INTERVIEW: ANTAGONIZÖR: RAGE, RECLAIMED

Some bands play loud. Others tear down the whole fucking structure. In this scorching interview, Antagonizör speak with disarming honesty about everything that fuels their fire—from personal trauma to state repression, from internet irony to radical queerness. Their album Edgelords from Hell is more than just a sonic assault; it’s a statement of survival, vengeance, and unfiltered rebellion.

We dive deep into consent, Christianity, patriarchy, and provocation, but also into performance as healing and rage as structure. Antagonizör aren’t just antagonizing for fun (though there’s plenty of that)—they’re building a world where queerness, blasphemy, and defiance aren’t just safe, they’re sacred. This isn’t just metal. It’s catharsis in combat boots.

1. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us! Now that Edgelords from Hell has been out for a while and had time to breathe in the world, how do you feel looking back on its reception and impact?
I feel amazing. After releasing our album and the Obsessed by Evil music video, we have been asked to play some amazing festivals, including international ones like Keep It True Rising. We have gotten many stellar reviews, been asked to do a lot of interviews, and we have sold a bunch of merch and music. We sent 22 CDs to a record shop in Osaka, Japan, and they sold out in 2 hours! All this shit is crazy to me. I’ve been a performing musician for over a decade, and never before has music I’ve created had this kind of reaction.

2. The album came out swinging against control—over bodies, over belief, over identity. Was there a specific moment or event that crystallized the need to make a record this openly hostile to authority?
So the song “Hands Off”, which is about consent and bodily autonomy, was inspired by some very shocking and negative experiences I had as a teenager. When I was 17, I had just started going to underground shows and was so excited to be there. I was just standing there at some punk show, minding my own business, and this older punk dude, who I later learned was 40 years old, grabbed my ass while he was walking by. I was paralyzed and didn’t react at all because I had never been touched like that by a stranger. When I was 18, an older guy I was hanging out with groped me and tried to fuck me while I was drunk and half conscious in a hot tub. I told him “No! Stop!» when I was woken from my drunk stupor, but he didn’t stop until I freaked out and started crying. I was too scared to tell anyone except a close friend at school after it happened.

I’ve gotten a lot tougher since then, and now if something like that happened to me, I’d punch out an asshole like that in a second. I wrote that song to tell anyone listening, especially femmes and underage kids, that you shouldn’t let anyone touch you without your consent, and a revealing outfit isn’t an invitation for unwanted touching.

As far as any rebellious lyrics going against religion or the government/police go, I’ve had some personal experiences and a lot of rage inside that have led me to write these songs. I was indoctrinated into a Christianity as a child, was religiously abused, and it took a lot of time to undo the damage from that. In the US and in the South especially, I continue to live under religious oppression. We have a very significant problem with police brutality in the US, and I really hate the cops. Sorry for the long answer, but I feel like this question deserves a very detailed response.

3. The phrase Edgelords from Hell sounds like a joke at first, but it also feels like a critique of internet irony culture. Were you trying to reclaim that word from trolls—or drag it into the pit and make it dangerous again?
I wanted to reclaim it from trolls and cast it in a positive light. Like it’s a good thing to be edgy, a bit offensive to some, and go against the grain. I’ve been very rebellious since I was a kid. Our music is supposed to elicit a response from the audience, whether it be positive or negative.

4. The whole “drum slave” persona is striking—chains, domination, punishment on stage. Is that purely shock value, or does it symbolize something deeper about power structures, submission, or breaking traditional band hierarchies?
It is mostly for shock, and it is really fun to come up with inventive ways to be mean to our drum slave onstage. I also really enjoy cyberbullying him. I’ve had a lot of negative experiences playing music with men in the past, and I kind of didn’t want to do it anymore. Tzu-Wei and I used to be in an all female black metal band called Von Nacht, and after that Antagonizör was formed as an all female band. After we parted ways with our old drummer, it was hard to find another girl who could take her place. So I decided to allow a man to be in the band, but only as a slave.

5. Your live shows look like a queer apocalypse. Do you see this theater as a tool to dismantle real-world hierarchies, or as a mirror to the chaos outside?
Yeah we are just trying to have fun up there, be kind of obnoxiously queer, feminist and blasphemous. We want to push people’s buttons. I have been going to shows for a long time and have seen a lot of boring bands. We also used to not be as fun to watch until I got confident/well-rehearsed enough on guitar to go absolutely crazy onstage. Even before we started the slave thing, we were trying to make our sets more exciting by being a bit of a nuisance. We would stage brawls, launch confetti canons, or give an audience member an air horn to blow off during our set. Now we mostly just are abusive to our drum slave onstage. People seem to enjoy it a lot. It’s a fun way to get out some of your pent up antagonizing energy. And that’s what Antagonizör is all about!

6. Florida has become ground zero for anti-queer legislation and cultural policing. How does creating music like yours in that climate feel—defiant, dangerous, exhausting, all of the above?
It is therapeutic honestly. Sometimes living in this state and in this country makes me so upset that I feel like my head might explode. It’s also kind of dangerous because now the government can apparently deport US citizens and people with green cards for whatever bullshit reasons they want. But that’s not going to stop us from doing what we do. I have to write political songs from time to time because it’s an outlet for my immense frustration. If I just let it all build up, I explode at inopportune moments.

7. Metal and punk have long histories of “rebellion,” but a lot of that energy has been co-opted by macho or even reactionary scenes. How do you carve out a space that stays radical without falling into the clichés of old-school “edginess”?
Well, as much as I hate to admit it, we are rehashing some of those same traditional sexual and satanic themes that have been present in metal for decades. But that’s because they’re awesome and I am a very sexual and satanic person! Some people probably see this shit as cliche, but I honestly don’t give a fuck because I’m having a blast with this band. I write and play this music to make myself happy. Although it’s nice to have adoring fans, it’s ultimately about writing the type of music I enjoy playing. The political themes are less common in metal. Some people say there’s no place for politics in metal, but I disagree. Metal is supposed to be rebellious and push people’s buttons, and making a political statement that some may not find agreeable does just that.

8. Some people say provocation in music risks becoming hollow performance. For you, what’s the difference between provocation as a gimmick and provocation as a weapon?
You can tell when someone is just trying to be edgy, but in reality, they’re just playing a part and it’s inauthentic. We are true Edgelords through and through! Although there are a lot of theatrics in our performances, our sex charged, satanic, rage filled music comes from deep down within our black little hearts. Except our drum slave, he is just forced to be up there with us. If he had a choice, he would be frolicking through some beautiful pasture somewhere picking daisies. That’s because he is a huge pussy. I, however, am a Satanist and clinically insane. This is not an act.

9. You’ve called the album structured rage. How do you keep that rage sustainable without it turning inward or burning out, especially when it’s fueled by systems designed to crush dissent?
Did I say that? Sounds a little too high-brow for me, but my memory is a little foggy. I smoke a lot of grass. So long as I continue to live with a boot on my neck, I will be pissed off because I am a wolf and not a sheep. Good luck getting me to shut up, I got a big mouth! They’re going to have to put me in a straight jacket and a muzzle like goddamn Hannibal Lecter if they want me to stop!

10. Thanks again for taking the time. If there’s one thing you’d want listeners—especially those outside your scene—to take away from Edgelords from Hell, what would it be?
Spread evil, don’t let the bastards get you down, and go listen to Edgelords from Hell if you haven’t yet. No matter what kind of bullshit your government or your country’s culture tries to force on you, do not let them change you. Stay true to yourself, and do what you fucking want. Also, HAIL SATAN!