Formed in the heat of Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1986, ANIALATOR quickly added their name into the underground Thrash Metal scene with a sound that was as intense as few other bands of the moment could be. With a history that spans decades and a legacy built on pure aggression, the band continues to evolve, while remaining deeply rooted in the genre’s primal energy. In this exclusive conversation with Alex Dominguez, founding member, bassist and the first driving force behind ANIALATOR, he guides us through the band’s origins, their pivotal years with Wild Rags Records, the internal changes that defined their path and their thunderous resurgence with Xtreem Music. Whether you’re an old fan or you’re just discovering ANIALATOR, sit back, turn the volume all the way up and let’s read the story of one of Texas’s Thrash Metal icons.
Hi, Alex! Finally we’ll have the pleasure to have you on board. I’m very excited to get the chance to know directly from you about the history of ANIALATOR and discuss a few things here. I’ll do my best to sound the least boring I can and I hope this interview doesn’t feel like a “Mission Of Death” for you (just joking). So, let’s start from the beginning, let’s talk history: ANIALATOR was formed in 1986 (39 years ago) and independently released its first demo, “Demo 1987”. What did you have in mind putting on the table a band like ANIALATOR, when bands like DEVASTATION (where you collaborated playing the bass) or ANGKOR WAT were also circulating in Corpus Christi at the time?
“Thank you for your interest in ANIALATOR and for this interview. After spending a year playing bass for DEVASTATION, I ended up leaving DEVASTATION and formed ANIALATOR. This was around 1986. I came up with the band name first before I started looked for members. With ANIALATOR I wanted the music to be fast and also have some Hardcore and Heavy Metal elements mixed in. With bands like DEVASTATION and ANGKOR WAT, who were making a name for themselves around Texas, ANIALATOR needed to write music just as brutal as these bands to keep up with them. Each of these bands, including us, all sounded different at the time.”
Your first ANIALATOR line-up featured you on bass, Alonzo Garcia on drums, David Cerda on guitars, Marc Arispe on vocals (R.I.P.) and Mark Olivo on guitars (we’ll talk about him later if you’d like). How did you all meet, and how did you come together to form such an aggressive force like ANIALATOR?
“I met Mark O. through a mutual friend. Mark was in high school and knew Alonzo, they went to the same high school. Mark O. introduced me to Alonzo Garcia. I met Mark Arispe at a local show. Mark Arispe was also still in high school, he knew David Cerda, they both went to the same high school. At one of our band practices Mark Arispe bought David to try out. Thats how ANIALATOR was formed. was lucky enough to find these guys who loved Thrash Metal as much as I did. We all incorporated our influence into ANIALATOR’s music, bands like SLAYER and METALLICA, KREATOR etc were still new bands. These bands played an important part of finding our sound, inspiring us to write neck breaking skull bashing Thrash Metal music.”
Your second release was the self-titled “Anialator” EP in 1988, originally put out by Wild Rags Records. So, let’s see… Richard C. offered you guys a deal, and things took off from there. How important do you think Richard’s behind-the-scenes work was in promoting ANIALATOR within the underground scene? Do you believe the band’s trajectory would have been different if you had signed with another label at the time?
“Both EPs and a picture disc is what Wild Rags Records put out. Our first EP had no title, it was just called “Anialator”, or it’s referred to as the white album, since the album cover was all white with just our logo on the front. The second EP also had no title, people started calling it “Anialator II”, or the red album, because it was released on red vinyl. To this day I still don’t know why we never came up with titles to our albums. Richard C was very important to ANIALATOR. When we signed to Wild Rags Records in 1987 you have to remember there was no internet, social media, email, cellphones. Everything was done by snail mail (a stamped envelope with a letter inside, for you young people reading this, just in case you didn’t know what snail mail is) or by land line (a telephone). Richard was the one who made ANIALATOR known worldwide. He had a long list of contacts, zines, college radio stations from all over the world. I would get interviews just like this one in the mail from Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, Spain etc. He networked like crazy just to get his label known globally. Wild Rags Records was a tiny label out of California, who had good distribution worldwide and got our albums in a lot of record stores. Now if we would have been signed to a label like Combat Records like DEVASTATION or Metal Blade like ANGKOR WAT we would have been a bigger band no doubt in my mind. Those record companies had PR departments with a full staff to help launch record releases where as Wild Rags Records was a one man show, but Richard C. knew how to make things happen and worked hard to push and get his bands on his label out there.”
If I’m not mistaken, “Anialator” (1988) is the release where Marc Arispe’s voice was last captured for the band. As I understand it, he wasn’t really interested in the creative process, which ultimately forced you to kick him out. What would you say was the biggest change for the band after he left the band?
