Announce the Apocalypse is a metal band based out of Detroit, Michigan that formed in 2007. I had the pleasure to sit down and have a chat with the lead guitarist and vocalist, Damien Rage. -What got you into the music world? “The first time I was introduced to metal, was when I heard the album, Master of Puppets. I remember hearing Battery and that changed everything. I was thirteen, and at the time, I was listening to bands like “The Offspring”—pop-punk bands. I knew of Metallica, but it was mostly Enter Sandman; stuff of their Black Album. When I heard Master of Puppets, it changed my life because it changed the way I saw music and I started listening to “heavier” bands, like Slayer—I bought Hell Awaits not long after. -Who are your biggest influences? “It was mostly the “big four” minus Anthrax—so Megadeth, Slayer, and Metallica, but I was also growing up in the time when metalcore was at its peak. I was listening to bands like As I Lay Dying, All That Remains, Unearth, but they also had many thrash influences incorporated in their sound—so pretty much the metalcore scene from the mid 00′s and then 80′s thrash were the biggest influences.” -Has Your style changed since the first album you’ve done as a band? I’ve heard your first record and it was great but what have you done different on this new album? “Well, on the first record (Ruins), we went with more of a nostalgic sound because we were trying to finish what we started back in 2007-2008. When we decided to get back together we took a lot of the old songs and touched them up, but they didn’t change too much, we just progressed as musicians, but all the riffs stayed the same. We needed to get it done, get it out in the open, get it off our backs because that’s where we started. But now we are focused on an album that will really express our sound and where we are heading.” -I know you were into thrash before but what pushed you to do more death metal this time around? “When I heard Behemoth’s, The Satanist—that’s what changed my perception of music—for how we should sound. I heard that record and immediately was drawn to how dark, heavy and melodic it was. I wanted to develop a sound of what is happening in our world right now—I wanted to sound heavier and darker—I feel like thrash metal is too light; it’s just not heavy enough, ya know? The world is so fucked up. We had to do something different, something that hasn’t been done before, so that’s why we’re trying to change up our style: to keep with the tone and feel of the world we live in. There is still thrash metal influence, there is black metal influence, and death…I don’t really know what our genre is right now” -How did you pick your band name, Announce the Apocalypse? “I thought of that name when we were about seventeen. It just sort of came about and we stuck with it; when we came back together we decided to keep the name because it worked, ya know? Ultimately it doesn’t matter what your name is—I mean look at the fucking Beatles—that’s a stupid name, but they are legends. It’s more about the music, have your music and lyrics speak for the band, forget the name” -What do you hope for the future of your band? “The next step is to finish the second album; it will probably be done some time in the summer of 2018. We are hoping this record will give us the attention we deserve; our first album was fun and cool, but this new one will really define our sound; it is the sound, we will stand by from here on out.” -Last thing, do you have any advice of future bands out there right now? “Just be original, and write songs people want to hear—songs that are good and will sell records to sustain the bands longevity. Most people in the mainstream see this art as noise, but that will probably never change. Write songs that mean something.” I want to thank Damien Rage and his girlfriend for allowing me to interview them. You can check out Announce the Apocalypse’s first album, Ruins on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon or any other media device. Look out for their new album, Denouncement, which will be released sometime in the summer of 2018.
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