EMQ’s with ANGELIC DESOLATION

EMQ’s with ANGELIC DESOLATION

Hi everyone! Welcome to our new EMQ’s interview with Denver, CO based ‘American Razorgrind’ band Angelic Desolation. Huge thanks to guitarist Matt Markle for taking part.

What is your name, what do you play, and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?

My name is Matt and I play guitar in Angelic Desolation out of Denver Colorado. The bassist Chris, vocalist Jay and I have been friends since middle school, so we’ve done music together in some form or another for a while now. It wasn’t until our drummer Max joined the band in 2014 that we started taking things seriously. We put out our first EP with this line-up that same year. Since then we’ve opened up all of the major extreme metal festivals here in Denver, toured the southwest, have put out a full-length album and are about to enter the studio for our next EP.

How did you come up with your band name?

Nothing too crazy, it was actually an ex band member who came up with it. We liked it then and we still like it now, so we’ve decided to keep it.

What country are you from and what is the Metal/Rock scene like there?

We’re from the United States, specifically Colorado and the metal scene here is thriving. There’s an extreme metal scene in just about every single state, some of them are much larger than others of course. The United States doesn’t put on nearly as many giant festivals as Europe, but the music is alive and well over here.

What is your latest release (Album, EP, Single, Video)

Our last release came out in June of 2018, titled: “Rumpus Time Is Over”. It’s a full-length release with 9 tracks showcasing our style that combines grind, thrash and death metal. Our style was given a moniker by another local band from the Denver scene and we’ve just decided to run with it as it describes us pretty well: American Razorgrind.

Who have been your greatest influences?

Musically speaking you can hear some Cryptopsy influences, Aborted and some Cattle Decapitation. Maybe even throw in some Revocation. Outside of musical influences, pretty much anything that is wrong with the world we’ve probably touched on at some point.

What first got you into music?

For me as a guitar player, it was a combination of Jeff Hanneman, Kirk Hammett and Dimebag. Between the three of those guys there are riffs for days and plenty to inspire you to be a guitar player.

If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?

I think a collaboration between us and the band Iced Earth could be interesting. A super epic death metal-power-opera would be fun to make.

If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?

I think most metal musicians would love to play Wacken. I can’t imagine how insane that would be to see a crowd that large and people killing each other to our music. That would be the dream.

What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?

Other than the occasional dick or tit pic that comes in through DMs (is that really a gift?), we have had people gift us our own stage props. We feature a lot of dead babies with umbilical cords still attached on our stage and it’s always fun to have a fan steal one during our set or send you a picture of how they decorated the room with it.

If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?

We write music that we enjoy playing and our stage shows can get pretty gruesome sometimes. We appreciate each and every one of you that enjoys what we do. We are very thankful that our creations, whether it be stage props or music, are appreciated enough that people continue to want more. It really inspires you to keep moving forward.

If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?

That’s a tough one but it would have to be between Jeff Hanneman or Chuck Schuldiner. One of them arguably birthed the death metal genre and the other one has some of the most iconic riffs ever heard in metal so that is a very hard choice. I don’t think I could choose; I would have to flip a coin.

What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?

I’d say my favourite thing is the creation of music. Anyone who’s a musician knows how good it feels when a new song is completed and you jam it out with the band for the first time. Nothing can replicate that. The thing I hate, is stairs at a venue. Those can just forfeit their right to oxygen as far as I’m concerned.

If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?

I don’t think that I would put extreme metal at the forefront as that would take away the underground and cool factor of it. However, I would get rid of all of the garbage that is on mainstream airwaves and put some other genres on there as we all know the only music on earth is not mumble rap and pop music.

Name one of your all-time favourite albums?

I’m going to pull an album out-of-left-field here and say “Tubular Bells” by Mike Oldfield (Incredible album – Rick). That’s a 52-minute, single song album where he plays 20-plus instruments by himself. It’s an instrumental masterpiece and to think that he recorded that in the analog days where you only get two or three takes is insane.

What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?

My personal favourite is CD’s. I’m definitely not trying to drive around to find a cassette player, that’s a big waste of time. However, I do have a very large vinyl collection, but I hate it. I’m sick of carrying this crap around haha.

What’s the best gig that you have played to date?

Best gig would have to be 2016 Summer Slaughter. That was a stacked death metal bill with the likes of Cannibal Corpse, Nile, Suffocation, Krisiun, Revocation, Ingested and a few other heavy hitters. We talked to Paul from Cannibal before hitting the stage and asked him to at least watch one song and told him how much that would mean to us. We only got to play for 20 minutes but he stayed for the entire set and that was an indescribable feeling.

If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?

That’s a hard one to say but probably something involving self-employment. Teaching guitar maybe? I don’t know, I just don’t like the idea of making somebody else rich.

Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?

Gene Wilder, Salvador Dali, Oderus Urungus, Anthony Bourdain and Charles Manson. That’s gonna get weird real quick and would likely be amazing to witness.

What’s next for the band?

We are hitting the studio on June 1st to record a 4-track EP titled: “Quorum Of Unspeakable Curses”. We will be tracking with Taylor Hahn of Hahn audio and it will be mastered by Ted Jensen of Sterling Sound, known for his work with Gojira, Pantera and Carnifex. Ideally, we’re looking at a late summer release.

What Social Media/Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
facebook.com/angelicdesolationofficial
instagram.com/angelicdesolation
twitter.com/angelicdesolate
angelicdesolation.bandcamp.com
youtube.com/channel/UCkhhVJNdsXViKQ65BQ45tCQ
soundcloud.com/angelicdesolation
sptfy.com/angelicdesolation

Jaffa Cakes? Are they a cake or a biscuit?

Well, the word cake is in the name, so I think that question answers itself. However, they are biscuit sized so to end the entire discussion we’re going to call it a biscuit cake, end of story.

Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?

Be sure to follow us on all of our social media for the most up-to-date information regarding what we were up to and thank you for taking the time to read this interview. Stay brutal.

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