Let me welcome you and thank you very much for the time you take for that short mail interview.

Let me begin with a question about the history of Forest Of Impaled. Tell me something about the beginning of Forest Of Impaled, how did everything start and what were the goals you wanted to reach at that time?

Adrian :
We began our reign of terror in 93; with the original lineup of Dan Prawica (bass player/vocals), Mark Trela (guitar), Andy Rusin (drums) and myself on guitar. In the early days we focussed a lot on melody and were very influenced by the swedish scene with bands like At the Gates, Entombed, Dismember.... but we were still very much into the american scene as well, i.e. Morbid Angel, Incantation, Suffocation.... and Entombed. We really strived to create music that was fast, melody concentrated in dual guitar work, expressed some good riffing, and overall encompassed the agression of our youth. Once we progressed musically our hatred turned to another venue/genre that is the almighty black metal. Around that time we were all really getting into the norwegian black metal scene and enjoyed the aggression and feeling of the music. Inevitably we started to slowly incorporate this style and eventually recorded Mortis Dei mini-CD for Terrorizer. Released in 95' it was an album that truly expressed our black metal influence yet also indicated that there was still much to be learned. Lyrically it expressed our fascination with medieval warfare and mysticism. After a few setbacks and general problems beyond our control we entered Sheffield Studios at the end of 98' to record our 2nd demo The Seventh Dominion. Our first demo was a basic live rehearsal that was only distributed to our friends and a few people in the underground. With 7th Dominion our material was more structured and showcased our evolution towards a more death/black metal style. Once we were picked up by Red Stream, Demonvoid our first full length was a great accomplishment of songwriting as well as our ability to understand what we enjoyed creating and expressed our growing interest to dive into our death metal roots and express those elements that we found to be essential in producing a heavy, fast, demonic, brutal recording. A year after the release of "Demonvoid" we had a few lineup changes as Dan and Andy left the band to pursue other interests. At that time Marcus Kolar (bass Sarcophagus, Krieg) joined shortly on bass and after auditioning a handfull of drummers who were either inexperienced or lacked the stamina to play as fast as we wanted them to, we were introduced to Duane Timlin (Sarcophagus, Divine Empire, Judas Iscariot, Krieg) who proved to be a talented drummer that we could work with. Over the course of the next couple of years we wrote and were close to completing our material for our next release. After numerous unsuccessful auditions for a suitable vocalist, Marcus decided to take up the vocal duties and we entered Studio One to record our current album, "Forward the Spears" Although completed in October 2002, due to scheduling and difficulties with the producer's time, the album wasn't official completed until the March 2003. Forward the Spears is our greatest triumph to date, it is a perfect blend of our ongoing experiment into the death/black metal genre. Musically as well as lyrically it perfectly expresses our current style and hatred in our hearts. Currently we have added drummer Varyen (Damnation) to our war metal alliance and we are growing stronger everyday. We hope to tour the US/Europe someday and spread our sickness to all those that will listen.


As far as I know you started under the name of Nocturnal Serenity. How did it come that you chandged the band's name?

Adrian :
Nocturnal Serenity was our name back at the the beginning, when we were still searching for our own individual style. As we became more influenced by the black metal, we felt it necessary to change our name, in essence we were no longer playing atmospheric death metal but a chaotic mixture of metal, it was time to break out the spears and erect the Forest of Impaled.


Forest Of Impaled - if I think about this name I have to think about a picture of the cruelties of Vlad Tepes with all those bodies impaled like a real forrest of dead bodies. Is that the story behind the name of the band?

Adrian :
Yes that is true, upon thinking of a new name, Mark stumbled upon a book chronicalling the morbid life of Tepes, in one of the many pictures illustrating his plague upon his people, we found a modern day picture of a clearing in a forest, with a sign that read Forest of Impaled, it was brilliant and catchy so we decided to change our name. Who better to continue the impalement then us!!!


So if I am right are there any other storys of Vlad which you are interested in and have you ever used them as a theme for a song?

Adrian :
Yes overall we have one song dedicated to his honor that is Demonvoid's, The Impaler. It is a general depiction of the madman and his unholy blasphemous ways. For the most part we hate vampires but we just like blood!


A very often used theme in your lyrics is war. What is your opinion about war? A necessary evil in the world?

Adrian :
War is the culmination of our existence, it serves a purpose and that is to weed out the weak so the strong may conquer. It is love, hate, strength, honor, lust, blood, death everything the human psyche needs to experience, it is a underlying element that at some point all of us will face, whether it be directly on the battle field or as a simple bystander affected by the economic repurcussions. My opinion of war is that it is neither good nor evil it is a basic truth of life which everyone is affected by one way or another.

I read in some lines about the band that Adrian had to join a very religious school at his childhood. Has he been such a little devil that he was punished in that way?

Adrian :
Ha ha ha, yes I did attend a brainwashing instutue for proper moral behavoir based on complete assinine ideals, but this is mainly due to my parents traditional values. Coming from Poland, which is 90% Roman Catholic, all life is governed in some way through the Church and its followers. Whether it be city politics or moral dilemmas, the church is a key factor towards triumph, etc.. My parents come from this mentality, and continued its legacy as we migrated to the US. In retrospect, it was a good experience as I found out first hand the lies and hypocrisy of Catholocism/Christianity. In some ways all of our albums have an underlying sense of desecration and blasphemy for this organinzed entity. Christ/God/Trinity is our impaled victim, we pierce his flesh for retribution.


What do you think has this religious education produced that hate about all religious things in the world like you spread out with your music?

Adrian :
Not necessarily, but it did create thoughts of questioning that what is the norm. Hate would have always been present in my veins as life itself lends its hand in creating rivers of hate through our veins. Our music serves as a reminder that you should always question your reality, never be a follower of trends.....


What is your opinion about Satanism? How would you define it by yourself and in that way would you call yourself as a Satanist?

Adrian :
Satanism/Occultism serves a distinct purpose, although I cannot speak for the rest of my band. I believe that the 3rd perspective of any given situation is always a good way to contemplate any given situation, but ultimately the occult serves to create a governing control over yourself. From my experiencing it just provides further insight into your own mind and the fact that you are totally in control of your own destiny.


Have you ever get in trouble in your homecountry because of the extreeme music you produce and you listen to?

Adrian :
Not really, we haven't had any controversy here in the states for playing or listening to exreme metal. Although I have heard that in Poland it is getting increasingly difficult to setup certain black metal shows due to the clergy opposing and threating officials if they allow a certain concert or event to occur.


As far as I think that you - sadly - don't earn enough money with your music to live from - how are you guys earning your money in your private life?

Adrian :
We all have monotonic jobs, where we work like slaves to the grind. All of us hope to earn a living through indirect involvement such as opening up a business of some sort, so we may concentrate on creating music not working fucking 8-10 hours a day.


Will there be a chance to see you on tour right here in Europe?

Adrian :
Hopefully soon, maybe in 2004, we would really like to come out to infect your minds with blasphemy, hate, death, and impale your souls, but until then we will continue to reek havoc unto the land and write songs of war/hate. We will be recording in January 2004 so possibly we may be promoting our new record.


Alright, thank you very much again for your time! Keep the black flame burning!


martin