APHELLION

// This one’s been a long time in the making, so I’d like to give a big and warm METAL MILITIA welcome to Maryland’s own speeding death brigade, APHELLION. I’ve been friends with this group for quite a while and they’ve been steadfast in supporting this zine from the very beginning. While they have no officially released music out yet, they’re working on a demo (that I know is gonna rip) that should be out in the next couple of months. You can find footage of them playing online and once you see, you’ll believe. I had the chance to speak with the guys in APHELLION about where they are and where they’re headed. Enjoy! //

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(From left, middle, right, back): Andy the “Executioner,” Luke the “Mutilator,” Zac “Berserker,” Jack the “Maniak” (2025)

Hello! Would you mind giving a quick introduction on yourselves and APHELLION?

↪ Andy: We’re APHELLION and we play speeeeeeed metal, I’m Andy I handle lead and rhythm guitar.

Zac: I'm Zac and I also handle rhythm and lead guitar.

Luke: I’m Luke THE MUTILATOR and I’m vocals and bass guitar.

Jack: I'm Jack and I hit animal skins with sticks.

Tell me about APHELLION’s history. How did you all meet and what made you want to join forces? Did you all agree initially on what kind of metal to play or was it more of a “let’s see what happens” situation?

↪ Andy: It’s funny actually, APHELLION started as kind of a joke with some online buddies of mine back in 2021. I made a knock-off HELLOWEEN/BLIND GUARDIAN style track just to send around under the name APHELLION. I decided the name was too good to waste on a pretty unfunny joke, so I decided to use it for a project I was trying to do at the time anyway. It wasn’t until 2023, when I really got to know everyone and the band actually started. I knew Luke and Jack from middle school. Jack, I already knew, was a total metal dude when I saw him wearing a SLAYER shirt one day and totally poser-checked him on it – he passed! Luke and I were buddies, sat at the same lunch table and had some classes, that type of deal. Around early 2023, I was really starting to seek out musicians to make this project become more than just me wanking on guitar in my bedroom and I saw that Luke was starting to really get into the old school metal thing I liked, so I hit him up and we jammed and talked. I always knew I wanted Jack in a band and even tried to recruit him for a previous band but it never happened. He was bonafide metal and was totally into the niche stuff, but I was too nervous to ask, and then Luke just did it for me and we got ‘em. Zac was totally new to us and someone I met at the insistence of my older brother who’s his guitar teacher. He knew I was looking for a second guitar player and offered him up, once again another person who was in the same sphere as us musically and we hit it off! The common musical basis was always ‘80s old school metal. Whether it be NWOBHM or the brutal thrash of the mid-to-late ‘80s, it’s the type of metal I’ve always been drawn to and what we all really like metal-wise. As of now, it’s a total “lets see what happens” situation, but with the common ground of the metal we all really like.

Zac: I remember the first time I met Andy was at an OVERKILL show. At a TOXIC HOLOCAUST concert a week or two later he introduced me to Jack and we decided that I would go over to his place and we'd jam some songs (which is how I joined the band.) I don't think we had a specific talk about what we wanted to do, but all the songs we agreed on playing and jamming together fit into that ‘80s speed and thrash metal style. When it came time for us to write our own songs, that's what we drew from the most.

Jack: Andy already covered it, but we first met when this little dude walked up to me saying, “Hey man, sick SLAYER shirt!” From then on it became every time we saw each other we got talking about metal. After that, he told me he and Luke were starting up a band and I was stoked to join. Then we recruited Zac to finish it out and we’ve been jamming ever since.

At the time of writing this, I know you’re all in the process of recording your first demo. From what I understand, it should feature all of the original songs you’ve been playing live, plus a new song called “Blood Tax.” Will there be any other surprises on the demo?

↪ Andy: Unfortunately “Blood Tax” isn’t on this demo, but don’t lose hope! It’s pretty much our live set but hopefully with an added punch through everyone’s personal stereo system.

You’re by far the youngest band I’ve interviewed thus far, so I’m curious about your songwriting process. Do you take more inspiration from certain artists than others or do you all write independently and then hash out ideas? What bands/artists have influenced you all as individuals?

