VOIDHÄMMER - All That Is Rotten... (Usa - Old-School Death-Metal - Interview with Mike ROYAL).

Hello ! Can you introduce yourself and tell us how it all began for you - your encounter with this musical universe, what appealed to you, what fascinated you and what made you want to get into music? 
Hey, I’m Mike from Voidhämmer. I started playing piano and guitar when I was 5 years old. I’ve always been obsessed with making music, I come from a very musical family so I’ve been immersed in that world since as far back as I can remember. Everyone in this band is obsessed with music, and I would say that all of us are drawn specifically to heavier, evil, extreme music. Whether it be metal, punk, or anything else really. 

Tell me about the band... How you met - the current line-up - past experiences - and above all - WHY the need to form THIS band? 
I moved to Long Beach from Asheville, NC in 2019, and I joined my other band Swampbeast almost immediately. I met Roger at a show a couple years after I had moved here and already knew he was in (other) band Karst at that time, since me and him had some mutual friends in the scene. Eventually I joined Karst, and then we inevitably met/recruited Shane from Putrescine since he was also heavily involved in the scene out here in LA. We were all in Karst together for a couple years, then due to multiple challenges the band sort of fizzled out. Me, Roger, and Shane all decided that we wanted to continue playing in a band together, but we wanted it to be heavier, grosser, more extreme than what we were doing in Karst. It has some similarities but I would say our material in Voidhämmer has been exactly where our minds were destined to meet, as far as creative extremities go.
 
Describe your sound and explain why I should listen to YOUR band at all cost ? 
Our sound is not for the faint of heart, but it’s also catchy, and at the very least, hopefully amusing to someone uneducated on the genre. We want the listener to feel like they’re being crushed at all times, but also we have a sort of grind/crust ethos, reminiscent of throwing a full open beer across a mosh pit haha. It’s fun and heavy music.

Lyrical and musical inspirations/influences ? How important are the lyrics for you ? Are there any specific messages or thoughts you try to develop and share through your lyrics ? 
We’re influenced by anything under the sun, we all listen to vast different genres but mostly metal and punk for the most part. Lyrics are all about the inherent evil and inevitable downfall of human civilization, raw depictions of gore, nuclear warfare, heinous war crimes, disgusting reflections on our collective reality, etc. The lyrics are important to us because it’s a way to express our feelings about all this shit while still scratching that creative musical itch. We’re very in tune with sociopolitical matters in this world and even though we’re not explicitly stating said positions on things, we want the listener to somehow feel the same experience that we feel, I guess. It’s pretty black and white as far as our lyrical content goes. It’s just filthy downtuned death metal. (I cannot say it any better than that ! Ed.)
 
About your latest release ? 
Our latest and only release thus far is the "Noxious Emissions" EP. We recorded it late last year in 2025 with Michael Robert Foster, (from Mephitic Corpse/Necropsy Odor) in San Luis Obispo. The artwork was created by our very own Roger Herrera, and it was edited/laid out by Erick Muerto En La Cruz. It’s available on most streaming platforms, for now. You can order a tape through Caligari Records on their bandcamp or from our bandcamp. We’re currently working on a full length album which will have new songs and a much longer run time than the EP. 

Future plans ? 
We want to push our new EP as much as possible, sell merch at shows we play, and we’re currently working on setting up an East Coast tour scheduled for late this summer, 2026. 

Your most insane dream with the band would be ? 
We would love to play shows with some of our greatest influences to our sound, e.g. active legendary bands such as Coffins, Demilich, Undergang, Caustic Wound, to just name a few. 

Your BEST & WORST concert - as a band - and why ? 
Our best show so far was probably at GoodBar in Long Beach on Halloween night 2025. That shit was fun as hell. Our worst live performance was probably at Unfair Oaks in LA, because everything we touched broke for some reason haha. (Sometimes.. Shit happens.. Ed.)

Next live-appearance(s) ?
Our next show is this weekend in Mexicali, B.C. Mexico with Civerous, Anesthesia, and Carnero Negro. After that we’re playing in San Diego in March, and LA in May. Then we’re gonna hopefully knock out that east coast run shortly after those shows.

Some words on your local scene - bands you're friends with and you'd like to name ? 
Listen to Mephitic Corpse, Crematory Stench, Mortal Wound, Civerous, Kommand, Putrescine, Septic Fumes, Putrid Marsh, Teeth, Contorted Corpse, Necropsy Odor, Tension, Ancient Tome, just to name several of our homie’s amazing bands. Our scene is fucking awesome, including all of the LA area. You’ll see some of the most extreme music you’ve ever heard played live out here and I definitely don’t take that for granted. Come and check it out for yourself. 

Last word is yours.. 
Fuck all fascists, nationalists, cops, pedophiles, ICE, xenophobes, transphobes, ableists, religious extemists, and all oppressors of life on this planet/humanity. (Definitely 100% with you guys ! Ed.)