interview: Diaboł Boruta

Diaboł Boruta is rocking heavy metal folk from Poland. They are not a new band and they already have three albums, and the latest one in 2019 is called Czary. However, the band is new to this publication, and given that they have a new album, why not learn more about what makes them tick, tick? Thankfully, the band responded to the millions of questions that were sent their way, and now U.S. fans will find out more about this Polish mountain city hiking heavy metal association by the name of Diaboł Boruta.

How is the life of Diaboł Boruta in Rzeszów, Poland? Do you live in a small town or a big city? How is the metal scene in your city?

Hello. 😊Thanks for the interest in our band. Poland greets the USA. We live in an average sized city (about 200 000 inhabitants) and, while each of us has a different job and different duties, we meet at rehearsals once a week (such as most bands 😊). Then, we talk mannerly, tease each other, drink milk and try to play music. We usually have rehearsals at late hours so sometimes one of us falls asleep. Such a culprit is then locked in the garage (where we play) and has to stay there for a week, until the next rehearsal. 😊 As a band we barely make any money for playing in Poland. We make music because we like it, as we like orcs, elves and dwarves (we are friends with some of them 😊). Metal scene is still present in our region but there are only a few extreme metal bands. Many bands play pop-rock (or something like that) and pretend to be real rockers.

Did your band start in 2011 like Metal Archives says? Did all the current members record on the new album Czary? Who are the members in 2019 and do you have any original members from the beginning of the band? Who is answering this interview?

Yes, Diaboł was formed in 2011 but the lineup changed many times. Unfortunately, in 2018 our co-founder guitarist, Mirek, left the band. Currently, we have two original members: Paweł Szczupak (guitarist), who didn’t play with us for some time despite being a co-founder, and I, Paweł Leniart, (bass and vocals). Czary had been recorded by all of the current members (listed in Metal Archives) except Konrad, who joined the band after the recording sessions.

Have you made any videos?

We record videos ourselves. We are also the authors of scenarios and costumes. I know that our videos sometimes look unprofessional, but we have much fun of doing this although it is usually a really hard work. We also intend to make a lyric video, but we haven’t choosen the song yet. We plan to make it soon but the waiting time may change – similarly to the information at Polish railway stations when your train has two hours of delay 😉.

Several videos are on other channels though, e.g., on the channel of our label – Pure Steel Records. Our lyrics are in Polish but in each LP there are two songs translated to English. You can listen to them on our channel or buy them through our Bandcamp site.

The album cover is a type of demon. Can you tell us more about the artwork?

The cover was made by our friend Waldemar Van Deurse, a brilliant graphic designer. It depicts a forest monster – Leshy, that has been summoned by the character standing before him, which is in fact some kind of a devil or an angel. In Slavic mythology a Leshy is a guardian of forests and wanderers but also a dangerous beast for those who don’t respect the forest. In our lyrics we are discussing the subjects related to environmental protection because the Earth is exploited on such a large scale that if people don’t realize that, we will all die soon. The song Czary (Spells) tells us that if you summon a demon (look at the video) and if she’s a beautiful demon, she’ll bang you first and then – rip your heart out. This is such a romantic warning that our dreams can take various forms, not always as positive as we wanted. The Leshy from the cover is being summoned by a mythological character – some kind of a dryad. What will they do together? This artwork won’t say that but it leaves such a question. Protect the fucking environment!

Can you help us in the United States with the lyrics of your band? What types of stories do you have in your new songs?

The lyrics are about Slavic ghosts, monsters, drowners, kikimores, rusalkas and so on. They often enter into relationships with people, protect them, look after their belongings, but they also kidnap, show the world or enter "romantic ecstasies" with them. 😉 On the new album these stories went slightly beyond these subjects. They sometimes say about freedom, about a Golem - a monster created by a Jewish rabbi living in Poland. There is also a story referring to tastes of the universe. Songs Niewolnik and Królestwo nie niebieskie have their English versions – Slave and Kingdom of no Heaven. The lyrics from the previous albums refer to medieval stories, which were very often related to mythological Slavic believes (not only Polish). Therefore, we sometimes sing about monsters which are as old as ancient Egypt. 😉

On each of our albums there are two tracks available both in Polish and English version, they are translated and sang once again. “Slave” tells about coming back home. It's a metaphor of restriction of human freedom, also the freedom of our thoughts, breaking the chains and coming back home. When it comes to “Kingdom of No Heaven” - you have to read it yourself. You may take it differently, it is impossible for me to analyse my lyrics entirely, it feels awkward for me :D However, it's pretty good, I mean the track. I think I even enjoy the English version more than Polish 😉

You have three albums so far. Have you had opportunities to tour?

We don’t have a manager and our record label don’t organize concerts, so it is difficult for us to promote the album abroad. Moreover, we live in a city near Slovak and Ukrainian border and everywhere is far away from here (I know in the USA there are larger distances but you have bigger cars 😉). The additional problem is that two of us sometimes work on weekends, one of us sometimes works at nights and the other one, Paweł Szczupak, goes on dates at nights and the rest of the band sleeps 😉 We only played in Poland and Czech Republic so far. We’d like to play in other countries and promote Diaboł in Europe but it is a hard case for us.

