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Interview with: Hate Legions
Conducted by: Will Ring
Formed in 2005, the Spanish Hate Legions is a black/death metal band in the vein of acts likes Behemoth, Dissection, Dark Funeral, Immortal and Sarcofago to name a few. They released the debut album, The Age Of Decedence in 2009 and their second one, Exitus Letalis - Tota Vita Aliud Quam Ad Mortem Iter Est, in 2014, later it got remastered and reissued in May 2017. They're coming soon with their third album, XI Domini De Chaos, on 23rd November via Metal Bastard Enterprises. The band's line-up went through many changes and now consists of Lord Tyrant (guitars/vocals), Kayn (bass/vocals) and Urchail (drums). The entire band answered to some questions about the band, influences, new album and other things.
Will: What movie would your music be the perfect soundtrack for?
Hate Legions: Well, it should be a movie like Evil Dead, which is a mixture of brutality and arcane rituals. We believe that our music would be a good soundtrack for that.
Will: I first became a fan of the band by finding the Exitus Letalis album as a free download on Bandcamp. What is the reason for making your music free to begin with?
Hate Legions: When you're not a known group, the most important thing is to get people to know you as much as possible. As is the music market today, the best option to let you know about us is to download it for free. The person who downloads it and likes our work will contact us to acquire a physical copy, thus paying for it.
Will: Name a song that you wish you had written.
Hate Legions: "Thorns Of Crimson Death" by Dissection. We think that is the biggest icon of the black/death metal scene.
Will: Your new album is on its way to be released. Tell me about it...
Hate Legions: XI Domini De Chaos is a conceptual album inspired entirely by "Liber Azerate". This album is dedicated to the 11 gods of the anticosmos (Azerate 218), that is why it contains 11 tracks, each dedicated to one of the gods: Satan, Molok, Beelzebuth, Rofocale, Astarot, Asmodeus, Belfegor, Baal, Adramelech, Lilith and Naamah. It was recorded in August 2018 in Puerto Real (Cádiz) in Audiorama studios where we found a really professional engineer who understood our music and got the most out of it. It was two weeks of very intense recording but it was worth it. On the other hand, with respect to the artwork, we wanted a cover that perfectly shaped the content of the album and that resulted in a striking cover that combined darkness, beauty and destruction. We wanted something different from the previous covers and this time we had the great luck of being able to count on the help of Elena BM who knew how to perfectly capture the idea we had on the cover.
Will: It's been four years since the last Hate Legions album. What's changed most for the band in that time?
Hate Legions: The music of Hate Legions has been changing and maturing over time. Our first work could be classified as melodic black metal that included two guitars and keyboards. With our second work, there was a musical change that made us more direct and aggressive in which we suppressed the keyboards and incorporated more heavy parts, getting a black/death metal style. With our third work we have evolved again musically. The group has undergone changes in its line-up and only the three oldest musicians of the formation, Lord Tyrant (2005), Kayn (2006) and Urchail (2006) are with Hate Legions. This has encouraged us to make music even more direct than we did with our second album, with less flourishes and more aggression but still sounding like Hate Legions' following the principles of the band.
Will: What do you listen to for motivation when writing new music?
Hate Legions: Within the band each has its own influences, ranging from old school black metal to brutal death, making much emphasis on the middle term that would be black/death metal. As an example, black metal would highlight groups like Emperor or Dark Funeral, death metal or brutal death groups like Vital Remains and Suffocation and within black/death metal, groups like Dissection and Behemoth.
Will: What's something outside metal that you listen to that may surprise people?
Hate Legions: We do not listen to anything outside of metal that may surprise. But if we have to put a band that is outside that area, perhaps we would name Queen and Michael Jackson that we thought were the biggest of their respective styles and we do not dislike.
Will: What advice would you give to a younger, up and coming bands?
Hate Legions: Do not give up, we already know who is the current market for music and metal. Part of it is for a minority audience but to continue composing and contributing to metal music and not fall into the easy and disgusting way to form fucking tribute bands that exist only to raise money. Because if everyone did the same, the original metal music would end up extinguishing.
Hate Legions links: Facebook, Bandcamp, Google +, Soundcloud
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