Nergal: I just found a band, I just wanted to play my music that I was so passionate about… and music is something I was totally in love with. I planned to start a professional band but it took quite much time until we reached a professional level. I just wanted to play my music, you know, and I found [the] right members at the right time. First thing, we started rehearsing in the rehearsal place and then demo tapes then we finally got a record deal…so that's how we got started. [Smiles]

Nergal: I don't know! [Laughs] I never worked with myself so I can't really say. You know what; I've learned through the years how to deal with people. I'm into diplomacy, diplomacy is the key word for added success. If you want to do it, make it happen then you have to be a good guy to people and know how to deal with them, you know and not be an asshole. It's easy to be an asshole and not to be a decent guy so that’s what I’m trying to do. It’s not that easy you know, I’ve got so much to deal with. I’m pretty much good at everything from making music to merchandise – designing it…pretty much anything; but that’s how I’ve worked for years so it seems natural for me doing things this way. That’s my thing, you know!

Nergal: I don’t do this, I rather not do this because it’s like a limitation. We used to call our music black metal back in the day but [since we've] released so much from any form and limits. It's just extremely fast and furious, technical, it has melody and it's very emotional.

It has elements of black metal because we grew up from those roots; our roots are in black metal, thrash, and heavy metal probably. Pretty much different genres mixed up together on one playing field. That's what I find exciting about this band if anything it's a mixture of different styles. I think it's cool! [Smiles]

Nergal: Yes.

Nergal: I am fortunate to be where I am, to be at this place, you know what I mean. People ask us how we compare the early days to the state we are in now and you know; I pretty much grew up with this. I see it as a constant evolving process so I can't just look back, it's a new chapter now. It's something fresh, something new for us, very refreshing. It's the start of a whole new process for us. For me it's very difficult for me to judge it.

Nergal: I don't know, I mean we've got more technical in that span of time but for me, I just go for my feelings and from my emotions. Music has to be emotional, it's not math, you know! [Laughs] It's more about what feels right, so I don't really care; I don't really give two fucks about what fans think about… I mean, I do care about this of course! [Strong look of sincerity crosses his countenance] But I'm like the first person who has to be happy completely before the fan is. If I'm happy I could please thousands, if I'm not, I'm the worst person you'll know! [We both laugh]

We have a killer lineup! We're very strong, very complete! We have a killer record that we are totally behind and [slams fist in palm of his hand] we will try to push it as hard as possible. People can see that, the fans can see when you are not real in what you are doing…

Nergal: … so I'm very precise about what we do. I am very happy overall. [Smiles]

Nergal: Very good! Very good!! They are good guys, not much problems. The only problem is that it takes us so long to set up on stage, to put all our shit up. We need, like extra crew, which we can't [afford] to have on this tour because of the financials. It's not Europe after all, it's much harder it seems. Besides that, everything's just fine! The crowds are good, it's been very professional and everything, no complaints really.

Nergal: It's the perfect starter; it's perfect for a drinking tour! [We both laugh]

Nergal: I pretty much enjoy myself on tour a lot. I like traveling and talking to people, meeting different people every time, having fun, playing my songs. I’m a physical worker, I don’t think I just go work the crowd, kick ass, get off, have some Jack D, pack up my stuff and can't wait to hit the next town and that's it.

Nergal: There’s a few actually, all of the songs you will see tonight are my favorite songs to perform. I don’t like playing the songs too much if I spent too much time in the studio, that’s no fun! We go about it the rock n' roll; it’s about the fans. We’re not just up there just to stand, we perform, and the watch you and you connect, you know, just be as perfect as possible!

I’ve always been a fan of Venom; they were more like rock n’ roll kind of stuff so I kind of follow that way. All of the songs that you will see tonight, more or less are the greatest hits. The songs that just feel good playing live, you know. It’s got this…you know, catchiness to them. [Smiles] It just [balls up fist and slams it into the palm of his hand] punches you. [Smiles]

Nergal: Will we what?

Nergal: [Laughs] I don’t know! We are on the right track I think!

Nergal: We’re honest, we’ve got a good record, we are here, and we have so many opportunities to play. I think we’ll trust what we’ve got here you know what I mean. Then we’ll see! Ask me this question again in 1 or 2 years and then we can talk. [Smiles]

Nergal: [Nods] The tour for this album will lead us somewhere, perhaps [we could lead] some nice pop life, I'll say! [We all laugh] Not that I'm bitching but I want to get better tours, you know what I mean! I want to be headlining one day it would great. It feels no good to get on stage and get a 30-minute long set or less. It’s just no good for me because I don’t even sweat enough! [Laughs] You know like, fuck! You know…

Nergal: Give 20-30 more minutes, I wanna show off! Then like that, [Snaps finger] I’m done! It’s not enough time. I’d love to do 1 hour or more.