“Yes the 1988 release was the last time Mark Arispe recorded with ANIALATOR. I can’t remember why he actually left or what was the reason for kicking him out of ANIALATOR. The biggest change was going from a five-piece, that looked and had a lot of energy on stage live, to a four-piece. The biggest challenge was to find a replacement, who had a voice that fit our music. We tried out a lot of people, but a lot of the people trying out couldn’t do out of state shows or had girlfriends that wouldn’t let them practice as often as we did. But also this syle of singing was new to alot of vocalists in our area 1986. There were plenty of high pitch vocalists around, but hardly any vocalist who sang rough. It was taking longer to find a singer than we expected. So at one of our practices Mark O. was just fucking around, turned on the PA and started singing, I think it was the song ‘Filicide’. We thought if he practiced enough he could pull it off and after a few months of band practice it all fell into place.”
I understand this might be a tiring subject, and if you’d rather not discuss it, that’s totally fine, but I’m really curious… So, Marc Arispe was “fired” at that time and Mark Olivo then took over on vocals (while still handling guitars) for the “3+2” demo, which was also released through Wild Rags Records. Mark Olivo was one of the founding members, and I personally think his vocals were great. So, was there really a need to dispute the band’s name? You were friends and bandmates, after all. What happened?
“In 2015 I fired up the war machine and brought ANIALATOR back from the grave. What brought the band back was our EPs selling on Ebay, promoters on Facebook wanting to book the band, people uploading our EPs to YouTube etc. New fans started discovering ANIALATOR’s music. So Mark O., who had played guitar in maybe 15 years, was still around doing his own thing. I bought him back and used the guitar players that I had played with before in a band called SUFFERANCE. We started booking shows. Mark O. ended up only doing a few shows and he decided to leave ANIALATOR to take care of some family issue. Once he left their was no contact between us. I found another singer and kept booking shows. To make a long story short. In 2017 we signed to Xtreem Music out of Spain. We released “Rise To Supremacy” in 2018. At that time Angel Gonzalez was the vocalist in ANIALATOR. Around 2020 I decided I wanted to find new members and start working on the follow-up to “Rise To Supremacy”. That’s around the time Mark O. decided to form his own version of ANIALATOR. The only problem with that is I own the trademark rights to the name. I came up with the name and the spelling in 1986. It’s a unique way how I spelled annihilator and a Federal judge ruled in my favor. He had been out of the band for five years. I put my money and my time into ANIALATOR, even got the band signed to a label and for an ex – member to think he could just come in and use the last two guitarists I just replaced and call it ANIALATOR, that wasn’t a smart move. Now to the question about Mark Arispe vocals vs Mark O. vocals. Mark Arispe vocals were more rough and gravely. Mark O’s vocals were raspy and a bit more easier to understand. To me Mark O. had more control over his vocals and had a better vocal style.”
Musically speaking, what would you say was the most significant difference you noticed in the band’s sound when Mark Olivo took over the vocals department?
“To me there wasn’t any noticeable difference. Except the vocal tone. On the second EP we slowed down alot. I can’t remember if that change was due to Mark O. taking over the vocal spot or we just wanted to slow it down.”
Lyrically, ANIALATOR’s music explores quite dark and disturbing themes, primarily centered around violence, death and despair, which is easily identifiable in the cover art the band has used throughout its discography. Are there any other topics ANIALATOR would consider addressing in the near future, or will the band maintain the same direction? Ultimately, we continue to experience the same “winds of war” around the globe, don’t we?
“Well death, war and destruction was an easy topic to write about in 1986. Ronald Reagan was president, we weren’t getting along with Russia and the threat of nuclear war was the topic on the news stations. To this day we have a new president, but the same problems around the world. I’m sure some people would find it odd if we started covering topics about street justice, partying, drugs and booze hahaha. Now on this new album, “Death Is Calling”, we do have a song called ‘Iron Grinder’ that has nothing to do with war and destruction and more about people who are backstabbers and snakes in your inner circle, who you can’t trust. Sometimes you just want to take care of things you know a certain way to end all that bullshit, so that’s what ‘Iron Grinder’ is about. Who know what the future holds for ANIALATOR when it’s time for lyrics to be written.”
“Anialator II” (from 1989) was the last EP you put out through Wild Rags Records. Could you share with our readers why the band left Richard’s label at that moment?
“After I put ANIALATOR on hiatus in 1990 and formed the band SUFFERANCE I decided to try and find a bigger label to get SUFFERANCE on. I never approached Richard C to see if he would put out a SUFFERANCE album. We just stop talking and communicating.”
Precisely in 1989, you formed another band, SUFFERANCE, which wasn’t directly related to ANIALATOR but had a similar vibe. SUFFERANCE was active for about ten years or so, releasing three demos, a split and the “Existing Anger” full-length album in 1997, then SUFFERANCE ceased to exist. During this time, ANIALATOR was on hold, but I have to be honest with you: I always felt SUFFERANCE’s sound was a continuation of ANIALATOR. Why did you choose to create a new band instead of simply bringing ANIALATOR back on track?
