Interview with death metal band from Chile - ATOMIC AGGRESSOR.
Answered by Enrique “Kike” Zúñiga / guitarist & founder, thank you!
Recenze/review - ATOMIC AGGRESSOR - The Occult Forces (2026):
Ave ATOMIC AGGRESSOR! Greetings from the catacombs in Chile! While preparing for this interview, I dug out all the albums of yours that I own over the weekend. I found out (and a friend confirmed it) that the first one we got was the 1991 demo “Resurrection.” You know what’s interesting? I haven’t found a single weak album in your entire discography. How is that possible? Do you have a secret formula for it? To maintain such a high standard of quality for so many years.
Ave! Thank you very much for the compliment, though we honestly don't think there is any secret formula.
If you look at our history, we have a very small discography for a band that started in 1985, partly because the band was completely inactive for 15 years between 1992 and 2007. We have simply never been a very fast band when it comes to writing.
Our "secret," if any, is that we are extremely critical of our own work. We analyze every single riff and arrangement, discarding anything that feels like filler, sounds unoriginal, or simply doesn't pass the "Atomic test” hahaha. Furthermore, our core musical parameters have remained unchanged since 1988: Possessed, old Morbid Angel, Slayer, Sodom, Celtic Frost… We create music for ourselves.
Anyway, your new album “The Occult Forces” is out, and it immediately became one of my most-played albums. When you listen to it, you feel like you’ve traveled back in time to the ’90s. It’s excellent! How did it come together? And how does ATOMIC AGGRESSOR actually create new material?
We are glad to hear you are enjoying The Occult Forces. The album was released on August 28, 2026, through Hells Headbangers Records. Although we wanted to release it sooner, it took almost seven years after our 2019 EP, Invoking the Primal Chaos.
Our composition process is very collective. Usually, Julio or I (Enrique) start by creating initial riffs and home demos on the computer. Then we bring those ideas to rehearsals, where all four members work together on the arrangements, tempos, and structures. Once the musical part is solid, Alejandro writes the lyrics.
In the whole process we are very critical and aware of making music that fits in the band style.
I’ve always really loved the sound on your albums. “The Occult Forces” is no exception. Where did you record the album? How did you achieve such a gritty and dense sound? To me, it sounds like it was recorded analog or am I mistaken? Interestingly, the sound of this recording strikes me as very similar to that of your previous album, “Sights of Suffering.” Do you have a strong say in how the album should sound, or do you leave it up to the sound engineers?
Thank you. For The Occult Forces, the drums were tracked at CHT Estudios with engineer Cristóbal Arriagada, while the rest of the recording, mixing, and mastering process took place at Audio Custom Studios under engineer Seba Puente.
Achieving an organic, gritty, and dense sound is a very deliberate goal for us. We strongly avoid hyper-polished, digital, or over-triggered productions because when everything sounds too clean or mechanical, the sinister and visceral spirit of Death Metal is lost. One fundamental element of our sound is that we still tune our guitars in E (standard tuning) recorded with real tube amps.
We maintain total control over our sound. We actively discuss the tone of every instrument during recording and mixing to ensure we get a natural, heavy, and analog feeling rather than a sterile digital product.
I’m an old-school fan and I’m really particular about album covers. Who designed “The Occult Forces”? That artwork is so great to me that I set it as my computer desktop background. Can you tell us how the artwork relates to the music on the new album? How did you all get together, and how did the album cover come about?
It's an honor to hear that you set it as your desktop background! I (Enrique) have been responsible for designing all of the band's artwork, logos, and covers since our beginnings in 1985.
The artwork is directly connected to the music and its underlying concept. Specifically, the illustration represents the occult forces that manifest when interacting with dark entities and rituals that escape human control, capturing a sense of helplessness and torment when facing forces beyond our comprehension, linked to our love for Lovecraftian horror.
For this cover, I explored various ideas that would symbolize those occult forces through a memorable and iconic image, and we discussed them together as a band before I started drawing. My main visual influences remain classic 80s album covers and the artwork of H.R. Giger.
You’ve been playing as a band since 1985, and two of the original members are still in the band. That’s not very common. Haven’t you ever gotten sick of each other? Have your opinions on how your music should sound ever changed? You know how it is some people prefer blondes, others brunettes. Then all it takes is a few harsh words. Someone once wrote somewhere that a band is like a family. How’s that working out for ATOMIC AGGRESSOR?
