Madvice are a young, but killer old school thrash band and here is a little chat I had with band member Asator.

Where were you born and where did you grow up?
Me, the frontman, I am born and grown up in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy and so did it Marco, our drummer. Maddalena, guitar player, and Raffaele, bass player, are both born and grown up in Naples, Campania, Italy.

So what you like growing up? Big family or small family?
Each one of us is grown up in a small family.

Were you big time into music as a teenager and if so what were some of the bands you liked?
We spent much time with music since we were young, I have started to sing in 1996 when I was 18 and Maddalena, Raffaele and Marco have started to play when they were younger than 18. The bands that have forged our way to play are Metallica, Nevermore, Pantera, At The Gates and Necrophobic.

When you discovered underground music, did you get into it right away or did it take a few listens?
Personally I loved underground music since the beginning, especially thrash metal, death metal and black metal, and so it has been also for the rest of my band

Is this your first band?
No, I have started to sing in 1996. I had Neurotomy (gothic thrash metal) from 1999 to 2002, STR8 (nu metal) from 2003 to 2015, Phalenae (blackenef doom metal), a side project from 2014 to 2016 and my actual band, Madvice (death metal) since 2016.

Was Madvice already around when you joined?
No, I am a founder member of Madvice and I am the one who chooses the name for the band.

Speaking of how did you come up with the name for the band?
I tried to find something original, a name of just one word, easy to remember. I mixed up two words, "mad" and "advice" and I forged Madvice.

Who came up with the band’s sound, which is fantastic by the way?
First of all, thank you so much! Our sound comes from our will of writing music without limits. Our music is extreme because we also are so. Maddalena is our Mastermind, she has the ideas on the beginning and we develop our songs all together. I write lyrics.

Where do your lyric ideas come from?
My lyric ideas comes from my dark side and from my hate for god. I usually write lyrics when I am angry at something or someone, when I am happy I prefer to stay with people I love. This is the reason for the cruelty and the darkness of my lyrics.

Who are some of your favorite singers?
For clean vocals above all James Hetfield and Warrel Dane. For screaming vocals Dani Filth, Johan Hegg and Mikael Stanne.

You were in bands STR8 and Phalenae. Tell me a bit about those 2 bands.
STR8 is a nu metal band in which I sang mainly using clean vocals. Nu metal is not my favorite genre, but I loved this band and the guys in STR8 are my good friends. We recorded two albums: "Soul Inside?" in 2006 and "No More Flames" in 2015. Phalenae was a studio project of extreme metal, we recorded an EP, "Oblivion", in 2015. I really loved the darkness in this EP!

How did you end up on Time to Kill Records? Were there any other labels interested?
We had four labels interested to our work, we have chosen Time to Kill Records because our label boss is an important person in the underground music world here in Italy. So we thought he could help us to become more important.

Did they give you any kind of budget to record or did the money come out of your pocket?
We have recorded the album by ourselves, Maddalena is also a sound engineer and a great music producer. And so we can do just what we want to do!

Why the Tears For Fears cover? Why did you pick that particular song from them?
It's a good question. Maddalena wanted to do the cover of this song, she loves eighties music. In the beginning I was a little bit uncertain but now I have to say that I really love our version of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World".

Do the band members all get along?
Yes, we get along at all, we are friends and we have the same ideas about music. We are really glad about this line up!

How do you and the label plan on promoting your new release?
The boss of our label takes all the decisions about the promotion, he has the contacts and the experience to do what is the best for us. We are just focused to do our best playing live and we hope to do an European tour as soon as possible.

How does the coming of a song come together?
Usually, Maddalena brings the main idea, with the precious help of Raffaele, Marco makes his drums patterns and, in the end, I add my screaming vocals.

As a band do you have any goals for yourselves?
For now, the main goal is to play live supporting the band we love. And for the future, never say never!

Do you plan on doing any type of touring?
We have already started to play live here in Italy, we are working on the organization of some European mini-tours for the next year and we would like to play in festivals supporting famous bands. Time to Kill is helping us on this.

What have the reviews and feedback been like so far on your debut?
So far we had two reviews, 4/5 and 8/10, we are very satisfied because of this good results; and I have to say that during our shows people seem to appreciate our music. I think it's a very good beginning!

Who designed your band logo and album cover for your debut release?
Our graphic artist is one of the best here in Italy. His name is Roberto Toderico, he worked also for Asphyx and Sinister. He made our logo and our album cover.

For those who have never heard of the band, what would you say the band sounds like and do you feel your original?
It's a very interesting question. We play death metal with thrash metal and black metal influences. We are similar to old At The Gates but we have something of Pantera and Nevermore and my screaming, my lyrics and some guitar riffs are in black metal style. Having many different influences is good, because we can share the stage with death metal, thrash metal and black metal bands. And I think that deathsters, thrashers and blacksters could like our music.

How does a song come together?
Usually, Maddalena brings the main idea, with the precious help of Raffaele, Marco makes his drums patterns and, in the end, I add my screaming vocals. Maddalena perfectly knows my way to sing and to write, so she finds every time the perfect atmosphere for my lyrics and my voice.

How do you all get along as a band?
We perfectly know that Maddalena is our Mastermind, she has a great experience and she is the most talented of us, so we completely trust her. Personally, I have a very bad personality, I am fucking self-centered, but Maddalena knows perfectly how to work with me! Raffaele and Marco are very kind person, they accept the way I am! Hahahahah

Please plug any band websites.
Asator This is the link to our Facebook page https://m.facebook.com/madviceband/
This is our Instagram https://www.instagram.com/madviceband/
This is our YouTube channel https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCM9pamJVEfh4XIsbImweCGQ
And this is the link to our official lyric video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y-cQx0H2zI
This is our Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/3A7FMMANpS5r1J9Ce8YQPK (On Spotify there is a track called "intro" that is not a song of us, I don't know why it's there!)

Any last words to wrap this up?
First of all I would like to thank you for this interview, we really appreciate it. About Madvice, I want to say that this is our debut album but we are not rookies; Marco is younger than us, but me, Maddalena and Raffaele have over twenty years of experience, so I think that "Everything Comes to an End" is a mature album. In my opinion every extreme metaller could like it.

Interview by Chris Forbes

January 2019