"Hails. Quite fine: we've recently played a good concert in St. Petersburg, so that's it.
Can you introduce yourself and the band?
"Certainly, I (Gruesome) play drums and write almost all lyrics. Dinahl composes musick, plays guitar and does back vocal, Underground plays bass and does all vocals."
Your first official release 'The Days When Only Hate Has Blossomed' is a compilation of your best songs from previous demos, why not just release the demos?
"At that time we've got an offer (from N:C:U) to release one compilation, so we have chosen the best tracks from our demos to actually make that compilation. The most interesting thing about these demos is that we've sent them to one brasilian guy to release them (well he actually wanted to release both of them & have contacted us on that topic), but he has disappeared completely. So we don't know, maybe these two demos are released in some crazy brazilian underground."
"Back then, we were recording these demos mainly to test our skills, because we live in a small town, and back then we didn't have any concerts, any contacts in Russia or abroad or whatsoever. We were really underground. So, the first release was really a matter of time."
Frozen left the band, and according to the Hatestorm site Asaradel was asked to leave the band, where you having problems with him?
"Frozen has left the band by his own will. I really don't know, maybe his day job was taking too much time & force, but he lost interest & quit playing. And Asaradel was really asked to leave the band. We didn't like his attitude about the band: he wanted to make some kind of rock stars out of us. He was all too much talk. We asked him to leave, its all that simple."
Early in 2006 you released your first full length album 'Cursed Rituals' on SBM Records. How has this creation of yours been received?
"We really don't know. Right after the release we've lost all contact with the owner of SBM due to various reasons."
Can you tell us about the recording session of 'Cursed Rituals'? Did you encounter any problems? Compared to the split you did with Helwulf which one did you enjoy recording more?
"You see, Cursed Rituals and material for the previous split were recorded in the same studio, but we payed more while recording Rituals, and we payed more for post-production, so the sound was finally much better. Yes, we've encountered a lot of problems, because we only had two days, and sound engineers at that studio were hardcore punks, you know, drunk all the way and all that stuff..."
Was Hatestorm created as an actual full time band or a side project? Do you play live shows or is that not Hatestorm's thing?
"Hatestorm is an actual full time band. From time to time we play live shows, but rarely. Last 6 months we had only two shows: one in Moscow and one in St. Petersburg."
Hatestorm is fairly new, within this time of being a band have you encountered any musical disagreements?
"Well, Hatestorm is certainly NOT really new, we've been around for 6 years already. I think all musical disagreements were left in the past, with our ex-members"
What drew you in to play Black Metal and not any of the others such as death, doom or progressive metal?
"Back then, when we had created our band, black metal was still a pure style, and we have chosen it as a best channel to express our beliefs & points of view. Right now black metal is somewhat spoiled, but we don't bother. We continue to evolve in this genre."
What can we expect from Hatestorm in the near future?
"Nothing in the near future. We've got plenty of new material, but we don't want to record it unless we'll release Cursed Rituals on some label we can trust."
Well I would like to Thank Gruesome of Hatestorm for taking time to complete this interview. To wrap this up the last words are yours.
"Look around. Be wise. There's no need to crave for the "future victory", because it's already here. Everbody's already under complete control. AMSG."