Alejandro and I are the remaining members from the original 1980s era, and then the band dissolved for 15 years. Julio joined us during our 2007 reunion, and Álvaro became our official drummer around 2012.
Like any family, we certainly have our disagreements, especially when composition moves slowly or when balancing rehearsals with our jobs, wives, and children, but our bond is very strong.
Fortunately, we never argue too much about how Atomic Aggressor should sound. Our musical compass has been crystal clear since 1988: pure old-school Death Metal in the vein of Possessed and old Morbid Angel. Since our direction is so well defined, we don't try to reinvent ourselves or follow trends. We just write what we love.
The good thing about today’s world is that we have the internet. Well, it depends on the situation, but at least I can watch your concerts remotely. It’s not quite the same the sound on YouTube is always kind of weird but based on all the available information, do you mainly perform at big festivals? I’ll be blunt: I’d really love to see you live, but there’s nowhere to do so. Are you planning a tour? I could imagine you, MASTER, and maybe even AUTOPSY. That would be a dream come true for me. No, seriously what about ATOMIC AGGRESSOR and concerts? What would you say to a trip to Europe with a stop here in the Czech Republic?
Regarding festivals, we play a bit of everything. We’ve been lucky to do some bigger shows—like playing The Metal Fest twice here in Chile, San Luis Metal Fest 2026 in Mexico alongside big international bands, and recently Kill-Town Death Fest 2026 in Copenhagen. Also we’ve shared stages with icons like Slayer, Venom, Possessed, and Obituary here in Chile. But honestly, when we tour, most of our shows are in small, intimate underground venues.
As for playing in Europe and visiting the Czech Republic, we actually just finished our second European tour last month, including dates in Denmark, Holland, Belgium, the UK, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Poland, and Slovakia. On our first tour, about 10 or 11 years ago, we did play a show in Prague. This time we didn't have a stop in the Czech Republic, but we're always open if a local promoter reaches out. It’d be great to play for the Czech headbangers again.
Just yesterday I was talking with a friend at a pub about how everything has changed so drastically in recent years. Everyone has the internet in their pocket; young people are now more influenced by images and videos than by music and lyrics. Nobody reads much anymore; we agreed that a lot of things have become more superficial. Maybe it’s different in South America, but here in the Czech Republic, I see it every day. It’s no different in music. As a musician, how do you perceive these changes in society? We have a lot of new technology, recording studios are better equipped, and ideas can be sent over the internet.
It is no different in South America, we see the exact same shift here. Modern technology obviously brings great advantages: we can record demos at home, share songs ideas instantly between us, and reach people worldwide in seconds.
However, we do feel that some of the original commitment, physical effort, and mystique has been lost. In the late '80s and early '90s under in Chile under Pinochet's dictatorship, everything required physical labor. We had to write physical letters, trade cassettes by mail, print zines by photocopy, and meet outside the "Rock Shop" record store in Santiago every Saturday to exchange music. Because everything required real sacrifice and effort, music had a deeper value for both musicians and fans.
Today, instant access can make music consumption feel more rapid and superficial, but we still believe that true underground bangers exist, the ones who still buy physical media and support honest, uncompromising Metal.
It’s a different world now, even when it comes to labels and record companies. ATOMIC AGGRESSOR is a band that, for me, is synonymous with underground death metal. We have Bandcamp and YouTube; labels can distribute your music faster, and it reaches more people. But you know how it is vinyl is vinyl, and cassettes and CDs have their own charm, too. Have you had to change your approach to releasing your music at all? Or do you still stick to the old ways, and new trends leave you cold?
While we utilize modern digital tools like Youtube, Bandcamp, Spotify for music or Facebook and Instagram for news and promotion, we remain complete advocates of physical formats. Holding a vinyl, CD or cassette in your hands and enjoy the artwork printed in paper is an irreplaceable experience. Working with labels like Hells Headbangers, Rawforce or Melipulli has been fantastic because they genuinely understand and support that vision.
You founded the band in 1985. But all of you were once at the beginning of something new. I really love the old school of death metal. I like that it’s so dirty and raw. What were the ’90s and your early days actually like? Please take a trip down memory lane for us. Which bands did you enjoy going to see? Who was your role model? Feel free to throw in a funny story I’m sure you have plenty.
