1. Salut, Nachtvorst! Haatstrijd – an unmeaning word to me. You could perhaps explain its meaning and whose idea it was.

Haatstrijd is dutch for 'hate-battle'. I chose the name when I founded the band because at that time, the words 'hate' and 'battle' were the most important things in my life. Up until now, those two words are very important to me because hatred is a very effective fuel and a very useful tool in the war against this disgusting creation because it is an ultimate oposite. Battle is simply a fact present in everybody's life. There is no goal reachable without it and without goals, there simply is no life...
My views on the meaning of the name Haatstrijd have evolved a great deal over the years, but it is carved deep into my flesh and soul.

2. You manipulate with vocals on your debut a lot – phrases blend, interweaved with screaming, volume varies (purposeful perhaps). The only thing, that bothers me now and then is an excessive noisiness...

I tried to create as much depth in the vocal lines as possible... I wanted them to sound as a prophetic voice emerging from a violently raging chaos, this is also the reason why they might sound a little noisy every now and then...In my opinion it is not excessive in any way, it was meant to be very painful.
I do think, however that we mixed in the vocals a little too loud here and there, but that's a thing we can draw our lesson from for the upcoming album ofcourse.

3. I absolutely can´t understand, where do you manage to draw so much brutality from – see „Ad Majorem Satanae Gloriam (Part One)“... How much alcohol did you drink and how much cigarettes did you smoke during the recording? Everything is created naturally or did you make do with some technical finesses?

Nothing has been altered in the vocals digitally besides adding some echo and I don't need any external stimuli to perform them like they are performed on Cacodaemony.

4. „Cacodaemony“ boasts about very strange, but definitely catching cover. Could you say something more to it? I believe, that album is interlocked with one idea and that every song is a part of the conceptual work. Could you initiate us into the possible „story“?

I think the image combined with the title speaks for itself. The front cover of the cd/lp is a symbolical visualisation of Lucifer. The symbols intwined all have a very powerful meaning:

The two horns stand for opposition (the number 2 is the number of opposition) as well as for the goathorns of Azazel. The eye on the forehead (where the ajna chakra is situated according to hindu lore) is a symbol for the subconcious, wich is a very important aspect for the Satanist/Magician. This eye together with the empty eyes you can see, stands for the importance of a different form of perception through the subcontious that goes beyond the worldly perception we are taught- and used to believe as a truth. The serpent tongues stand for the Serpent wich is mentioned in many cultures as a symbol of 'evil' wisdom(for instance: the biblical Serpent in the garden of Eden, Leviathan, the persian Ahriman whose appearence is that of a lizard and Apep in ancient Egyptian lore). The torch displayed on top of the head burns with black flames, wich stands for the source of the black light of Lucifer that burns within the Satanist. The three faces stand for the many known and unknown faces of Evil.
The symbolism explained above also explains the concept of Cacodaemony. Everything that can be seen and heard in the album, deals with this concept.


5. Drums are quite similar to those on album „Enter thy Labyrinth of Hell“ from Infinity, your countrymen. Where did you record? I myself regard Balgradon Xul for one of the most significant drummers or people of Dutch black metal scene in general. It must be pleasure to cooperate with such an experienced man.

The drums were indeed recorded in the same studio as 'Enter thy...' namely the Vortex Studio. The rest of the album however, was recorded in the Necromanteion Studio wich is the studio of Hellchrist Xul. He is a very talented sound engeneer and he does a splendid job on everything he records.
Balgradon Xul is indeed a very tallented musician.

6. If you should say, which area of your listerners responsed (responses) in the most positive way on „Cacoadaemony“, which would it be then? And what are your responses in general? Do you believe in Haatstrijd future?

Let me start by saying that the responses on Cacodaemony were very positive in general. Ofcourse there were some bad responses, but they mostly came from people that don't have a clue about other things then beer, sex and metal. I don't value people that come with comments on the album that have no solid foundations. For example those reviewers that keep comparing new albums to old albums....I think it is rather useless to write an entire review about where the album reminds you of mayhem and where it reminds you of darkthrone. Everybody knows that these bands formed the foundation for black metal as it is today so why keep saying it? There was also a review on an itallian website in wich they spoke of us 'trying too hard to be modern'. This is in fact the last thing we are trying to achieve! In fact I think our music is rather primitive... And in my opinion this is a very good thing because our music should be the rythm behind our lyrics.

Ofcourse I believe in a future for Haatstrijd. In fact we are currently working on a second full length album wich will be released through Sadolust when it's finished.

7. Don´t you mind to learn lyrics from someone else? I hint at fact, that Gwydion Sagelinge participated in writing some of them. Who did write lyrics on „Cacodaemony?“

Gwydion Sagelinge wrote only one lyric and that lyric was used for the Satansplaag 7"EP. Let me tell you something about the hystory behind this: I was writing the lyrics for that very song(door gruwel ten gronde) at that very moment and suddenly he sent me a poem that he wrote that day. I read the poem and it dealt with the exact same topic as I was dealing with at that moment for the song. I told him this, asked him if I could use it and he agreed immediately. I think that there's nothing negative or un-orriginal about this because the idea behind it is the exact same idea as I had in mind.

