Last
year an event of great importance took place in Chilean scene and worldwide,
since old–school death metal band ATOMIC AGGRESSOR released their debut album
"Sights of Suffering" almost 30 years after its formation. The band remained true to its roots and
embraces the old school spirit with the same darkness, passion and fury of the
old days, something CTODP respects and hails. Here is the interview with
guitarist Enrique Zuñiga...
Hi Enrique, everything ok? Now a few months
after the release of “Sights of Suffering”, your debut full length, how does it
feel after so many years that you recorded your first demo in 1989?
Hi! Everything ok. The
release of our album was our main objective since the reunion, so we’re very
happy about it. It has received very good reviews everywhere, and the reaction
of the people in concerts has been great too.
Tell about the recording, what was the
recording process was? How long did it take the band to agree on the final
product?
The album was recorded
between December 2013 and March 2014, at Pulsar Estudios in Santiago. The
recording process had several problems and delays, but we are very satisfied
with the result. I think the sound reflects well what we were looking for. We
wanted to sound good, but not modern or overproduced. We conceived the album
like a continuation of the story we left unfinished in 1991.
After listening to the whole album it´s obvious
that the band´s spirit remains pure to its roots, how would you describe the
style on the album?
Thanks! That was our
intention. I would call it old school Death Metal, with some Thrash influences.
Since the old days, our main inspiration sources are Possessed and old Morbid
Angel. In fact, to recover our style after so many years separated wasn’t easy
at all. It took us some time to be satisfied with the new stuff we were
creating.
Can you
explain the lyrical contents of the album? Where do you draw your inspiration for the
lyrics?
Lyrics are mainly
inspired by H. P. Lovecaft and the mythology he created. Usually are stories
about dark cults and the intervention of ancient gods in human life. There are
some anti-christian themes too.
If I´m
not wrong, you conceived and executed the artwork for “Bloody Ceremonial” and
then you used a similar concept on subsequent releases, is it a visual projection of your music? Can you try to explain the
artwork concept of “Sights of Suffering”?
I have made all the
artwork for the band until now, except for the 7” split released by Grinder
magazine and Doomentia Records (Unbodied Rites). Each cover has it’s own
concept, but there is a certain common style. It’s hard to say that it’s a
projection of our music.
The Sights of
Suffering cover represents a bunch of suffering souls under the influence of
dark arts.
Hells Headbangers released “Sights…” you are
working with them since the release of “Rise of the Ancient Ones”, how did you
get linked with them?
Our former drummer
Pablo Clares got the contact. Since that moment, Chase have been a great
support for the band.
They also released the split 7” with Death Yell,
I know both bands have a strong brotherhood, so I´m sure both enjoyed to be
featured on a split release…
Atomic Aggressor is
part of the second generation of Chilean extreme metal bands, along with Death
Yell, Sadism, Torturer and others. So we have a special relationship with all
those guys. It was great to record a split with our friends of Death Yell.
Besides it was the first song they recorded since their reunion.
Talking about 7”s, Grinder mag released a 7”
featuring Atomic Aggressor and Unholy war, tell us about this release.
I remember we were on
the road to a gig in Valparaíso, and Andrés of Grinder Magazine was in the van
with us. He told me that the magazine was about to be published in Europe including
7” records with every future issue. So he offered to us the opportunity of
appearing in the first split along with Unholy War, an old band of friends
dissolved in the early 90’s.
The chosen song for
the split was Unbodied Rites… one of my personal favorites from Sights of
Suffering.
In your early days, Bloody Ceremonial had a
huge impact on the Chilean scene and in South America, How do you look back at Bloody Ceremonial nowadays, what kind of memories do you have on the
recording session?
“Bloody Ceremonial”
was recorded in a studio called Rec, in Santiago. The sound engineer was José
Luis Corral, who was also a big metal fan. In that studio there was a special
price for metal bands who wanted to record a demo, so we took the opportunity.
It was our first
experience in a recording studio, so everything was new for us. It was a humble
production, but we learned a lot with it.
The reaction to the
demo was awesome. Great reviews in a lot of fanzines in Chile and some other
countries.
Chilean scene was very active and many demos
began to be published in a short period of time, do you have any favorite from
those days?
There were a lot of
great demos. I think my favorites are Pentagram demo 1 and 2, Sadism “From the
Perpetual Dark” and Darkness Demo 1.