↪ Andy: For me, I’ve always preferred writing my own full songs and bringing them to the table with room for input. There’s been some cool moments resulting from that, like the mini drum break on “Great War,” for example. Can’t deny there’s some serious fun when we collaborate though, and a lot of great stuff has resulted from that too. My songwriting Bible is IRON MAIDEN and RUSH – Steve Harris is my absolute idol and a constant influence in every aspect of the way I do things in the band. RUSH is another band which I’m tied to musically – they are the full package; no bullshit, the real deal, and inspire me to get better. They are also two bands who rock the integrity sticker and never made music that they didn’t back and I respect that a lot.

Zac: The song ideas that I come up with are usually inspired by whatever I'm listening to at that point. Whether it’s German thrash, blackened speed or just straight up prog rock. The way I go about writing songs is usually by sitting with my guitar and playing around until I play some riffs I like. Andy always says I'm more of a “riff guy” because most of my ideas aren't fully formed songs. I’ll record myself playing the riffs I come up with and usually Andy will help me piece them together into a full song.

Jack: I’m a huge fan of a bunch of different drummers spanning so many styles, so I love taking them all in and trying to craft my own style with them. My favorite would have to be Clive Burr of early IRON MAIDEN followed by Neil Peart of course. I’d say I love Clive for his creative work and sheer power the man brought to the table. For Neil, his technicality still boggles my mind, so trying to learn those parts definitely helps me get better as a drummer.

Luke: A lot of influence, for me personally, comes from a variety of artists all having the same part in their band as I do, like Peter Steele from CARNIVORE, Tom Angelripper (SODOM), Marcel Schirmer (DESTRUCTION), Cronos (VENOM), Sheepdog (RAZOR), and Blacky from VOIVOD, with even gothic singers like Rozz Wiliams from CHRISTIAN DEATH being a major aspect in how I present myself instrument-wise and vocally. From both their styles musically and appearance on stage, these badass dudes are the embodiment of how I am in the band and are a large part of my writing and playing styles (respectfully) with also adding my own twang to the mix.

I think APHELLION’s sound being described as SPEED FUCKING METAL – as Andy announces before launching into “Great War” – hits the nail on the head. You’re equally aggressive and violent as you are technical and melodic. Do you ever find it difficult to strike this balance?

↪ Andy: For me, all the time. It’s difficult when you want to cover so much ground but it all actually has to sound good. We’re still in our toddler songwriting stage and we’ll be figuring it out for some time, but I like the uncertainty and awkwardness it brings – sets the stage for some potentially interesting ideas.

Zac: I think that with some of our songs it's definitely hard to balance everything we want to do, especially with some of our new songs when we want some progressive elements along with thrashy and melodic parts.

Jack: Since the rest of the dudes come to me with their sadistic riff ideas followed by “Put something over this,” I find it a really fun opportunity to come up with my own parts and try to be as creative as I can be.

Luke: The hardest part is definitely balancing both my vocals and bass with the crazy technical style we go for sometimes, but that's the fun of it!

Tell me about your choices for the cover songs you play live. From what I recall, you’ve done “Emergency” by GIRLSCHOOL, “Cold Sweat” by THIN LIZZY, “Cross Me Fool” by RAZOR, “666” by TOXIC HOLOCAUST, and even a cover of JUDAS PRIEST’s cover of “The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown)” by FLEETWOOD MAC.

↪ Andy: That’s probably the most collaborative thing we do, ha! The covers are usually just “Hey, you wanna do this?” and most of the time we’ll all be like “Yeah, sure!” They’re all songs we’re digging at any given point and I like having them in the set to add some relief and fun.

Zac: The covers we do in our sets are some of the things I enjoy the most. I think it's a really great way to have fun on stage and showcase music from the bands that shaped our sound and influenced us.

Jack: It allows us to showcase our love for all kinds of tunes, cause it ain’t just thrash baby!

Luke: The covers are always a big highlight for me during our sets as changing up the way I sing is always an exciting experience, like trading vocals back and forth with Andy during “The Green Manalishi.”

APHELLION seems to have very tight live performances; have you ever done a gig that totally sucked? Who’ve been some of your favorite bands to play with?