Nergal: [Smiles] Let’s see, let’s just see! If people buy the album or not, people can judge, we did our job the best we could. We spent so much time, so much energy, so much money, we pretty much invested anything we had, you know. We have no personal lives; we’re going to do like 250 shows for this album over one year, which means that we will pretty much… [pauses] will never be at home. We’re just going to jump from one tour to another. It means pretty much that we have nothing there, right! I mean come on, even if I had a girlfriend back at home [in Poland] and all this stuff, you know... and I would be back… [Incredulous look crosses his countenance] [We all laugh] …she’d be gone, right? I mean, come on! I don’t need a girlfriend then, fuck it! Maybe when I retire when I’m 60, then I’m gonna get mine! [Laughter ensues] My girlfriends are all downstairs [in the venue] and they are ready to rock!

Erika: But the question is do they get jealous of one another?

Nergal: No, I mean some are my good friends and others are just pickups, you know. [Tilts head and smirks] None of them really mind! [Laughs]

Karma: Do you think that with the influx of lineup changes, as it’s very solid right now…

Nergal: Yes it is! [Smiles]

Karma: …it seems that it has added to the evolution of your sound.

Karma: …for Vader.

Nergal: [Smiles] Yeah, he’s in Vader now! Novy left later. It so natural you know as far as lineup changes. People ask me why I change lineups. I don’t do it, it happens, it’s life, things change. It’s natural, it’s chemistry you know. One day you feel good and then [later] you might not like the person anymore because of the chemistry. That’s how it works! As long as we enjoy ourselves and treat ourselves as a family, feel good with good atmosphere then we’ll go for it. We try to make the best out of it; we’ll try to keep it going as long as possible.

Sometimes we just reach a point in life; it’s just like with life and in relationships, and marriage and whatever. I mean come on; you can’t just force yourself to do something so it can work with a band the same way. You just have to keep it natural.

Karma: Understood, so how does your song writing process go?

Nergal: [Demigod] was not as painful as previous albums Iike Zos Kia [Cultus] or something. It was pretty much written while on tour, continuously and spontaneously. It took about three–three and a half months in our rehearsal place and we rehearsed three, four times a week for about five hours each. We just wanted to catch the, uh, spontaneously? [Scrunches brow]

Karma: Spontaneity

Nergal: Yes [smiles] The spontaneity and catch the moment, you know what I mean! Then [snaps finger] once we caught it we wanted to bring it to the studio then release it, you know what I mean! [Smiles]

In fact, we didn’t want to overdo this album. You can overdo it in the studio but when it comes to writing the music; if the song sounds, good [slams fist into the palm of his hand] then I want to get in the studio. Not doing shit for weeks and months in the studio and then you never known in the end if it’s good or not because you live with it for so long. I think it was good.

Karma: From what I understand, you spent close to 700 hours in the studio working on Zos Kia.

Nergal: [Face lights up and smiles] Yeah, I’m, I’m, I’m…psycho when it comes to recording. I’m psycho and I get crazy. [Eyes widen as he shakes his head] There’s usually nobody there except me and the sound engineer in the studio that’s because nobody can stand to be around me, the pressure and the tension in the studio. [Laughs] Therefore, it’s just me and my craziness and trying to control it somehow. It actually works good for the record, the record sound killer, it's massive, it’s a wide production, it’s a very big production, it’s very dimensional.

Karma: As in Demigod?

Nergal: Yeah, Demigod I think we did okay for the previous albums as well, it wasn't bad at all; but with the new one, is a milestone.

Karma: How has the songwriting changed since your first full release Sventevith?

Nergal: Oh, well [smiles widely] I’m more mature these days back then I was just a kid trying to be as evil as possible. I mean it was fun pretended to be so cool, so evil and stuff. There wasn’t a lot of professionalism behind what we did. It’s fine, I feel very emotional about it over what was happening back then. I think it was cool actually, I just we’re professionals [now] we know what we got, we know how to deal with things now, so now [snaps finger] we just do it, like that, you know! Have you ever seen us?

Karma: No, not yet, tonight will be the first time.

Nergal: So I hope that you will see a bunch of guys that know exactly how to deal with this shit!

Karma: I'm looking forward to it!

Nergal: It's good because it's a positive routine, it’s got a kick, we’ve got adrenaline and everything in our set. It's professionalism but it's also very spontaneous and enthusiastic. I think once you've mixed it up together it has the best outcome.

