Band: Apokalyptic Raids Country: Brazil Genre: Black/Death/Thrash Metal
Sometimes sudden things happen that you don't even think about anymore. It's like chaos magic, where you send out an impulse and then forget about it, so that the seed can be sown and then grow at the right time. That's what happened with Apokalyptic Raids. I emailed Leon back in the summer of 2020 and... And nothing happened. Until he replied in late 2025.
1. AM: Man, tell me what must have happened that made you check your email mailbox from almost six years ago?
AR: Hello! Well I’m very systematic about it. I save all emails, and I keep unresolved issues in my Inbox.
So when trying to clean up I answered you as well as some other unanswered interviews, just to see if the magazine was still going…
2. AM: Back then (during the fucking pandemic), I was in contact with a lot of Brazilians; I even had a separate zine dedicated exclusively to the Latin American scene. I was told a lot about the bureaucratic "quirks" of your country and how COVID sometimes completely paralyzed normal life. How did you survive those times? What's the situation now? How is Apokalyptic Raids doing?
AR: My girlfriend lives countryside 1h from Rio, so I stayed there for as long as I could.
Then I put some stuff in order like home repairs, equipment repairs, organizing and cleaning my collection, all kinds of internal works. And then there are family stuff, health issues…
In 2023, I started going to São Paulo again for business and watching some shows. In late 2024, I re-started some stuff like our own early Celtic Frost / Hellhammer cover project called Morbid Tales. I also joined local band Tyranno, which I wanted to for quite some time.
Then Victor from Whipstriker invited Apokalyptic Raids for European Tour in November 2025, so we spent this year remembering songs and doing some local gigs.
That’s the 5-year hiatus story short...
3. AM: The Pentagram was released seven years ago. We're already starting to miss new material. Is it something to look forward to?
AR: Yes.
First, we released on bandcamp some extra tracks from The Pentagram 2017/2018 sessions.
I also appeared in 2021 on the Procreating The Wicked Celtic Frost Tribute from our brothers Morbid Tales from Texas-USA (same name as my own cover project haha)
And I also recorded a track for Warhammer’s last album in 2021, released now in 2025.
I recorded some guest lead vocals for a local band called Huntdown, to be released.We started to record the 6th Apokalyptic Raids album + extras somewhere in 2019-2020, but things have been slow until now. I think next year we will be able to finish it.
4. AM: How would you sum up Apokalyptic Raids in a few sentences, looking back on the years you've been active as a band? Has anything changed significantly over the years?
AR: Ah, we changed as people, so it reflects in the band.
In the beginning we were to young and too naïve, in the first 2 albums.
At some point in 2003-2004 I decided to dedicate myself exclusively to the band, and this “second phase” brought a more professional approach, for good and for bad. We toured Brazil 2008, then South America 2010, and Europe in 2014 and 2016, then Brazil again 2017, as well as a lot of one-off shows and mini-tours like in Chile for example.
And then the pandemic simply unplugged us suddenly. Now, 5 years later, I am older, sicker, angrier and more bitter hahaha
But what really matters is the art, and I am still obsessed with recreating the naïvete and primitivity of Hellhammer, even if Mr. Thomas Fischer would take a different path in his current bands...
5. AM: What do you consider your greatest achievement?
AR: I love our latest albums’ sound the most, of course. I think some compositions and tomes will stand the test of time.
6. AM: You're definitely a live band and love performing. What was your best show? What factors mark you as a success?
AR: A high point in our history was to play with Warhammer in Oberhausen in 2014. That was so intense for all the right reasons. I think the complete show is on youtube.
The recordings on our 2015 Live album are so good too. We did 3 shows in a row in Chile, so we were really into our set. It was recorded at the third one without us knowing and it ended up perfect.
7. AM: Tell us about the technical aspects of recording you use. How, where, and on what do you record your work?
AR: We used to record on analog tapes the first 3 albums, but it is too hard to find it here, so we had to do the 4th and 5th on pro tools.