↪ Andy: HA! You make me laugh, Will. We did this gig one time in McLean, Virginia last year – it was actually a lot of fun besides our actual performance. I attribute it to the amps being cranked to the max and none of us being able to hear Jack at all. You gotta be able to at least hear the drums. I just remember the moment we started playing; it was one big audible mess and I thought to myself, “Welp, guess we gotta thug it out.” It wasn’t like a nice controlled chaos kind of sound like most of the shows are – at some points I couldn’t even tell what we were playing. It also sucked because we did some cool amateur IRON MAIDEN shit and we “killed” our buddy Beefcake on stage during “IPKS.” Fake blood and everything! There was some serious existential talk after that show HAHA! We love any band who invites us to play and spread our shitty music around, but the dudes in NUCLEAR TOMB and DESOLUS are totally stand up and have the same boner for metal we do, so they’re like our metal uncles. Shoutouts to STAFFORD, OBLIVIATOR and GOETIA as well! IT'S OVER 9000!!

Zac: Yeah, I agree with Andy about that show in McLean being the most rough. It was definitely a learning experience though, and we've all learned that we need to hear the drums for everything to work! Another show that stands out to me was the first one we ever played, which was an outside house show in mid-January. It was expectedly very cold and I remember after the show looking at my hands and seeing how red and shaky they were due to the cold. All of the bands in or outside of the area that have been kind enough to take us under their wing I’ll always respect. Besides DESOLUS and NUCLEAR TOMB, GOETIA and DECEPTOR have been very enthusiastic about us and have helped us on our journey as a band.

I’ve noticed a change in Luke’s vocals over the course of your time playing live. He seems to have gone from a deeper, more growly style of vocals to a more shrill style like Sheepdog of RAZOR. Luke, was this an intentional change or did it just happen naturally as APHELLION has continued?

↪ Luke: It was a little bit of both actually! From the start of the band, my vocal influences were definitely more rooted in the “death and blackened” style of the metal I enjoyed, with bands like MORBID ANGEL, ENTOMBED, DEMOLITION HAMMER, etc. being my forte at the time. But with taking both theater and choir classes in high school, my voice always tended to be more comfortable when singing higher rather than lower. With the addition of getting more into classic speed/thrash metal and NWOBHM classics like SATAN and VENOM, and with even newer bands like MIDNIGHT, my voice started to change and form into my own shrill and grinding vocals you know today. Another major impact on it was definitely getting more comfortable playing bass and singing over time as when we first started the band, I was very inexperienced when it came to playing bass. I feel like my voice is definitely my biggest strength and adds to the uniqueness of our band and I love pushing it further and further each new song we do.

I’ve seen that between the guitar tandem of Andy and Zac, that you’re usually credited as lead and rhythm guitar respectively, but Zac still plays leads sometimes. In fact, Zac is the one who plays the solo on “Great War,” a song I’d argue as being your strongest. Will more APHELLION songs feature trade-offs between you two in the future, or is this more a case of wanting to categorize yourselves based on what you do the most while performing?

↪ Andy: I’ve always approached it the way IRON MAIDEN do it (surprise surprise) where none of them are strictly lead and/or rhythm – they just kinda decide for the song.

Zac: I would say that almost all my favorite bands have twin lead guitars, like JUDAS PRIEST and CACOPHONY to name a few, so I would totally be down to do some more solo trading stuff in the future. For now, I think we have a good balance of who does what in each song. When writing a song, there'll be instances of me wanting Andy to have a lead part instead of me so it depends on the song and what I'm feeling.

Does APHELLION have any pre-show rituals? How did you all conquer stagefright (if it was even present to begin with)?

↪ Andy: I think it’s funny; usually right before going on, we’re all in different spots of the venue catching up with people or walking around dreading it like me. I usually just have to turn my brain off and grab some water. When the noise starts I kinda just forget everything, which is both good and bad.

Luke: Don’t forget hitting up Taco Bell for the Deluxe Boxes.

Zac: We always go to Taco Bell or McDonald's before shows, even though we've learned sometimes that's not the best idea. I usually spend the moments before shows talking to friends or the bands we’re playing with.

