Albums of Purgatory interview Athanator

Firstly, whats the band up to right now?

The band is formed by Kike Ramírez (Bass), Jorge "Chatarrín" Mejía (Drums),
Ed Zapata (Lead Guitar), Jimmy Ocampo (Vox & Rhy Guitar)

How would you describe the Athanator sound?

Thrash Band mostly. But we search musicals figures adapted to a heavy
sound. Our pieces are constantly changing in rhythm and stressing the
fastest parts in a better way, modulating, moving into tonalities. We play
fast, technical, harmonic and fun.

How did you get involved with the band?

Well, we began playing with dudes from different bands, just for the sake of
loving music, willing to learn as we can. Little by little our bands got
stronger in the local scene and with them us as well. We finished together,
we've met each other for a long time, but playing in different bands after
all.

Can you remember your first gig (how did it go)?

Sure!! It was in a small town, two hours from city, It's called Santa
Barbara. It was a festival along with 7 more bands; all of them recognized
and with a lot more experience than us, but for a very weird unknown reason,
people already knew our songs, (we only had a two month Rehearsal Demo tape
released in the underground marketing); we only played 6 songs, sound was
stinky, It was in a deaf coliseum with a quite dangerous stage, but it was
very funny.

Are you involved in any other projects and if so how do they compare to
Athanator?

Personally no, I have devoted all my life, work and energy to this project
ATHANATOR, as well as Kike, but Eder has another band called Estigma
(something softer), and Jorge plays in an old rock covers band called
"Requiem" .

What are your favourite Athanator tracks?

Tough,, Uhmmmm Every time we compose and arrange a new song it becomes my
favorite. But if the challenge it to choose among them. songs like Gothic
Hunt and Murderous Dreams from our album are couchy to play. Among the
covers. I love Seasons in the Abyss (Slayer) and The thing that should not
be (Metallica)

What are your favourite all time songs?

Still harder."Floight of the icarus", "The Trooper" and the "The rhymes of
an ancient Mariner" (Iron Maiden), "Master of Puppets", "Battery", "For whom
the bell tolls"(Metallica), "Hell Awaits", "Black Magic" , "Angel of death"
(Slayer), "Dirty deeds." "Black in Black", "highway to hell" AC/DC..well
there are millions.

What the first record you ever bought?

Ohhh Fuck!! I don't remember very well. I think It was "Killers" (Iron
Maiden), or "the number of the beast", anyway, my fist mission was to
collect al the Iron Maiden Vynils/LP's.

Which album was it that got you into metal and can you explain why?

I am a big fan of Rock since I remember, due to the influence of my older
brothers, who were used to listen to Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Van
Halen, and so.
Specifically they were Metallica, Slayer and Venom who took me to metal
'cause It was the contents of my first tape.. a mixture of "Kill 'em all",
"Show no mercy" and "Black Metal" in that order. I was caught by the Heavy
sound, speed and crudeness of this sound as well, compared to what I have
listened before. Besides, Lyrics were curious and fascinating.

Whats the last album you purchased and what did you think of it?

"wicked is my name" (Raise Hell). It's really good. It's a great band; with
technical speed and very fun). I like songs like "Hellborn" and "the
haunted house".
I' ll recommend it!! Try it out!!

What would be your dream band line-up?

Max cavalera - Voice (Ex - Sepultura)
Lars Ulrich - Drums (Metallica)
Steve Harris - Bass (Iron Maiden)
Kerry King - Guitar (Slayer)
Diamond Darrel - Guitar (Ex - Pantera)
Absolute Madness!!

If you could do a cover for a tribute album to any band, which song of which
band would you pick and why?

Je, Je, Je. Well We already did a Tribute to Slayer with 12 songs. But if I
could Choose another band/song I would get "The rhymes of the ancient
mariner" (Iron Maiden) 'cause I would be a good challenge from which we
would learn a lot.
That's what we really like from making covers. Learning from the masters.

What do you think of the position of metal and music in general today?

" New Metal". It really stinks!!!, It's full of rap and jumpy bong rhythms.
Although It has some interesting elements 90% is pure shit. Personally, I
stay with the classics: SLAYER, KREATOR, DESTRUCTION, OLD - METALLICA, OLD
-SEPULTURA etc. However, there are some new and funny bands. Definitely, I
can't stand either fusions or little keyboards around.
Which other bands stand out for you at the moment?

Aside from the ones I have mentioned: Old - Anthrax - Ozzy - Therion - Death
- Hellbastards - Destruction - Tankard - Carnal forge - The forsaken -
Napalm death - Audioslave and old bands like Fogath, Yes, Ten years After,
an so on and so forth.

Do you have any funny stories about the band you can share with us?

Hundreds of them. We're always having fun. But something really funny was
when went to play to a small city called Palmira where we our hotel was a
red house, sluts everywhere. Well, It was cheap to stay there a night a we
fucked all night as well. The thing was that next day we didn't have any
money in our pockets, just a bass and a guitar 'cause whores had stolen us
everything including our return tickets.

and finally, what do you see in the future for Athanator?

Our second album pressed and released by a foreign company, re-editing our
first album, a lot of concerts, lot of fun and so much, so much study and
practice to be better musicians