Interview with Mark Nunziata and John Edwards of Satanarchist | By Hutch
From the ashes of Portland, Oregon’s Spectral Tombs, drummer and lyricist Mark Nunziata and vocalist and guitarist John Edwards decided to forge ahead as Satanarchist. Remaining is the black metal foundation, but the blistering power and weight are reignited with tech-thrash-punk that defies and confronts. Further amazement resonates when it is revealed that Satanarchist are a duo. “We considered finding other members for a while, but settled on remaining a two-piece,” Nunziata explains. “[We] appreciated how easy it was to make decisions, schedule shows and practices—one line of communication and no dead weight.”
Their debut LP, First Against the Wall, was self-released on June 2, while they traversed Canada with Head Charger for two weeks on tour.
First Against the Wall unleashes unholy hell via riffs and staggering drumming. The technical superiority is immediately obvious, while atmosphere and presence are priorities. Boisterous production from Jared “Fester” See at Haywire Recording Studio and mastering by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege—both located in the band’s hometown of Portland—cultivate all Satanarchist’s strengths. Their songs have escalating momentum, forged by riffs that surge. They push and push, gaining relentless fervor.
The sounds stemming from this duo are perplexing. “People [say], ‘I had no idea there were only two of you until I got a view of the stage,’” Edwards notes. “Sometimes, people say we need a bass player, but those people are usually bass players.”
Nunziata adds, “The only drawback to being in a two-piece is that we always have to load and unload the, like, five people’s worth of gear we use.”
The band’s name is not simply a cool portmanteau of “Satan” and “anarchist.” Those words represent an ethos for the duo, especially after being submerged in 2017’s religious political miasma. “As the institution of religion gains traction, it becomes increasingly important to resist it,” Nunziata explains. “People can believe whatever they want, but not if those beliefs start creeping into policy or affecting other people’s rights. With so many people and politicians using religious arguments to push oppressive attitudes and defend oppressive actions, we have a responsibility to stand up and call bullshit. I am disgusted by the injection of religious ideals into politics and our personal lives, things like health care, science, education, and equal rights for people who aren’t straight cis white men.”
As Nunziata continues, he holds close the values of their namesake. “We don’t reference satanic imagery or atheism because it’s the metal thing to do,” he clarifies. “We do it as a means to communicate our revulsion toward the influence of religion in society. There’s a very real overlap between radical left politics and freedom from religion, and the relationship between them runs far deeper than just our name. And fuck homophobia, fuck transphobia, fuck ‘pro-life’ Christian assholes who cut food and healthcare for the poor.”
Satanarchist’s evil, menacing sound incorporates punk and black metal, two contrarian-based genres. Nunziata states their motivation, explaining, “We wanted to just write fun, fast, heavy shit that doesn’t rely on effect pedals or bells or whistles to make it sound good—just amps and riffs. When we started writing for Satanarchist, we set a couple ground rules. One, no doom. Two, no pedals.”
See’s production aided in extracting the malevolence and defiance via voltage and volume. “The dude’s a wizard,” Nunziata says. “He has a way of hearing your music better than you do. He’s a skilled engineer, but always ends up lending invaluable input as a producer as well.”
Edwards elaborates, “Fester is pretty much the shit for recording metal in Portland.”
First Against the Wall was then handed to Boatright. “We pretty much just let him do his magic,” Nunziata shares. “Our only specifications were: A) make sure you can hear everything, and B) make sure it has balls. We wanted it to sound good without compromising weight and be heavy without compromising clarity. With Fester, we spent far more time mixing it than I ever had on anything before. I’m pretty fucking stoked on how you can hear every little goddamn snare roll.”
The title for their new independent LP is where Satanarchist’s punk ethics seep in again. “First Against the Wall or ‘First against the wall when the revolution comes’ is an echo of radical left sentiment toward members of the elite who will face firing squads after being deposed by popular uprising,” Nunziata expounds. “References to the phrase or variants of it can be found scattered throughout radical and popular culture back to the ‘60s and ‘70s. We use it as an imagining of retributive violence against police, heads of state, businessmen, and agents of the Church who’ve committed injustices and atrocities against the people. It also invokes images of violence by the police, which we find appalling and stand firmly against. In today’s political environment, it is also intended as a reference to Trump’s border wall.”
“Imagine Trump, [Jeff] Sessions, [Paul] Ryan, [Steve] Bannon, [Richard] Spencer, [Mitch] McConnell, etc. facing a firing squad with their backs to a wall on the southern border,” he concludes. “A band can dream…”
Purchase First Against A Wall here