Jack: Hitting up the ‘Dons before taking the cruise. Got the same table and everything – yo Andy grab the table tent!

How’s the Maryland scene been treating APHELLION? I know there’s a thriving punk scene there; do you ever interact/play shows with those bands?

↪ Andy: Everyone has been incredibly supportive and just downright kind. We haven’t encountered any dickheads just yet! Usually, we get placed on all sorts of bills which I don’t mind and honestly, I like interacting with people of a slightly different musical scene and seeing ‘em rock out to some old school metal.

Luke: We’ve had some crazy ass stuff happen crowd-wise, especially at some recent shows, but other than that everyone has been downright awesome to us.

Zac: Everyone in the scene has been very welcoming of us and no one has ever really been rude, so I'd say the Maryland metal scene is thriving.

Jack: It’s a very tight-knit community, filled with people with an actual passion for the music and not just going to go.

Seeing as you’re still a fairly fresh act, what challenges have you encountered as a group?

↪ Andy: The age thing is a bit of a stickler since we’re all still under 21 – thankfully it has not affected us that much, but it’s kind of lingering. School is a big one, I’m in college and so is Luke, and the other two dudes are preparing for it. I don’t know what the future will look like, but I also don’t care to think about it too much.

Luke: For me, it’s especially hard balancing work and my college classes because APHELLION goes above anything else.

Zac: I would say balancing the band and school has some challenges, especially when you have to go to school the day after a gig. But other than that, I think all the people supporting us have made our lives fairly easy as a band.

Lyrically, I’ve noticed that you guys tend to write about war, violence, and history. Is there any specific draw to those themes or do you think it’s just easier to write aggressive metal tunes with that kind of content?

↪ Luke: Ever since I was little, I was obsessed with the history of war and how it evolved over time, especially events happening around World War 1. A movie that stuck with me and was a major part in my writing for some of the songs was the original “All Quiet on the Western Front” and the brutality of the mud and trenches. This imagery of humanity being pushed to its breaking point with a brand new style of death and destruction really intrigued me. Also playing the Battlefield games when I was younger was a major plus. Another thing is my severe hate for posers as NO poser should feel comfortable at a show when APHELLION is there; that's what our song “IPKS” is all about. DESTROY all wimps and posers.

Outside of music, what interests do you all have?

↪ Andy: I like to write, but even then it’s about music, so I guess I don’t!

Zac: I’m into your general nerd stuff: video games, comic books, TV, and movies, but music is definitely the thing I'm most committed to. I always love hitting up a record store with the other dudes in the band.

Jack: To be honest, most of what I’m into revolves around music in some way. I’ll either be exploring a new band I’ve found or downstairs jamming some tunes on the drums (much to my dad’s dismay.) Other than that, I love horror movies – John Carpenter is KING.

Luke: I love collecting records and tapes, going out to record stores almost daily at this point. Outside of my love for music, I am surrounded by animals, working at a dog daycare and doing research on reptiles and amphibians – especially snakes. I also love Warhammer, even having an “Alpha Legion Hydra” tattoo. HYDRA DOMINATUS!!!

I ask this of every band I interview, but since you guys have no released music as of writing this, I especially want to know: What does APHELLION have coming up in the future?

↪ Andy: Big things coming soon! In all seriousness though, we’re recording a demo which will come out promptly in 2030. Other than that, we have a solid number of shows coming up and it’s looking to be a busy but fun next couple of months!

Zac: Our demo will hopefully be out relatively soon, hope you guys enjoy it!

Jack: Hopefully it’ll be done soon, but we’re doing our damnedest to make it something worth listening to.

Luke: This tape is gonna be badass man! Can’t wait for you guys to hear it. I know I am.

Thanks for entertaining my questions! Any final words?

↪ Andy: We’re APHELLION shit metal, follow us on Instagram (@aphellion_speed), and buy Will’s magazine or I’m coming for ya.

Jack: ALL HAIL THE TOOOMB!

Luke: THE POSER KILLER IS HERE TO KILL YOU ALL!!!

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Interviewed: March of 2025