Karma: What is your all time favorite song?

Nergal: I don't have one, like I said I feel my live set pretty much consists of songs of my liking. I don’t know, I love all of them. One day it may be easier for me to play "Christians To The Lions" and other days…but songs from the new record are more technical but they are somehow easier to play live that's because the construction of them is way more intelligent.

Karma: So then, you would not have a favorite off the new one either?

Nergal: See, this is the problem with the new one all of the other songs are my favorites off Zos Kia, Thelema.6, Satanica, Pandemonic Incantation… If you were to ask me which one is my favorite song [snaps finger] then okay I could tell you but not as good as that one. Off the new album, it's like, hey, come on, we have all of the right songs for a live set because we love all of them and it feels so good playing and rehearsing them. For the setlist it's like fuck, what are we going to pick out. We went for the more catchy songs because we wanted to see people get into it.

Karma: On the first track, "Sculpting The Throne ov Seth" is that actually in reference to Seth? [Behemoth's session player]

Nergal: No no no no no! [Smiles] I came up with the title first then I started to record with a guy by that name but it does complete the whole idea. I don’t want to work with a guy in the band with a name like Thomas or Peter or Andrew! It sounds so gay!! [We all laugh hysterically] It’s metal! I really go for image; I take a very special kind of metal approach, not so common, not so general. That’s what you get anyway but with Behemoth, we want to keep it very magical.

Karma: I was reading a recent interview of yours and I couldn't agree with you more that acoustic parts incorporated into a "death/black" metal album breaks up the brutal monotony for lack of better words.

Nergal: [Smiles] Yes, I think it’s the perfect contrast with the ups and downs, you’ve got a blast of technical infusion and then boom, [slams hand in fist] and the acoustical parts. It’s just perfect; I love the stuff. We’re going to experiment with it more in the future.

Karma: Awesome! I hear that there are a couple of tracks that you recorded that you plan to add on later on an EP.

Nergal: See I don’t know why people complain about EP’s and stuff, it’s like fuck, I may as well keep them [extra tracks] to myself. I’m just sick of these complaints. Once you put out an EP you can charge less, because we always charge less for an EP. People are like, [scrunches up face and he drops his voice] “Hey, it’s just three tracks, we want the whole album!” Oh, okay, fuck you! [Smiles] Wait for the next record then, wait two years, whatever! I don’t care, I got the stuff! I can listen to them whenever I want! [Laughs] What the hell!

We always do EP’s because it something nice, like doing covers because I’m a fan of bands too; I love many bands. I always get them (EP’s) just to have them in my collection, you know. But then I can’t understand why people don’t want to have it, but I just don’t know!

Karma: Speaking of EP’s on Conjuration, what was the inspiration behind doing those particular covers?

Nergal: I don’t know, it's was like, "Okay, let's do this song". I liked those songs and I picked up some good songs that I wanted to cover them, it’s how it works. I always like Nine Inch Nails you know, I think it’s cool, it proves that this band can take some risks something that many bands wouldn’t ever do. They are so afraid of their image…bands just want to go like this [forms narrow path with hands then whistles], narrow path, do their thing and get money and don’t experiment. Because then they would have to take a risk, and be afraid that people won't like it! I feel like this, fuck it, you have to go for it, of course I risk, you know!

I mean we risk every time, every time we experiment we [take a] risk with every new album has a new experiment on it. Just like with the new record, we have so many critics filing in… [Look of disgust washes over his face as he shakes his head] At the same time, I’ve had so many great reviews of it…I love it. I can’t do much about that, it’s me; you can either get everything or nothing. It’s me, if you don’t like me, you don’t like me then don’t listen to this band! We are very serious, very real, and very honest as far as what you get from us. What we give is pretty much what we are, there’s no bullshit about us!

Karma: In the same interview you were discussing numerology and keeping your band at 3 members representing a powerful trine. Do you practice any other forms of divination?

Nergal: [Chuckles] It’s a Venom, I've always been a fan…they had always been a three-piece and they became a quartet but then I stopped liking them! I don’t want to stop liking my band, you know! [We all laugh] My favorite bands are a three-piece, Morbid Angel; they’re a 3-piece…Venom… So many three-piece bands are great so I just decided to keep the band this way. It’s just easier to keep control of things, more money!

Karma: [Laughs] Understood! On Demigod, you used Enochian writings to "release the spirit of strong individual men" now was that primarily for you or the purchaser of the CD?

