{"id":4127,"date":"2012-01-10T00:00:14","date_gmt":"2012-01-10T00:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=4127"},"modified":"2015-03-08T20:25:50","modified_gmt":"2015-03-08T20:25:50","slug":"feature-hatesphere-01-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-hatesphere-01-12\/","title":{"rendered":"HATESPHERE – Resurrected With A Vengeance (January 2012) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

HATESPHERE – Resurrected With A Vengeance<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nJanuary 2012<\/span><\/p>\n

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HateSphere (l-r): Esben ‘Esse’ Elnegaard Kjaer Hansen, Jakob Nyholm, Jimmy
Nedergaard, Peter \u2018Pepe\u2019 Lyse Hansen and Mike Park Nielsen<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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Aarhus, Denmark-based extreme metal outfit HateSphere issued sixth studio full-length To The Nines<\/em> in March 2009, its release arriving through Napalm Records. Drummer Dennis Buhl departed from the group as the result of reportedly severe back problems, his exit as well as replacement in ex-Mercenary sticksman Mike Park being announced on December 16th. February 23rd, 2010 brought news of vocalist Jonathan \u2018Joller\u2019 Albrechtsen\u2019s departure, and subsequently on June 30th Esben \u2018Esse\u2019 Hansen (As We Fight) was revealed to be HateSphere\u2019s new vocalist. The exit of bassist Mixen Lindberg was made public that same day, and it wasn\u2019t until May 27th, 2011 that a replacement in Jimmy Nedergaard (ex-Gob Squad) publicly came to light.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the previous album was released, we only did six months of touring and then our drummer told us that he was leaving,\u201d remembers Peter \u2018Pepe\u2019 Lyse Hansen, guitarist and founder of HateSphere. \u201cWe then immediately started searching, and actually before we got our old drummer in the band we also tried to get Mike in the band at that time as well. He was playing with Mercenary, another Danish band which were quite successful. He didn\u2019t want to leave them at that time but this time he wanted to leave though; he still liked HateSphere, and wanted play with us. That was in November 2009 when he joined the band, and shortly after our singer Jonathan told us that he was leaving. Jonathan just wanted to do something else \u2013. he\u2019s got another band. He\u2019s very young, way younger than we are. You have to fit together as people as well, and he was \u2013 in my opinion \u2013 a bit young when he joined the band. He\u2019s got his views on things, and we\u2019ve got other views on things. At some point he just wanted to do something else. He didn\u2019t like the music as much, and he had another band with all his old friends and wanted to do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had two US tours last year, and on the first US tour we had a stand-in singer (Morten \u2018Kruge\u2019 Madsen of Mevadio). He played that tour plus another festival thing, and then we started searching for another singer to join the line-up. We found Esse who joined the band in June 2010, who we knew before. He\u2019s younger than we are, but not that much younger. He\u2019s been in the Danish metal scene for about ten years, so he\u2019s not new. He comes from a similar background and was a HateSphere fan before he joined, so he knows as well how we want HateSphere to sound. He\u2019s just an excellent singer; he can do everything with his voice, kind of.<\/p>\n

