This is my interview with the very talented and wonderful “Hateful”. Theitalian band has been intermittently on the metal scene for over fifteen years.Though, it was only until 2009 that the band released their debut album"Coils Of a Consumed Paradise". Recently, “Hateful” released their secondalbum entitled “Epilogue of Masquerade” through “The Spew Records”.What they put on the table is an "intricate" death metal characterized by anunique and whirling songwriting. Here, I caught up with Daniele Lupidi,bassist and mastermind of this band, to get the skinny behind the new album.As “Hateful” undoubtedly have amulti extreme metal approach, witha healthy dose of death metal, hintsof grind, and technical leaning, howwas the impact of these styles in theformation of the band?Since the beginning we just wanted todo “our own thing”. Of course we arefans of many different styles withinthe extreme music realm and what youcan hear is the combination of all ourinfluences. In the early days weweren’t able to play fast or intricate

stuff. If I look back to the band’shistory I see some guys that improvedtheir skills slowly, but constantly. Thecurrent sound is the result of the hardwork and I’m happy we found ouridentity as a band and that our soundis not immediately comparable with aspecific band or niche.The band’s brain­twisting metersand multipart structures aren’t thekinds of things you usually learn inschool. What do you do to get this

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creative inspiration?I’m really happy you noticed this sideof our music. I admit it takes morethan a couple of listening sessions tobe assimilated. As a composer, when Iwrite the music, I just try to be asnatural and flowing as I can. I usuallypay a lot of attention to the songstructure and then try to improve everysingle riff of melody. I know a lot ofpeople just collect riffs and then mergethem together to create a song, but it’snot my case. Everything must beflowing and every part must befunctional to the final result.If a rhythm comes out odd or twisted itis not because we forced it. It’sprobably the natural brainchild of atwisted mind hahaha.What appeals most to you aboutperforming technical death metalsongs?We never wanted to play technicalstuff for the sake of being “technical”.We simply write some intricate stufffollowing our inspiration and then tryto play it as best as we can! It’schallenging but very satisfying.Death Metal has changedsignificantly since the early 90′s.What are your thoughts on the waythe genre has changed?I have some mixed thoughts about theway it changed. Of course we are earlynineties Death Metal fans, I think thestuff that was created in that period isstill the best expression of extrememusic. The scene is now fragmentedinto a lot of sub­genres but I admitthere is a lot of great stuff out there!Anyway, I definitely miss the earlydays unpredictable evolutions of theband, even if sometimes they resulted

in complete flops!Has recording “Epilogue OfMasquerade” been a differentprocess from recording the firstalbum?We took care of the production byourselves once again, but we had muchmore experience this time. Anotherimportant factor has been the additionof our guitar player Massimo, who isalso an experienced sound engineer, aswell as a great musician. We had betterequipment and a proper place to trydifferent solution and mixes. We didappreciate the result on the first albumbut “Epilogue of Masquerade” soundsway better!What was it like working with DanSwäno on the mastering of “EpilogueOf Masquerade”? What level ofinput did you receive from him?He only took care of the mastering anddid a great job. We tried two or threedifferent masterings and he was verypatient and supportive. His hugeexperience has been very important toadd the final “professional” touch tothe album.I wondered if the longer period oftime for the sophomore full­length“Epilogue Of Masquerade” was anecessity or a delay. Could the albumhave been completed in less time?Would the songs have been different,simpler and have less arrangement ifyou have used less period of time?It was a necessity. As you said, thecomplexity of the songs and thearrangement needed a very focusedwork and we wanted to take all thetime necessary to record pre­productions and verify every single

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detail. We wanted to start the recordingsessions only when completely satisfied.In my opinion, it’s better not to rush thewhole process in order to have all thedetails at the right place.In which ways “Epilogue OfMasquerade” continues the workintroduced on "Coils Of a ConsumedParadise", aesthetically and lyrically?We picked up where we left off. I wantedto paint a cover that represents theominous intricacy of our music. It’sobviously the same mind that created“Coils of a consumed Paradise” but thistime I wanted something deeper andmore abstract. Lyrically I didn’t changemy style, once again I wrote startingfrom concepts and images that werefloating inside my mind. I develop thisIdeas for a while and then I start writingwhen I feel inspired. The inspirationcomes from different sources: paintings,books, personal experiences, weirdscientific stuff. Our albums are verydiverse, thematically.I saw you guys for the first time inNovember 2013 at “Tipografia”alongside “Vomitory”. What it’s beenlike touring Italy with “Vomitory” ontheir last ending tour. What do youremember of your first gig here inAbruzzo?It’s been definitely our best experienceas a band so far. “Vomitory” are a killerband and very nice guys, we had greattimed with them! We also gained a lot ofexperience and visited places wherewe’ve never been before…we couldn’task for more! The gig in Pescara wasamazing, we have to thank our friendRiccardo for helping us, filling in forour regular drummer Marcello. Iremember the event perfectly: good

place, killer audience and last but notleast very beautiful girls!Who have been some of your favoritebands to share the stage with?It a difficult question! Probably “NapalmDeath” were the biggest band wesupported, that gig was awesome, even ifwe had to cut our setlist due to weatherproblems….We already mentioned“Vomitory” and I remember anotherkiller experience when we opened for“Malevolent Creation”, one of my favebands! But we had many other greatexperiences. In 2012 I remember anincredible show with “Ad Nauseam”,“Death Mechanism” and “Psychotomy”but I could go on for hours hahaha.With the band musically stronger thanever, what the future held and whatwould you like to add to your sound?We just want to improve as band and asmusicians, see new places and spreadingour name around. We had a lot of goodresponses recently and we’ll keeppromoting “Epilogue of Masquerade” asbest as we can in the next months. Weare already working on some newmaterial and I can say our sound won’tchange drastically. The formula is stillthe same but of course there are somenew and maybe more “progressive” sickideas coming out! Its’ nothingpremeditated, as always we just followour inspiration and try to let it flownaturallyIs there anything you want to say toclose this up?I want to thank you for this cool interview,I hope your readers won’t find my answerstoo boring hahaha. I also would like toreturn to Abruzzo for another sick show,we’ll see…..Thanks Rossano!

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