DISCOG DISSECTION: Altarage - "Apocalyptic Dissonance as Doctrine"

 

Few bands embody sonic hostility like Altarage. Emerging from Bilbao’s shadowed depths, they’ve built a discography that doesn’t just challenge listeners — it punishes them. Their music is faceless, formless, and fiercely uncompromising, a testament to death metal’s most experimental fringes.

Their journey began with “MMXV”, a demo that snarled with intent, followed by the suffocating debut “Nihl”, where dissonance and decay reigned supreme. “Endinghent” pushed further into the abyss, layering industrial dread over tectonic riffwork. With “The Approaching Roar”, Altarage refined their assault — sharper, more immediate, yet no less punishing.

Then came “Succumb”, a descent into ritualistic noise and mechanical rhythm, followed by “Sol Corrupto”, which blurred the line between death metal and sonic architecture. “Worst Case Scenario” and the EP “Cataract" continued the evolution — chaotic, abstract, and hostile to convention.

Altarage don’t perform music. They construct sonic monoliths and let them collapse on top of you. No names. No faces. Just pure, unrelenting extremity.

THE SLUDGELORD: Cast your mind back, when did Altarage first become conceptualized because now that you’re no longer anonymous, people may not know this, but you were the founder, principal songwriter, singer and guitarist for HOTR. While you might not view your writing as markedly different, there is an obvious and dramatic shift in tone from that band to Altarage.
 
I started this as a personal project at the same time I was writing the final HOTR album, in early 2014 but the seeds were planted about 2010, I think. I was revisiting the two demos I did with my band Burial back in 1992 and approached my two old bandmates to get those songs recorded for the album that never was recorded,  but they were not into it so I kind of dismissed that option and started to write a more brutal album for HOTR, being “Grengus”.  A friend told me that I should start a Death Metal band again but I was comfortable doing this mix of things in HOTR. And so “Grengus” came as a very heavy record and Summoning Deliverance was even heavier and the next batch of songs was too much for HOTR so that´s when I decided to put them aside and create a proper environment for them in Altarage. There was no plan at all beyond recording an album but, slowly, the project became what it is today.
 
THE SLUGELORD: You mention you just write music and perhaps see yourself as having more in common with bands outside the sphere of extreme metal, maybe even more of a rock band. However, you must listen to a lot of dissonant rock bands, because your debut album 'NIHL' is certainly not as accessible as say Boston—or perhaps it is, if you’re a fan of dissonant music, haha. Can you say a few words about the conception of that record? Did you finish HOTR and go straight into that record? Also, forgive me for saying so, it sounds a little rough around the edges (was that by design) compared to 'Succumb', which seems more polished?
 
Well, I see ourselves having more in common with bands like The Melvins, High on Fire, Confessor or Soundgarden than with black metal bands out there, because I think we do things our way and try to not stay in one place all the time. Of course, Death Metal is our root but there´s so much going on. The “NIHL” album was recorded in early 2015 and HOTR was still functioning until the break up in December of that year, so I was doing both for a couple of years or so. Xanpe worked on the last three HOTR albums and did “NIHL” too but I needed to direct him on this new approach, doing an over the top production, totally on purpose, yes. I remember him trying to understand the sounds in the first Impetuous Ritual album was like a mindfuck!
I love Boston, by the way.
 
THE SLUDGELORD: You’re five albums deep now and it has been nearly ten years since your debut. Did your approach to each album change from one to the next? I’m guilty of failing to read liner notes, so it may be there in black and white—but did you change producers, mixers, studios, guitars, amps, and perhaps aim for something different album to album?
 
6 albums, since “Sol Corrupto” is a full length. Every time the songs are different and no matter what you do, the sound will be different too. We always try to do the best albums for us but the approach is always the same: we record live in the studio seeking the best performances and sounds. Sometimes we work with different engineers and studios just to try new things.
 

THE SLUDGELORD: You may not want to nor be able to answer this, but what would be your personal rating for each album? Can you say a few words about each album and what do you think AI would say about them?
 
Actually, I don´t give a flying fuck about AI.
I cannot rank the albums but I can tell you this:

“NIHL”
I don’t know where it came from but the riffs started to flow nonstop, although there was a huge work and changes in the actual songs until we hit the studio in spring 2015. The production was over the top, just getting away from cleaner sounds

“ENDINGHENT”
We down tuned the key to make it weirder and heavier, but the mix was something that differed from the actual sound in the studio,  hat was monstrous. The overall production is something we despised in the beginning, but the songs were huge. We are at peace with its clarity now.

“THE APPROACHING ROAR”
Here, although the majority of the songs are fast, with blasts and all, there is a sense of something breathing underneath, roaring, with a pulse of doom, and the first hints of drone.  A good way to forget the bit of deception we had with the previous album.

“SUCCUMB”
This was planned as a shorter album than it was. I kept writing songs, at first destined for the next record but, in the end, decided to include it here, because they were ripping. It was recorded and mixed by Xanpe, who did “NIHL” too and it can be noted for the over the top nature of it, culminating with the huge drone piece at the end.

“SOL CORRUPTO”
This was a long time coming. Since 2017 we were talking about doing something doomier and different. The drone tentacles were everywhere. One of my favorites LPs.

“WORST CASE SCENARIO”
I remember hearing in my head a lot of Confessor and Atheist at the time of writing this collection of songs. The production was cleaner than it was intented at first but, in the end, it was perfect for what it was.
 

THE SLUDGELORD: Recently you decided to play two shows as a regular band. Did you find the anonymity and being in a box present a challenge, hence the decision to become unmasked? To the eagle-eyed, many of us have speculated that current Wormed drummer Gabriel 'V-Kazar' Valcázar is in the band?
 