Nergal: For me, it’s pretty much all about art you know. It’s a very egocentric kind of thing. Demigod speaks about some of my experiences even though I talk about invoking ancient spirits and shit like that, it means something. It’s not just about singing for the sake of singing about something. It clearly has a meaning behind everything. If I choose some names for invocation, spiritual, whatever…it was probably something that happened to me probably. It’s cool because it makes this band special because we're professional and I want to keep things very personal.

As I said, I have no life outside this band, in no way, there should be someway that you should be able to release it, these kinds of feelings you know. Once you have no private life, no relationship just work…the band is my life and is pretty much my only release. I need this!

Karma: I understand that you are not telling historical stories but why do you feel it is "symbolically blasphemous"? I am a little curious about this!

Nergal: Why?

Karma: Um-huh.

Nergal: It’s blasphemous because it’s going against Catholic rules. It’s like going against the authorities and different political and religious systems. Since I was a kid, about 15, I turned my back on all of this. Religion was a side of my life; I mean I was religious before, I was Christian. I was raised as a Catholic just like 99% of the population in Poland is Catholic. Once I started using my brain, I realized it was not for me. I rebelled; I was rebelling against the label of what human beings are about, you know. I find it to be very intelligent too. Once you start questioning things that means that you are using your brain. It’s what I found so inspiring and…yeah, that inspiration comes from anti-faith, anti-death, you know in this case anti-Christian.

By the way, it’s just not about being anti-Christian that’s just one of the levels you deal with, you know what I mean! It’s different levels and one of those levels is anti-Christian. It’s very down to earth, very material but we are very black and white with this, we don’t take any bullshit with it. Then you can climb up to higher levels and go into more spiritual things and then you sleep and leave all the bullshit there, you know! It’s about what kind of style you got. Let’s say that 10 people in your life picked up 10 people on the street, say for instance you must find a…physical worker right, different people have different styles; his style’s gonna be different from the Rockefeller type or something like that. So that’s how it works with us, we deal with different levels with different…dialogues, you know what I mean?

Karma: I do.

Nergal: That's how it works. One of the levels is dealing with insight on a different dimension because we find it so natural. I’m not that angry anymore in my life I guess I’m just old, you know! When I was younger, I was really angry but it's good now, all in all it keeps me alive.

Karma: Was the angst against organized religion or…

Nergal: …Well it was against everything, pretty much everything. I had no allegiance to an institution in the way it works, it’s just people being blind and being totally ignorant. I hate that! And uh, yeah…that’s about it! [Smiles]

Karma: What is the meaning behind the mask (on the cover of Demigod)?

Nergal: It looks cool! [We all laugh]

Karma: That it does!

Nergal: I’m going to leave it for people for them to interpret in their own way. It’s very cool, and it looks very inhuman. Demigod, it's demigod, it's demigod [laughs] you know! It’s half man, half god so let’s say we’ll use our imaginations and we have the image of God, our perception. So it’s like, all about a face, a more artistic thing. I don’t believe in an old guy with a beard. [Laughs] It’s all about being artistic, I am very aesthetic especially about things like this. I like when things look go, you know that why we give so much attention to and care so much about the visual side: on our records, our performances, pictures, videos and everything. I want you to take it as a whole and not just one thing; it’s very, very concrete and a complete vision that’s why the cover’s like that.

Karma: Musically speaking, what is the biggest source of inspiration?

Nergal: [Smiles] It’s too many! I listen to so many different bands, I don’t want people to be confused, but I am a HUGE Johnny Cash fan, I just bought Social Distortion’s first two records yesterday. And then I am huge extreme metal fan like Venom, Enslaved…pretty much everything including some good pop may be stylin' too.

There’s so much dark music in mainstream music that people don’t even really notice it but there’s so much emotion in pop music and CD’s and people are so blinded. They just so naïve in believing that it’s a bunch of nice ladies singing. But there’s some cool stuff going on there too. It might be pretty much anything, I just try to keep my eyes open and will pick up anything that appeals to my taste and it just works for me somehow. I never limit myself to anything. There's music that I will never understand like reggae, gospel… Nick Cave did some gospel that was cool actually…so I don't know [Smiles] Who knows, maybe there are no boundaries for me. [We all laugh]

Karma: Seemingly so!

Nergal: I’ve never heard of satanic reggae before but… [Laughs] Maybe there is one, and I know I would like it but…I don’t know.

Karma: Are there any up and coming bands that you are listening to?

Nergal: Oh yeah, I just picked up the new one from Necrophagist, from Germany, it's killer, it's just so great. Impious, they're a band from Sweden, that's black metal…I like that stuff a lot but I am the worst person to recall names. [Laughs]

Karma: What mark would you like to leave on your fans?

Nergal: After the show or when they’re listening to the music?

Karma: Over all, the music...