\u201cActually right before Esse joined our bass player told us as well that he wanted to leave, so he left the band as well. For a time we had Mikael (Hansen) back in the band, and Esse joined the band just after that. We had to decide if we wanted to find a steady bass player right away, or go with a stand-in solution for awhile before we started writing the new album and find the right guy for the job. Luckily for us, our old bass player Mikael joined the band for six months and played with us in the US, Europe. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe then found Jimmy while we were writing the new album, so finding our singer and drummer happened at the same time. We got a drummer in the band quickly, but we had a stand-in solution for the vocals and bass for awhile before we actually found the right guys. We don\u2019t wanna rush into things I guess, and have to replace members shortly afterwards. Like I said, with Esse, our new bass player Jimmy and our drummer Mike \u2013 a new line-up compared to the previous album \u2013 all of them are old HateSphere fans. We\u2019ve got kind of the same background. We didn\u2019t have that background with Jonathan, and that can be a cool thing or a bad thing. In the end, it wasn\u2019t that good because he wanted to do something different. If you join the band today, you have to want to do the same things.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Peter \u2018Pepe\u2019 Lyse Hansen<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\u201cWe don\u2019t wanna change any more members. We\u2019re gonna try to not change any more members (laughs), because we don\u2019t want all that hassle. We hate it, but it\u2019s been necessary. We wanted to find the right guy, and it\u2019s not that easy in Denmark. We talked about getting a foreign guy in the band, but it just wouldn\u2019t fit us people. It\u2019s way easier for us to all live in Denmark and all speak the same language and all with the same background instead of having to fly in a singer from another country every time we have a show. It\u2019s quite stressful, and we don\u2019t want any more stress. We took it nice and easy, and found the members. After we found Esse, it was actually only a bass player we needed to find.\u201d<\/p>\n

Initial writing sessions for seventh studio outing proper The Great Bludgeoning<\/em> began in December 2010. \u201cAt that time we were just a four-piece; we didn\u2019t have a bass player at the time,\u201d the axeman recalls. \u201cWe actually wrote five to six songs on the album before we got a bass player. Jimmy joined the band in April and we went into the studio in June 2011, so it was pretty hectic but a nice experience. The line-up is new again, but this line-up feels really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s quite varied, so he can do everything,\u201d Pepe reckons of Esse. \u201cOn the album he goes deep and high. He\u2019s got things right, so he knows what he\u2019s doing. He\u2019s good at writing hook lines, he\u2019s good at spotting how he\u2019s gonna sing on the riffs and in the songs, and he\u2019s good at writing lyrics actually. He\u2019s got a lot of good ideas that are within the HateSphere universe, and in that respect he\u2019s \u2013 in my opinion \u2013 the most varied singer that we\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n

Violence and hate are lyrical themes which surface on The Great Bludgeoning<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s not that simple though,\u201d the mainman stresses. \u201c\u2018The Killer\u2019 is about a certain guy who went to jail for a crime that he didn\u2019t commit, for murdering his wife. He read the story of how he eventually got free again and then actually killed himself, so he\u2019s actually writing about the darker side of the human mind and the darker side of human actions, which is what we\u2019ve always been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given HateSphere\u2019s line-up changes between the release of To The Nines<\/em> and The Great Bludgeoning<\/em>, it would be arguably fair to surmise HateSphere\u2019s sound has altered somewhat. \u201cI don\u2019t think the sound itself has changed that much,\u201d Pepe believes though. \u201cEvery time we do a new album, we don\u2019t wanna repeat ourselves. You can always hear that it\u2019s HateSphere and that\u2019s the cool thing with the new line-up, that you can still hear that it\u2019s HateSphere. We want to do more new things every time we do a new album, but we don\u2019t want to change our style totally because this is who we are. I think this new one is more old-school, and it\u2019s fresher. We got a new drummer and a new vocalist, and those guys have had a lot of impact on the sound actually. Mike is more rock-oriented so the sound is dirtier in my opinion. Rawer, more real. I think it\u2019s way more varied than our previous albums as well, so all in all it\u2019s more varied I think. Rawer. The new line-up really know how we wanna sound, and how we\u2019re gonna sound. This new album is fresh like I said, and I find it really, really good. We are very satisfied with how it\u2019s turned out, how the sound is, how fresh it is. We like it and we think that HateSphere sounds better than ever, actually. We still pull together, and we still sound like HateSphere. The new line-up has really been a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Great Bludgeoning<\/em>\u2019s aforementioned rawness suggests the album is more resemblant of HateSphere in a live setting. \u201cThat\u2019s actually true, because what we told our producer Tue this time is that we wanted to sound real,\u201d the guitarist discloses. \u201cWe\u2019ve never wanted to use sound replacements and stuff; I hate many of the new metal sounds, because they just sound like shit. They don\u2019t sound real to me. We wanted to sound real. I tried to tell him as well that we really liked the sound on Ballet Of The Brute<\/em> (June 2004), and we tried to orientate the sound as well. I think we did that pretty well. As you said yourself, I think the album has way more similarities to us in a live setting and that\u2019s a very good thing in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

