Interviews

AngelMaker – ‘A Modern Deathcore Septet Debuting with Sylosis Downunder’

Ricky Aarons

Co-Editor and Deathcore Connoisseur

Nov 27, 2024

7 min read

In case you didn’t know, we like love our deathcore. It’d be remiss of us not to have a cheeky chin-wag with Canadian eclectic outfit AngelMaker ahead of their first ever tour downunder supporting Sylosis in February 2025. The septet (seven-piece for those playing at home) are salivating at the thought of playing to Aussie fans in just a few months, and more than half of the seven joined us for a chat.

On the back of epic record Sanctum, the melodic heavy group are back with some fresh lineup changes, some fresh music and a fresh perspective, the Vancouver group are ready to roll. Some of the topics discussed include the deathcore emergence in Canada, new vocalist Ian Bearer, recent single ‘Relinquished‘ and everything excited Aussies can expect on the upcoming tour.

Check out the video below or read on for the best bits.

Everyone says there’s something in the water when it comes to Australian metalcore, but no one talks about what’s in the snowy mountains water when it comes to Canadian deathcore.

“People used to say that about Canada in regards to thrash metal actually. Despised Icon‘s been doing it forever. They’re kind of like the old heads of Canadian deathcore and then it’s just been in the last 10 years I think, the likes of Brand of Sacrifice – they’re a pretty new band when you think about it. But what’s in the water? I mean, it’s very clean water, fresh, maybe really high trade. There’s no reason for making angry music.”

In the past year, AngelMaker made the tough announcement to global fans that long-time vocalist Mike Greenwood had left the band and had been replaced by Rings of Saturn‘s Ian Bearer. On deciding on who would fill the big shoes, the sizable band were unanimous.

“We had a discussion where we all said ‘if we could pick one person to fill that role’, we kind of had a vote. Everyone would go around in a circle and say a name, just your perfect replacement. And we all collectively were like ‘Ian Bearer’. [We’re] good friends with Ian. We first toured with him back in 2017 on Summer Slaughter, and we became friends on that tour. He was friends with all of us – [he’s an] insane vocalist and someone who had just been out of the scene prematurely and a really good dude. It was just like our first pick.”

Bearer has slotted in ever so seamlessly into the AngelMaker camp, with new track ‘Relinquished‘ being the first opportunity for the new era of the band to gel.

“It is very validating when you have someone that’s new (and you have your concerns – you don’t know how it’s going to go integration wise, how they’re going to feel about it, and the fact that there was a display of confidence [in] trying to make him feel comfortable with the whole experience. Everything went really, really well. We’re extremely hyped on the final product. I mean, we’re still really excited about all the momentum. We’re just excited for more.”

AngelMaker have been playing the new track live across North America and they’re just getting started when it comes to new music, including the tease of a new record.

“It’s a lot of fun to play. It’s got a lot of black metal and then it goes into more of a metalcore/deathcore [direction]. It kind of encompasses a lot of things that we like to do – we didn’t have a single in mind when we were writing the record. We finish the record and then we all just sit around and listen to it and we vote on what we think the first single should be. So that’s kind of what happened with this one.”

The band are expected to play ‘Relinquished‘ and a whole bunch of new songs alongside their back catalogue in Australia.

“We’re going to try and do an all-star set. We want to give the fans a little bit of everything. We’re going to have some new stuff, but we’re going to focus on giving them the experience that they haven’t been able to have before. So we’re going to have a lot of songs that span the entire discography. We pack in a lot of songs – there’s not a lot of fucking around. It’s like we play a song, we play the next song. Just remember, seven dudes on stage, there’s a lot going on.”

Interview by Ricky Aarons (@rickysaul90)