Texas thrash metal has been resurrected, and Anialator is leading the charge with their latest EP, Rise to Supremacy. The heavy-hitting five-track album has been receiving accolades from metal reviewers across the globe, and the band is set for a west coast tour this fall. Alex Dominguez took a few moments to give Rock Revolt more insight into Anialator’s writing and recording process, the themes of the album, and how they prefer to connect with fans (hint: with beer and mosh pit scar show and tell).
The new EP Rise to Supremacy is badass. Did you have some fun putting it together?
Yes we did. It was fun but also a little stressful since we all live in different parts of Texas. It’s kind of difficult sometimes for everyone to meet up with everyday life going on. The fun part was seeing each other drinking some beers while putting the songs together.
Rise to Supremacy has a very defined and intense sound. How did the band work together to achieve that?
We are all fans of heavy music so we know what to inject into our songs to bring out that intensity. Our thinking process while writing songs is to picture the crowd going off killing each other. We feed off that visual.
Did you toss some song concepts aside or did they evolve into something else in the studio?
Everything we wrote to record in the studio we ended up keeping the same. Solos are the only thing that changed.
When the band gets tired in the studio, who is the main motivator to keep everything focused and moving?
We all keep each other on our toes. When one of us get stuck trying to record a certain part of the song and it’s just not clicking, we will take a short break and throw some ideas around or make some suggestions on how to approach coming into that part. That would be one example. Roland, Armando, Angel and myself are all workhorses we won’t leave the studio until the job is done no matter how long it takes.
How does one rise to supremacy?
By being resilient; always pushing forward. Never giving in, never giving up.
The band has been around many years. How do you keep the energy up and deal with injuries during performances and the other pitfalls of the genre?
Sore necks and backs is what we deal with the most from thrashing, or some people would call it, headbanging. The energy comes naturally once you get on stage the adrenaline takes over. A few bumps and bruises from unloading equipment, but no injuries.
Lyrically, what are some of the themes and subjects you covered in Rise to Supremacy?
The themes Angel wrote about on Rise To Supremacy deal with apocalyptic, doomsday type of stuff as well as the subjects of depression, chaos, and fear.
Do you have any subjects that are taboo to write about?
I’m sure Angel has a few in his book of lyrics, lol.
Do you fit the lyrics to the music, the music to the lyrics or is it a balanced creative synergy? Please give some details on that.
With us, it’s usually lyrics to music. As each song is completed, we record it at practice and give it to our singer, Angel, who usually comes up with topics and titles to the songs. He will then run it by us, and if we like it, he’ll put lyrics his to the music.
Did you have total control of this album or were there outside influences? If you did have total control what was that like?
We had total control of everything from what we wanted to use as artwork for the cover, to producing the CD ourselves. Its was great! Total freedom like that doesn’t happen too often.
You will be touring to support Rise to Supremacy in a couple months. What’s the routing and who will you be on the road with?
This will be a short run just to finish off the year. It will be a week or two weeks, mainly on the west coast starting November 10th in El Paso TX. It will be Anialator headling using local support acts wherever we play.
You also have a big show in Mexico coming up. How did that come about? Who will you be playing with?
We have a long history with Mexico. Both our Ep’s were released as one album in Mexico in 1990. That same year we played two shows in Mexico City. The promoters for Mad House contacted me through Facebook and invited Anialator to do a show in Mexico City October 27,2018. We will be headlining the show with local support acts.
What are some of your favorite moments with your fans?
Having them bring our old vinyl EPs to the show for us to sign. Hanging out at the merch booth drinking some cold ones talking about our history as a band or just talking metal. Showing us their battle scars they got while in the pit during our performance.
What else would you like everyone to know about Anialator?
We have a five-song EP out called Rise To Supremacy on Xtreem Music. We also have a song featured on the Combat Records compilation Bullets 1.0 called “Dead World Spiral” that was released in April 2018. Check out our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter accounts: @anialatortx
https://www.facebook.com/Anialatortx/