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HateSphere (l-r): Mike Park Nielsen, Esben ‘Esse’ Elnegaard Kjaer Hansen,
Jakob Nyholm, Jimmy Nedergaard and Peter \u2018Pepe\u2019 Lyse Hansen<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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HateSphere\u2019s working relationship with Tue Madsen stretches back as far as 1997, when the man produced the assortment\u2019s sophomore demo tape. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long time that we\u2019ve been working on and off,\u201d Pepe admits. \u201cFor my part though, he lives just a minute away on bike from where I live. His studio is there and it\u2019s very relaxed. We all know each other, so we can fool around and have a relaxed atmosphere while recording. Still Tue will be professional though, and we\u2019re not fooling around so much that we can\u2019t make an album. On the contrary, I think the albums turn out really, really good and that\u2019s because we know each other, we\u2019re relaxed, and we want a relaxed atmosphere when we\u2019re recording. Otherwise it isn\u2019t funny, and it needs to be funny. Being in the studio especially isn\u2019t cool (laughs), but it\u2019s cool to go out and play afterwards. This time around it was a really good experience though. It\u2019s been like that before actually, but it was just way, way more relaxed this time. A lot of people joined us in the studio to hang out, and it was cool to work with him again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tue Madsen seems to be one of the go to producers for Danish metal groups. \u201cHe is, and not only in Denmark but for metal in general,\u201d the HateSphere founder adds. \u201cHe\u2019s busy with well-known metal bands from all around the world, and that\u2019s a cool thing as well I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pepe feels that the record\u2019s guitar sound is \u201cway more old school than on our previous albums. We like bands that still have a lot of groovy and slower elements mixed into their music. We like the groovy parts, so this is always mixed in with the fast stuff. Playing only fast gets really boring after awhile, so mixing in the fast stuff with the groovy, slower stuff makes it more interesting. I think that\u2019s what we\u2019ll do again, play groovy stuff and use those newer elements like acoustic intros and orchestral work and some hard rock riffs as well. We actually got a song on the album called \u2018Need To Kill\u2019 that\u2019s really a hard rock, death \/ thrash song; it doesn\u2019t sound that hard rock, but it has quite a lot of hard rock riffs in it. It\u2019s the closest thing to hard rock we\u2019ve recorded so far. My guitar work is a mixture of fast, slow, and groovy, and it sounds real.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mnemic founder and guitarist Mircea Gabriel Eftemie designed the cover artwork for The Great Bludgeoning<\/em>. \u201cWe find him really good,\u201d the axeman enthuses. \u201cWe wanted to go more old school with this album\u2019s cover artwork, so we told him we wanted a more old school, metal artwork with the right colours.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Great Bludgeoning<\/em> was released in Europe on September 23rd, 2011 and subsequently in North America on the 27th, all through Napalm Records.<\/p>\n

Interview published in January 2012.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HATESPHERE – Resurrected With A Vengeance Anthony Morgan January 2012 HateSphere (l-r): Esben ‘Esse’ Elnegaard Kjaer Hansen, Jakob Nyholm, Jimmy Nedergaard, Peter \u2018Pepe\u2019 Lyse Hansen and Mike Park Nielsen Aarhus, Denmark-based extreme metal outfit HateSphere issued sixth studio full-length To The Nines in March 2009, its release arriving through Napalm Records. Drummer Dennis Buhl departed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,229],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-hatesphere"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4127"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25058,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4127\/revisions\/25058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}