decision.”
The addition of former Vader sticksman Pavulon is something of a masterstroke; his powerful blastbeats and double kicks on a number of tracks absolutely stunning.
“I’m really happy he’s with us. He’s an amazing drummer, with a great technique, and I’m amazed by his attitude. When he joined us, I’d already brought some main ideas and five or six songs were already completed. Pavulon really wanted to give something from himself however (so) we worked on details in the rehearsal room and he added a style, a vibe, some arrangements that were particular to him, and he did a great job actually.”
“He did a European tour with us just prior to recording the album, a co-headliner with Kampfar, and just got better and better so I can’t wait for him to be playing on this tour. As a band we’ve been playing together a year now, the machine is becoming more perfect, so we can’t wait to bring the madness!”
“We want to release a DVD this year (to celebrate their 25th anniversary). We got an offer from Metal Mind Productions, who did our last DVD Litanies of Satan in 2004, and we’re hoping to record it around June or July. I’m really looking forward to doing it as I feel it’s an essential release, after such a long time. It is planned to be a full concert, around sixteen songs, filmed by around nine or ten cameras. It will be a pretty serious occasion showing the development of the band over the last five albums.”
AS TOLD TO PAUL QUINN
