INTERVIEW: Peter Sandoval from Terrorizer

There is one name that towers above all others regarding extreme metal drumming and percussion.

Peter Sandoval.

Stepping away from his famed gig with Morbid Angel in 2010, Sandoval found solace in Jesus Christ and took time out to recover from an operation to repair a prolapsed disc. The lauded percussionist is back and has a new album to promote, Terrorizer’s Caustic Attack.

Blast beats, dynamic rhythms and tight riffage envelope the listener as Sandoval, bassist/ vocalist Sam Molina and the very talented percussionist from Monstrosity, Lee Harrison (guitars), serve what is likely to win ‘album of the year’ in the extreme metal category in many journalist’s year end lists.

At 3am Australian time (1pm Florida/ EST), Sandoval discusses Caustic Attack, his Christian faith and Morbid Angel.

“It’s a mixture of many things. It’s like a roller coaster. We have a lot of variations. Every song has its own way. (Some) songs that I will describe as grindcore, and there’s other songs which are more like a mixture of death metal, like extreme death metal.

The final recordings, the sound is so good. The natural feel of the sound of the toms and these drums came out superb…  I only trigger the kick drums and everything else is mic’d perfectly in the studio where I recorded it, those guys are very good at that. This album is like a comeback. This one has a lot of fast songs as you know, every song is just track after track of brutality”

That’s part of Sandoval’s lengthy response when asked how he would describe the album to someone who has yet to hear it. As far as the writer is concerned, this is potentially the most important album of Sandoval’s career, certainly it is a masterwork, second only to Morbid Angel’s brilliant Covenant (’93).

The proclamation of Sandoval’s newfound faith in God caused a stir among the extreme metal hordes. However, if it wasn’t for his discovery of scripture and the enduring message of Jesus Christ during his hiatus caused by a prolapsed disc … fans may have heard the last from him via Terrorizer’s Hordes of Zombies (’12).

“God… had a lot to do with my recovery. God, he transforms people’s minds. You get transformed through his son, Jesus Christ. God, he chooses, he picks his people pretty much because I didn’t go there and try to look for him in a church or on a TV channel or whatever.

In fact, I was watching TV one day and I was going through (the channels). One of them happened to be a Christian channel and I started to listen it a little bit and then suddenly that was what happened… that was the transformation. So, God had a plan for me from the very beginning, that has helped me by number one with the recovery process on my back. I would say God has a lot to do with my healing”

It is inevitable that when Sandoval’s percussive performance is mentioned, Morbid Angel come to mind. As many fans are aware, they are back sans Sandoval. The revamped line-up and an album, Kingdoms Disdained (’17), has been added to the bands revered cannon of work.

The production on Kingdoms Disdained is a point of contention among fans and journalists. Guitarist Trey Azagthoth offers a spirited performance yielding more than a few choice cuts, however the production quality emphasises grit over clarity burying Azagthoth’s superb Van Halen-esque technique. Sandoval’s successor in the group, Scott Fuller, did an admirable job on the recording, but… he’s not Sandoval, whose performance is a crucial aspect of the classic Morbid Angel sound.

Discussing Kingdoms Disdained and the inevitable comparisons between it and Caustic Attack, it was very interesting to hear that classy Morbid Angel bassist/ vocalist Steve Tucker reached out to Sandoval to include him in the tour to support the album.

“I almost did a reunion with Morbid last year, for this last tour they did in America. Steve Tucker, he likes me so much that he convinced Trey to ask me to join in the tour and learn the songs, some of the songs on the new album they did, and to play a lot of the songs that I did on the albums that I play with Tucker. I don’t mind a lot of the songs that I did with Tucker. I don’t mind doing songs from Domination (’95) either.

But the bottom line is like at the end, you know… I had approved. I said, ‘yeah, I want to do it… ‘. Steve was even so happy, he even sent me the set list and he sent me the songs to choose from some of the other albums, like “Bil Ur-Sag” ( Formulas Fatal to the Flesh– ’98). The problem is still… Morbid Angel remains a satanic band. They have these symbols on stage, it means a lot to Trey’s religion.

But… it was him (Azagthoth) who changed his mind and said, ‘no, we’re going to use the same drummer (Fuller) since he’s the drummer on the audio recording. He has the right to play the album live…’ Trey said that ‘maybe next time’.

The next time? There’s no next time. There’s never. I never joined the band to play with Trey. I never play with (David) Vincent (long time Morbid Angel bassist/ vocalist). Why? Because those guys are super, super Satanic, and not because they are bad people. You know… to each his own.”

What might have been…

Fans have a great reason to celebrate Sandoval’s comeback via the superb Caustic Attack. Long may the revered percussive icon offer albums containing his signature groove and brutal blast beat onslaught.

Caustic Attack is out 12^th October via The End Records. Pre-order/ purchase the album here: http://smarturl.it/CausticAttack