For Cacodaemony I wrote all lyrics exept for the two 'Ad Majorem Satanae Gloriam' songs. Those were actually one lyric, divided in two(because of it's lenght), written by Remmelt Leo(who is a close friend of us) and Theriomorph(our former bass player) together. The lyric fit in the concept of the album and we decided to use it.

8. You sing now in English compared to the previous albums, why such a change?

Because English is more understandable those who don't live in the Benelux. We are a band that claims to have a message to spread, then what use would it have to spread this message only to people who are able to understand Dutch? That would be useless.

9. Interestingly, you haven´t released live album yet. Very unusual. What is the reason? You sure do have a plenty of material.

In fact we did release a live recording on cassette... The 'Live on UVA #3' cassette is a recording of the first Haatstrijd live performance ever. Besides this tape, indeed no live registrations have been released. This is partly due to the fact that we don't play live too often... we prefer to keep the masses hungry instead of overfeeding them. And apart from that, I'm not too fond of live albums. The live cassette was a milestone in our history, but I don't realy see the use in releasing live cd's if you have the choice to eighther visit a gig and experience the visual display accompanied by the music, or hear the music on cd.

10. You photos differ from those classical for black metal. They impress me with immense suffering and darkness. Did you cooperate with some professional photographer or is it just your work? Do you enjoy to work with different ways of painting?

No, we took the photographs ourselves.
What kind of painting do you mean? Our faces or the paintings and drawings used as artwork for the album? Anyway: concerning the face paint, I like it to look as rotten and macabre as possible. This is because this enslaving creation(of wich our bodies are part) should be destroyed. That is our work here.

11. For how long do you have contract with Sadolust Records?

Since the release of the Satansplaag 7"EP in 2004.


12. Where have Haatstrijd already played? Or what country would you like to visit?

We have thusfar performed only in The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. To answer your second question: Any country might be worth attending.

13. How would you describe yourself as a person? Are you rather extroversive or do you rather stand off?

I am a sincere practioner of the Left Hand Path in everything I say or do.

14. What band do you regard as „a pioneer“ of black metal in Holland? There´s always one band, that is idol to almost everyone and that everyone has good remembrances of...

Funeral Winds ofcourse...I have a great deal of respect for what Hellchrist Xul achieved throughout the years. And to name a more recent band: Galgeras, because this band is one of the most orriginal bands around on the face of the earth at this moment.

15. Do you go in for humor in life? Whether morbid or common...

I have a sense of humor yes. Though it is not the most important thing in life. I think it is very important to be able to know when you have to be serious, and when you can afford to joke around. Sarcasm and cynism are very effective and useful to make a point when necesary.

16. Holland is said to be country without future – you may dissapear from the Earth, if the raise of ocean water level goes on. But you boast about several very original products and their distribution, which is known all over the world. Is there anything, that you really hate or love on Holland?

I don't care the least about holland! In fact I don't care the least about any country.... I don't see why I should. Countries are part of a system based on order and order should be opposed.

17. Do you think, that satanism or antichristianity is a good thing?

This is a hard question to answer because good and evil are dogmatic subjective terms that are to be considered through the views of an ordinary person that supports society and the rest of this enslavement. In this case it means that, because Satanism and Antichristianity are forces opposing to everything mentioned above, they are absolutely not a good thing... HOWEVER, if you take good and evil as objective terms and if I view them from my own standpoints: then yes, Satanism and Antichristianity are a good thing BECAUSE they are forces opposing to everything mentioned above!


18. What instruments do you manage besides your vocal chords?

I write most of the music for Haatstrijd and i record what I have composed making use of a guitar, a bass guitar and a drum computer. When recording as a band, I only take care of the vocals.

19. Do you collect records? Many people are now glad to collect classical LP´s, what about you?

I'm not realy a collector myself, no... But when it comes to what I have I prefer vinyl above cd's. Not because they are easier to handle or because they have a better sound...they are not and they don't... But because besides being a musician, I'm an artist/graphic designer and the sleeves of an LP are simply much bigger and therefor there is much more space to cover and much more room for details then in a cd booklet. If you're interested in seeing my work, visit my portfolio: www.the-being.com

20. You´ve got a tattoo on your chest, what´s its meaniny and when did you get it done?

The tattoo on my chest is a later expansion of the sigil tattooed on the inside of my lower left arm. That particular sigil is a very personal one and it is very important to me. The one on my chest is an expansion of it because it contains the seven planetary symbols(mercurius as the basic shape, jupiter, mars, venus, the sun, the moon and Saturn) that can also be seen in the orriginal, more abstract form. It wasn't designed by me based on these shapes, it came to me in a subconcious state and it took years for me to discover part of it's meaning. They both stand for the same and they form the key to my inner black flame.

21. Imagine yourself on a holiday, when you meet a person with the Haatstrijd t-shirt. How would you feel? Self-satisfied? More energy to continue in what you do? Or do this things just pass by you?

Ofcourse this would be quite the compliment because it displays apreciation for what I have achieved with Haatstrijd... but besides that it has no importance to me. The next day he might be walking around in the shirt of a band that I detest the ideology and music of, so why should it mean anything else to me?

22. Thanks for an extensive interview, I look forward to your next albums!

Ad majorem Satanae gloriam!