Interview by Kris Peters
Sydney based merchants of death metal Anoxia are about to unleash their debut EP, a crushing four track metal journey called Languish In Suffering.
Still a band in their infancy, Anoxia have been swiftly making a name for themselves, scoring a number of high profile supports and festival slots based solely on the strength of their 2020 demo Torturous Degradation and uncompromisingly confronting live performances.
Gathering old school death metal influences and presenting them with a fresh, modern sensibility, Anoxia sound like a band ready to unleash fury, starting with a slot at this weekend's Canberra Metal Festival alongside Psycroptic, Misery, Black Rheno and more.
HEAVY caught up with drummer Marco Alvarez and guitarist Elias Niahos to find out more.
"We're pretty pumped, it's been a long time coming," Niahos smiled when asked how the boys were feeling only a couple of days out from the release of their debut EP. "We recorded and tracked a couple of years ago now but there were a few issues and it's been a long time coming so it's actually a bit of a weight off our shoulders to get it out there. We're excited for people to hear it. It's just us having fun and trying to make it as heavy and catchy as we can. Putting in effort with no corners cut, plus we have some cool artwork in there from Italy by Paolo, and we had some mates work on it with Matt Clarke who produced it and our mate Tom from Carnal Viscera who did the graphics. It's cool to get friends involved in the process as well."
"It's a fortunate thing that we have actually been in the recording process and not released anything," Alvarez added. "Not as Anoxia, but this is the first release that we've been able to do that has gone public, so it's really exciting that we actually have this roaring and ready to go. I'm excited about how far things will get and just the fact that we're doing something that is a labour of love."
In the full interview, the boys talk more about the EP and its sound, run us through each of the four songs and explain their origin and meaning, paying homage to the past while keeping an ear on the future, upcoming shows, future plans and more.