“SUFFERANCE actually had two full length releases and a demo. The demo was a two-song cassette self-titled. That was released in 1990. In 1993 we released a full-length called “Seed Of Hatred” on cassette. Then in 1997 we put out a full-length called “Existing Anger”. It might have been just a coincidence that SUFFERANCE’s music sounded like it was a continuation of ANIALATOR’s music. Both bands had different guitarists, with different styles. I feel the SUFFERANCE music was more of a Groove Metal element compared to ANIALATOR’s all out Thrash Speed assault. Mark O. was on the SUFFERANCE two-song demo playing guitar and singing. He then left SUFFERANCE and we became a five-piece again finding a vocalist then adding another guitarist. So the new guitarist’s in SUFFERANCE never wrote anything for ANIALATOR. That’s why I think it’s just a coincidence that people think that.”
Now we’re in 2015… You guys started playing live shows again, and this prompted Xtreem Music to react, with Dave ultimately releasing that amazing “Mission Of Death” compilation that essentially brought ANIALATOR back into the format in 2017. Shortly after (2018), and again through Xtreem Music, ANIALATOR released five new songs on the “Rise To Supremacy” EP. Essentially, after that (with the exception of the “1990 Unreleased EP + 1987 Demo Sessions” compilation, released through Weird Face Productions), ANIALATOR has been with Xtreem Music. What would you say has been the main difference between, for example, the work done by Richard C. at Wild Rags Records in the late ’80s and the work now done by Dave Rotten at Xtreem Music?
“Richard C. did an excellent job getting Wild Rags Records and ANIALATOR worldwide recognition without the help of the internet, email, social media. Dave Rotten and Xtreem Music has also done an excellent job promoting ANIALATOR. It helps when the head of Xtreem Music (Dave Rotten) is a long time fan of the band. The PR company they use, Imperative PR, is an awesome company always on top of things. So both Richard and Dave have done an excellent job.”
Will you guys continue with Xtreem Music for future releases? Any news on that?
“Xtreem Music has done alot for ANIALATOR.They have pushed our releases and got us into magazines worldwide. If I need help with anything that has to do with the band I can count on Dave to come through. We in ANIALATOR have nothing but respect for him. Plus he has his own bands so he knows what will work and what won’t work when releasing a new album. He is pleased with the sales of “Death Is Calling”. When it’s time to start recording the follow-up to “Death Is Calling” I’m sure Xtreem will be the label that we go with.”
Okay, time to talk about “Death Is Calling”, your latest full-length album, also released via Xtreem Music last October 2024. I must admit that I found it to have a more “modern” style, and that I evidently belong to the more “classic” ANIALATOR sound. I’ve also seen and read very positive feedback about the album, and I’m quite sure that many people will be introduced to ANIALATOR with this new piece of aggression. What new perspectives, whether political, religious, or social (if any), did this line-up consider when writing the music for this new album? Did you intend to stick to the tradition of previous releases, or did you want to share a new perspective from the band?
“First off, when we recorded “Rise To Supremacy”, we tuned down the guitars way down and went with a more modern type of recording. I thought the finished product sounded too modern and that ANIALATOR had lost it identity. So when Jd De La Rosa joined the band and we discussed what direction I wanted the music to go in, the first thing I mention was we needed to tune the guitars back up to D standard and try and recreate the style of our first EP. Go back to making a Thrash album with Thrash riffs and aggression.”
How did JD De La Rosa and Tony Gomez join the band? Are they staying for the long haul?
“I have known JD for a good ten years now. Before he joined ANIALATOR he helped us out with some shows, filling in on guitar and a few other shows on drums. He’s a double threat. He is a master on guitar and drums. It so happened when I was looking for new members. I called up JD to ask if he would be interested in playing guitar for ANIALATOR. I didn’t know at the time, but he had just left his band SEVERANCE, so the timing was right. As for Tony, I have known Tony since the late ’80s. We both are from Corpus Christi, TX. I am older then Tony, but Tony has always been a part of the underground scene in Corpus Christi. We would see each other at shows and we ended up starting a band called KILLAMORA in the early ’90s. So when I was looking for a vocalist I just asked Tony. He has great stage presence and knows how to work the crowds. As for staying for the long haul, I sure hope. Both these guys are very chill easy to work with and they both bring a lot to ANIALATOR with their talent. Every ANIALATOR album has had different members. I believe they will be around a lot longer then past members.”
To wrap things up, Alex: Is there any new underground Heavy, Thrash, Death or Black Metal band from Texas that you would definitely recommend right now?
“Yes, NECRO BLADE, ex – MORBOSIDAD guitarist Joe Necro’s band. HEXELLA, this is JD De La Rosa wife’s band. JD plays guitar and drums on the album. WAR CULT, that’s our vocalist Tony Gomez’s other band, KING IN YELLOW and KRYPTIC MUTATION, bands that our drummer plays in, Daniel Garcia. LABYRINTH, NEMESIS, INFURIATOR, SKULL ARCHER just to name a few.”
Okay, that’s all for now, Alex. Thank you very much for taking the time to answer this interview.
“Thank you Oswaldo for the interview and supporting ANIALATOR!! Cheers brother.”
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Oswaldo Gonzalez