The Polish band Behemoth seems to have (or want!) some problems with the Catholic Church or the government. Does your band have songs against the government or against the Catholic Church and things like that?

We have to distinguish making music from making business and looking for controversy in order to exist in the media. We all know Behemoth and we know that it's a really professional band, also their way of life. We are far behind but it would be so great to be on the similar level that Behemoth is. We're not so controversial, though. We do not tend to sing about politicians, we don't tear the Bible apart during our concerts, however we usually get pissed off when it comes to religion – every religion seems to be restrictive, limiting for human freedom and free thinking. In my opinion, every religion should remain an individual matter for everyone – it just can't be equated with law and, in fact, we talk about it but in a more subtle manner. We don't turn the cross upside-down (what's the point?). If so, we should do this with all religious symbols, but we don't fight with religion – as I said, it's an individual matter for everyone. As long as it isn't messing our private life of course. Our band and music, lyrics and image comes truly from ourselves. There's nothing fake, we don't put business before everything, we (almost 😉) never grandstand. Good music always defends itself. When it comes to controversy – people should think and don't let others to manipulate. Also, I usually present really fucking awesome footwear while onstage so I suppose it already exceeds all the limits of decency. 😉

Usually metal bands have negative things to say about life and other people or about the government or against religion and things like. Let’s do something different! Can you tell us about what you like about life in Poland?

We are not negative, we don't want to share negativity, we don't say that life is fucked up, but that one should respect life. If life tends to be difficult, there's no point in pulling people down - it's better to support them. Let us leave politics, parties and goverment aside – politics is always bullshit. As wise man once said – you can find most of the whores in... politics. Also, wages are quite low. Parties that governed over recent years have done lots of pretty bad things. The climate seems quite moderate. However, mountains are much fun (freedom, safety. forests that aren't private). There are places that we like to visit. Of course, we also like to visit other countries, but we have our favourite spots here. What is also worth mentioning is that Poland has really fucked up history at times, and truly I hope it will never happen again. As a band and a group of friends we try to stay away from bad people, corporate bullshit, away from morons.😉 Idiots can be found everywhere, there's also lots of them in Poland but it's good to avoid them. Fortunately, it is very unlikely to get shot in the streets. There were no terrorist attacks – and I hope there will not be a single one. If you want to drink Polish vodka, beer (I recommend craft beer, not our watery lagers), or go for a hike in the woods you probably won't get eaten by anything. Probably 😉 Oh, we also got hot chicks here 😉

How do you all feel now that the album is finished and released? What do you think about the reviews so far?

To tell the truth, I was mostly happy when we finished our first album. It was the hardest album to produce and compose the tracks. We put really lot of effort into it. Widziadła - the second album – I had itchy feet, I couldn't wait for CDs to show up. And when the parcel arrived it turned out that colors of the cover are messed up and I got pissed of again, haha. The last album Czary progressed quite smoothly and quickly. I had quite a lot of work to do recently so we didn't even have time to celebrate it with a little band drink – we have to make up for it! 😉 The only problem with this album was messed up booklet page order but this time we took it calmly – it's beautiful anyway. It feels good to have a new child born and we're just looking forward for a next one 😉 We don't usually care what each review says because we know (so modest...) that the material is pretty good. Not perfect, not ingenious however it's quite decent, so extremely good or bad reviews are not adequate here. We read the reviews with curiosity and it's nice to hear some kind words but I suppose it applies to everyone. Simply if you feed your dog, the dog feels happy and it wags its tail so you also feel happy, right? Unless you give it a dead, rotten frog. As a consequence, the dog will throw it all up on your living room carpet – and so it goes with reviews. 😉We made a really nice piece of meat and no one puked on us, this seems to be the best review for the time being. You can order our albums from us, by our Facebook profile.

Unfortunately, we do not own a really big store, however we can supply you with t-shirts, albums and dog food :D If you are wanting to support us, check out our fanpages and websites, listen to our music, subscribe, buy some mp3's sometimes. Don't destroy nature and just be good for each other.😉

Thank you for your time!

I also thank you for your interest and stimulating questions – it was really fun to answer and translate from Polish to English (Zibra and Dawid – thanks!) 😉 Please send me a link when the interview comes out. I'm eager to read it once again and see what can be made better. 😉

Thanks again and we send ice-cold, delicious beer straight from Poland to USA! Cheers! 😉

facebook.com/diabolboruta

puresteel-records.com

diabolboruta.pl/

diaboboruta.bandcamp.com

We have an official video for the song Czary:

youtube.com/watch?v=qtI9-5qt_R8

Here is a link to our Youtube channel with videos from other albums and all songs from the two previous LPs:

youtube.com/channel/UCpfzQ-kTZC4_dD1bzH_h4-g