In recent times there has been like a flood of hooded or masked bands, as it was a genre in itself. At first we did it to get the focus on the music only, not saying where we came from regarding bands, but you know what? Nobody cared because they see a masked band picture and they get to the conclusion that you play the same music as this hooded or that masked band! Blackened whatever…  A lot of people listen to music with their eyes.

You almost hit the jackpot but no. Our drummer is the vocalist of Wormed, Phlegeton.
 

THE SLUDGELORD: Finally, now that you’re unmasked, what can we expect from Altarage 2.0—a new album, tour?
 
2.0? Haha, all stays the same. We have a new album about to be released that will speak for itself, and some live activity for 2026, it seems.
 

Check out my favourite Atarage albums below, let me know your thoughts, do you agree and how would you rate them? (I didn’t include “Sol Corrupto” because I thought  it was an EP)

5).
 
⚔️ “Worst Case Scenario” issued September 15th, 2023

 
🩸Stand out track(s) “Enigma Signals”, “Case Full of Putrid Stars”, “Cataract”, “Gift of Awakening”, “Verdict”, “The Rigid Subject”

4).
 
⚔️ “NIHL” issued February 26th, 2016

🩸 Stand out track(s) “Devicet”, “Womborus”, “Graehence”, “Baptism Nihil”, “Vortex Pyramid”, “Batherus”, “Altars”, Cultus”,

3).
 
⚔️ “Endinghent” issued October 13th, 2017

 
🩸 Stand out track(s) “Incessant Magma”, “Spearheaderon”, “Cataclysmic Triada”, “Rift”, “Orb Terrax”, “Weighteer”, “Barrier”

2).
 
⚔️ “Succumb” April 23rd, 2021

🩸Stand out track(s) “Negative Arrival”, “Magno Evento”, “Maneuvre”, “Foregone”, “Drainage Mechanism”, “Watcher Witness”, “Lavath”, “Forja”, “Inwards”,

1).
 
⚔️ “The Approaching Roar” issued January 29th, 2019

 
🩸 Stand out track(s) “Sighting”, “Knowledge”, “Hieroglyphic Certainty”, “Cyclopean Clash”, “Inhabitant”, “Chaworos Sephelln”, “Werbuild”, “Engineer”,

DISCOG DISSECTION: Death - "A Legacy in Death Metal"

 

Often considered as the first “true” death metal band  and the early pioneers of the genre, Death was formed in Orlando, Florida under their original guise of Mantas by the legendary Chuck Schuldiner. Creators of what is (widely considered) the first “true” death metal album, 1987’s debut “Scream Bloody Gore”, Chuck Schuldiner remained the band’s driving force, sole consistent member, and principal songwriter until his untimely death in 2001.

Schuldiner's vision and musicianship not only helped shape the band (from their raw and more primal beginnings) but evolved the genre itself into something more technical and progressive, utilizing different time signatures and incorporating his varied influences into the mix. 

With each subsequent release following their debut, each album would evolved and with it brought about line-up changes (seemingly the more technical it became, the talent needed to fit the style) until their final release of their final album and (arguably their best) “The Sound of Perseverance (1998)”

Admittedly, when I started to get into metal (back in the early nineties) when Death were beginning to establish themselves, I was very much stuck in one lane in terms of musical tastes and perhaps my ears just weren't ready for death metal at the time and so almost 40 years later since “Scream Blood Gore”, I have rectified my error and can only reinforce what is already widely known, Death are indeed true pioneers and it is testament to the brilliance of Chuck Schuldiner that his discography sounds as fresh and unique today as it did back in the day.    

Check out my favourite Death albums below, let me know your thoughts, do you agree and how would you rate them?

7).
 
⚔️”Leprosy” issued November 16th, 1989

🩸Stand out track(s) “Leprosy”, “Forgotten Path”, “Left to Die”, “Open Casket” “Primitive Ways”

6).
 
 
⚔️ “Scream Bloody Gore” March 25th, 1986

🩸Stand out track(s) “Infernal Death”, “Zombie Ritual”, “Denial of Life”, “Sacrificial”, “Mutilation”, “Regurgitated Guts”, “Baptized in Blood”, “Torn to Pieces” “Scream Bloody Gore”

5).
 
⚔️ “Spiritual Healing” issued February 16th, 1990

🩸 Stand out track(s) “Living Monstrosity”, “Altering The Future”, “Defensive Personalities”, “Within their Mind”, “Spiritual Healing”, “Low Life”, “Genetic Reconstruction”, “Killing Spree”

4).
 
⚔️ “Symbolic” issued March 21st, 1995

🩸”Symbolic”, “Zero Tolerance”, Empty Words”, “1,000 Eyes”, “Without Judgement” “Crystal Mountain”, “Misantthrope”, “Perennial Quest”

3).
 
⚔️” The Sound of Perseverance” issued September 15th, 1998

 
🩸 Stand out track(s) “Scavenger of Human Sorrow”, “Bite The Pain”, “Spirit Crusher”, “Story To Tell”, “Flesh and the Power it Holds”, “A Moment of Clarity”

2).
 
⚔️ “Individual Thought Patterns” issued June 22nd, 1993
 

🩸 Stand out track(s) “Overactive Imagination”, “Inhuman Form”, “Jealousy”, “Nothing Is Eveyrhing”, “Mentally Blind”, “Destiny”, “Out of Touch”

1).
 
⚔️ “Human” issued October 22nd, 1991

 
🩸 Stand out track(s) “Flattening of Emotions”, “Suicide Machine”, “Together As One”, “Secret Face”, Lack of Comprehension” “See Through Dreams”, “Vacant Planets”