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 love Boston, by the way.
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?
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?
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?
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
⚔️ “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
3).
⚔️ “Endinghent”
issued October 13th, 2017
2).
⚔️ “Succumb” April 23rd,
2021
1).
⚔️ “The Approaching Roar”
issued January 29th, 2019
.png)