In our early days between 1985 and 1987, we were basically a group of neighborhood friends in Ñuñoa, a district in Santiago, who didn't even know how to play our instruments. It was a very amateur garage project with an unfocused, "schizophrenic" mixture of hardcore punk, thrash, and early proto-death metal. We rehearsed with extremely precarious gear in my grandfather's garage or behind our drummer's house, making noise with whatever we could gather.
There was an incredible energy and brotherhood in the Chilean underground scene back then. We used to meet every Saturday at noon outside the Rock Shop, the only record store in Santiago to exchange cassette tapes and fanzines, which was our primary way of discovering new music.
If we look back at the shows we loved attending, the legendary Death Metal Holocaust I in December 1985 stands out. It was the first true thrash recital in Chile’s history, featuring pioneer acts like Dorso, Belial, Crypt, Rust, Pentagram, and Massacre. Also it was awesome attending the first show of Kreator in 1992, the first big international concert in the country.
As for our role models, what inspired us to start a band were Sodom’s In the Sign of Evil and Celtic Frost’s Morbid Tales in 1984-85. Once we solidified our Death Metal path in 1988, Possessed and old Morbid Angel became our ultimate benchmarks.
We have plenty of stories from those days! One curious memory comes from a show at Sala Lautaro, in Santiago. My girlfriend at the time (who is now my wife) had to film a show for a university project. A classmate of hers happened to be dating a very famous co-host from the massive Chilean TV show Sábados Gigantes. He offered to help as our cameraman. The crowd in the pit couldn't believe their eyes seeing a famous mainstream TV personality on stage filming a dirty Death Metal band, but they treated him with great respect because he was helping us out.
Another memorable experience was a winter gig in Valparaíso at Teatro Mauri, where the promoter completely disappeared with the money after the show. We were left stranded without a place to sleep and ended up spending a freezing winter night sleeping outdoors in an open lot overlooking the bay.
I ask every band this question, and I’m really interested in your opinion. What does death metal actually mean to you? How would you define it? On ATOMIC AGGRESSOR’s albums, it’s very clear that you put everything into your music that it’s played from the heart. As a fan, that’s how I perceive it. So, what does death metal mean to you…?
For me, Death Metal is not just a style of music; it is a vital form of expression and a creative necessity.
To preserve its true soul and honesty, Death Metal must strictly remain in the underground. The moment a band tries to become commercial or mainstream, it loses its reason for being. Underground metal is an attitude, it means maintaining a critical view of the establishment, the markets, and dominant institutions like the church, while creating music freely without commercial demands.
Musically, it is defined by its obscure, sinister, and organic atmosphere. I don't care about clinical, empty virtuosity just to display skills. For me, it is about heaviness, rhythm changes, and a dark, visceral energy played straight from the heart.
To wrap things up, one classic but important question. What does SADISM have in store for the near future? Can we look forward to a new album from you guys? Or, and I truly believe this will happen, will we finally get to see you on a club tour in Europe? If you have anything on your mind that you’d like to share with fans, labels, or promoters, this is your chance…
I think there might be a slight mix-up in your question, or perhaps you are asking because of my personal history! I actually played guitar in Sadism for twelve years between 1997 and 2009. Sadism are our brothers; we grew up together in the Santiago underground, sharing the stage at Sala Lautaro almost every weekend back in the day. Sadism is currently active with its own lineup and continues to release great records.
However, speaking for Atomic Aggressor, as you know we have recently released our second studio album, The Occult Forces, through Hells Headbangers Records. While the album took much longer to finish than we wanted due to some member’s personal issues, we are completely satisfied with the result because it represents a natural continuation of our style.
Right now, our main focus is to keep playing the new songs from The Occult Forces everywhere we can. Another tour to Europe would be awesome, but no plans yet.
Thank you so much for the interview. I really appreciate it. I’m a longtime fan of ATOMIC AGGRESSOR, and this has actually made one of my dreams come true. I wish you lots of sold-out shows, may your fans snap up your merchandise, and I look forward to your future music. Hopefully I’ll get to see you live as well. May you also thrive in your personal lives. ATOMIC AGGRESSOR RULES!
Thank you very much for your great support and for taking the time to talk with us. Hearing from dedicated bangers who have supported us is deeply gratifying.
To all the readers and maniacs: keep supporting your local underground scenes, attend the shows, and buy physical formats. Without your passion and dedication, this movement simply cannot exist.
We hope to see you on the road very soon. Stay brutal and stay underground!.
Death 'till death!
Recenze/review - ATOMIC AGGRESSOR - The Occult Forces (2026):
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