AngelMaker

About AngelMaker

AngelMaker started in North Vancouver in 2011, when the local deathcore scene was already pretty saturated but apparently had room for one more band willing to push the brutality even further. The original lineup centered around vocalist Matt Perrin and guitarists Colton Bennett and Johnny Ciardullo, with the group immediately establishing themselves as the heavier option in a genre already defined by heaviness.

Their 2012 self-titled EP got them noticed in the right circles. It wasn't reinventing anything, but the breakdowns hit hard enough and Perrin's vocal range was disgusting enough that people paid attention. They followed it up with "Decay" in 2013, which refined their approach without sanding down any of the rough edges. By this point they were touring regularly and building the kind of dedicated following that deathcore bands cultivate through relentless live shows.

The first full-length, "Dissentient," arrived in 2015 and marked a clear step forward. The production was cleaner, the songwriting more developed, and tracks like "Leech" and "A Dark Omen" showed they could write actual songs instead of just stringing breakdowns together. It's the album that got them beyond the local scene and onto bigger tours supporting acts like Despised Icon and Carnifex.

Then Perrin left in 2017, which could have been the end of things. Instead they brought in Casey Tyson-Pearce from Alterbeast, whose style was different but fit well enough to keep things moving. "Self-Titled" from 2019 was their first record with Tyson-Pearce and it showed a band willing to experiment within their framework. More technical riffing, more atmosphere, songs like "Radiance in the Light of a Dying Sun" that stretched past the six-minute mark without losing momentum.

The lineup shuffled again when bassist Matt Perrin returned, but this time as bassist rather than vocalist. They added guitarist Nate Beale to flesh out the sound. "Sanctum" dropped in 2021 and felt like a band finally comfortable in their own skin. The sound was massive, the production courtesy of Josh Schroeder gave everything room to breathe, and tracks like "Brothel" and "Birth of Death" balanced brutality with actual memorability.

They've spent the past few years touring consistently, hitting festivals and making the rounds with other heavy acts. The Canadian deathcore scene has produced plenty of bands, but AngelMaker has outlasted most of their contemporaries by actually evolving instead of just getting heavier for the sake of it. They're not changing genres or going soft, but there's a musicality underneath the blast beats and gutturals that keeps things from becoming wallpaper.

Currently they're active and writing, still based in Vancouver, still uncompromising but also not stuck in 2012. That's probably the best you can hope for in this genre.

Their shows are physically demanding affairs where the pit becomes genuinely dangerous. Crowds are locked in, not performing—everyone's there for the weight of it. The band delivers with zero showmanship, just sheer pressure. Mosh pits form immediately and rarely break. Definitely not a first-date venue.

Known for Bait and Switch, Incomplete, Hate, Lost, Cannibal

See AngelMaker Live