HATESPHERE Guitarist Talks About Forthcoming Album

Denmark's Antenna recently conducted an interview with guitarist Peter "Pepe" Lyse Hansen of Danish thrashers HATESPHERE about the band's forthcoming album, "To The Nines". An excerpt from the chat follows below.

Antenna: What does it feel like to have the album out with this new line-up?

Peter: It feels amazing. Think of this as kind of a rebirth, and you will know what I mean. This last year has been hard but also exciting. We have had to convince people that we were still just as powerful as before, and as it seems now that people have accepted the new lineup — most of all because they have had the chance to see us live and to hear a couple of our new songs. This has obviously convinced them. So we have been working hard on getting this album together, have toured our asses off, and we feel confident that this is absolutely the best way to show the critics that we are back. As we have been together in this lineup for more than a year, this is very natural for us. I and the other guys can't imagine HATESPHERE in any other formation — and the fans have accepted that so far. It took some convincing people but it worked out well.

Antenna: Your sixth album, "To the Nines", is out on March 27th. Please share some details about the album, such as recording studio, producer, song titles or whatever might satisfy our need for news. How difficult was it to make an album that will sound like HATESPHERE?

Peter: Well, it wasn't difficult at all to make it sound like HATESPHERE, as I have been making practically all the music on all HATESPHERE albums — and have done so on this one as well. As on every other album there are some small changes, some new territories to be explored. On this one we have four new members, and that has obviously given us some new input. This has proven to be healthy, as I feel that the album has a new-found freshness and brutality. To have a new vocalist of course changes the sound — but in a very positive manner. Joller [Jonathan Albrechtsen] is way more aggressive than Jacob was, and it simply fits the music perfectly. We have worked hard on the lyrics and the vocal structures this time — as never before — and it gives the whole album this final touch that makes it sound, just the way our so-called comeback album should sound. All in all I will say the album is more aggressive than its predecessor! I guess we felt we had to prove a lot on this one — and on top of that, we simply just had a lot of aggression that needed to be let out. So beware [laughs]! The album was recorded with Tue Madsen at the Antfarm and Feedback Studios in Aarhus, Denmark, in October 2008. We have known Tue for a long time, and he has mixed our last two albums. We, therefore, felt it naturally to make him do the whole package this time. Not only is he a world-class producer but he is also extremely relaxed, and the good thing for me is that he lives just around the corner [laughs]. I think our rehearsals before the recordings paid off, as we were really quick at the recordings. Bass and drums were recorded in three days all together, and the whole album only took us 10 days. We therefore had plenty of time for the mix. End of October everything was done.

Read the entire interview at Antenna.