TORTURER and SADISM achieved to record the
debut LP. But you and DEATH YELL that
were considered by many the reference bands of the scene and having
international recognition couldn´t get to the debut album, in your case, what
could be the cause(s) for this. You even
got an offer for a full length album from a strong label like Peaceville, why did the band break up 1992
Some time after the
second demo, our drummer Pablo decided to quit the band. It was after we had
some great shows and we were very surprised and shocked by his decision. After
that we began the search for a new drummer again, but we started to lose the
motivation to keep the band alive. Besides that, the 3 members had other
priorities growing and new responsibilities. We often think about the great
opportunity we lost with Peaceville.
Same thing happened to PENTAGRAM, who saw the
release of their full length last year, what´s your opinion about PENTAGRAM and
“The Malefice?
The story of Pentagram
have some coincidences with our story. For me they are one of the greatest
metal bands in Chile, but the album didn’t filled my expectations. I mean it’s
a very good album, but there are many riffs that remember the old songs a lot.
Afterwards
you joined SADISM and recorded three albums with them, how was your time with them? What have
the other guys
did?
Sadism are our
brothers too. I joined them in 1997 and left in 2009. I had a great time in
that band, including some great gigs with Kreator, Sodom, Cannibal Corpse and
Morbid Angel in Santiago, and with Hate Eternal in Brazil. Sadism now has some
new members and a new album out.
I interviewed VULCANO a few months ago, who are
one of the very few bands that have released an official live album before a studio
album? You released in 2013 “Live ceremonial” how did you initially have the
idea of recording the live album? did you feel a special vibe during the show?
The recording of Live Ceremonial
wasn’t very much planned. The album was delayed and we wanted to release
something new. We seized the opportunity in a gig in December 2012, because our
friends of Torturer were recording a DVD and had the set up ready to record
audio. They offered to share the expenses and we accepted it.
The band celebrates 30 years of
existence in 2015, what can you remember of the early days? What was the main
inspiration to start playing as ATOMIC AGGRESSOR and which bands influenced
you?
Yes, 30 years!!!
But we were separated for 15 years in between.
But we were separated for 15 years in between.
At the beginning I had
a lot of influences, including Venom, Slayer, Mercyful Fate, but when I
listened to Sodom “In the sign of evil” and Celtic Frost “Morbid Tales” I
decided to start a band. But for me the band really started in 1988, when we
decided to play death metal and recruited Alejandro and Jaime. In that moment
we defined Possessed and Morbid Angel as our main influences.
How did you live the Chilean scene back then,
what were your feelings and thoughts from the inside?
The Chilean scene was
very amateur but there was a lot of talent and friendship. We had a lot of gigs
and usually the sound quality was awful, but the fans always supported the
bands. There were a lot of fanzines too. I think Chilean scene was specially
active and productive for a small and poor country.
If I´m not wrong there were many shows back
then, and a lot of bands came from abroad to play in Chile, do you remember any
special show?
In Santiago there were
2 main venues: a small stadium called Manuel Plaza and an old theater called
Sala Lautaro. There were gigs almost every weekend. I remember shows with some
bands from Brazil and Uruguay, like Vulcano, Angkor Vat and Inner Sanctum. [CULT and amazing bands! - Chris]
Personally I´d say that the Chilean scene was
as prolific as the Brazilian scene but
without the existence of a label like Cogumelo records, would you dare to say that if a strong label
lie Cogumelo in Chile supporting all those young but talented bands the Chilean
scene could have had a major impact outside South America?
Certainly to have a
record label could have been a great support for the Chilean bands in those
years. Chile is a very remote and small country, so it’s been always harder for
Chilean bands to be noticed in the rest of the world.
Are there any chances of touring Europe soon?
Yes, there are!!! We
are now working on it, but I can’t give any details right now. It will happen
during 2015. Very soon we will inform about that.
What´s the strangest place and the most
shocking one that you have been?
In Chile under the
dictatorship of Pinochet.
Tell us about the next steps of the band.
During 2015 we will do
more gigs in Chile and maybe other places to promote Sights of Suffering. After
that, there are not fixed plans. I think we will start writing some new stuff.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
I would like to thank
you for the interview and for help us on the promotion of Sights of Suffering.
Keep it brutal!
http://www.hellsheadbangers.com/
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