But we always go as simple as possible, miking up the drums then recording it all together with guitars, no matter small bleeds in microphones.
Then we add vocals and solos, and that’s it.
Mixing is VERY detailed and takes quite some time. I’m only satisfied with a song when I start to fail in distinguishing our recording from Hellhammer-originals hahahaha And I listened to Hellhammer thousands of times, so I know it by heart.
The studios we used for previous albums are no more. But our drummer has built his own during the pandemic, so we will probably try to record things there.
8. AM: Do you still buy and read zines? Or is the internet enough information for you these days? Can you recommend a couple of zines?
AR: There aren’t much available here anymore.
With the exception of Armamento Bélico (Old Death Metal zine)
As a grumpy 53-year old, I’m not into much new stuff these days, you know.
9. AM: How do the visuals and music come together? Do you write the music first and then create the design for it, or does the visual image come first and then you imagine the music that will match it?
AR: It goes in parallel.
I’m always after ideas for graphic art, sometimes a cover art sits there for years between planning and releasing.
As for the sound, sometimes I also have a riff or lyrics in store for years or decades before I can finish the song. Sometimes (rare) it comes in a rush, one monthe before studios…
So, there is no formula. I just go collecting good ideas until I think I have enough to structure a good album.
10. AM: Regarding physical media, here in Russia, the purchase of CDs and tapes has significantly decreased in recent years. Sometimes it seems like only old metalheads who are used to expanding their collections are buying them. How is this situation in Brazil?
AR: Same here. And add to that the shitty economy.
Our minimum wage is under 230 euros. So imagine what the average kid can buy with it: almost nothing.
And then there are a lot of shitty releases, so one has to go through a lot of new stuff to find real good stuff worthy to keep.
There are a few guys buying, some new, some old, or even rebuying their collection that they had to sell because of unemployment…
11. AM: Do you go to shows? Chile Terrorfest is taking place in December 2025, with Mayhem, Triptykon, and Sacrifice headlining. I wouldn't be surprised if you're planning to attend!
AR: I love Chile, but it is quite far from here. And I’m not into Mayhem nor Triptykon… They played in São Paulo, but I have avoided attending to. I’m not into their downtuned versions or softer/goth vocals.
I go to some shows in São Paulo (6h road from here) maybe 1-2 times a year. And the occasional local gig, but there isn’t a lot to attract me these days.
12. AM: In general, how much do you pay attention to modern bands? Can you point out anyone you've liked recently? Maybe someone from your country?
AR: Not much really. I’m into Pentacle, Hellish Crossfire, one Nocturnal album, first Quintessence album, some Heavy Metal stuff, but I think the ones I mentioned aren’t “new” haha.
From Brazil, I like Tyranno, Velho, Whipstriker, Flagelador, Cemitério, and a few others.
13. AM: How does the Brazilian extreme scene differ from the rest of the world?
AR: Here things are more raw, more naïve, for good and for bad.
All the difficulties, struggling economy, the slums, the language barrier, it all makes things here become wilder.
From your viewpoint in a cold country, we are probably midway to Africa, and in my opinion you’d be correct to say that.
14. AM: Have you heard anything about Russian metal?
AR: We know almost nothing about Russian Metal here. In fact we know little here about Russia in general.
Just some iron-curtain-era stories, those tales about records being cut on x-rays films, some occasional compilations most people can’t read names because of ciryllic alphabet, and more recently one or two more modern black metal bands.
I know sometimes some zines do specials on eastern European Metal, new or old, but it is kinda rare.
I’m the in-person kind. I’d love to visit there and get to know it in place. We learned a lot of South America and Europe in tours, that you don’t get over the internet…
15. AM: Thanks for your answers. What are your final words?
AR: Thanks a lot for your interest after all these years.
I hope the shit situation the world is now improves at some point (can we call it World War III already?) and – who knows – we’ll play more Eastern European countries and of course Russia too at some point.
Until then, please check
And also my own label Hell Music
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October 2025
Interview for Articulo Mortis