Straight from Sweden’s underground, Hostilia deliver thrash metal with no filters, no frills, and no mercy. Fusing the chaos of old-school aggression with razor-sharp modern riffs, the band has quickly made their mark with raw releases like Atomic Thunder and the live-recorded All The Blood Spilt – The Top Floor Live Sessions. Fueled by adrenaline, DIY spirit, and a clear love for chaos, Hostilia aren’t here to follow trends — they’re here to torch them. In this interview, the band opens up about their sound, vision, and what thrash truly means in 2025.

Metal War: Let’s start with the basics, who is in the band!
Albert: I play the drums, then there’s Tim Angelini on vocals, Gabriel Sepulvéda on bass…
William: …Petter Hernroth on guitar and I handle the lead guitar.

Metal War: Hostilia in three words – go. And then tell us the story behind those words!
Albert: I would say ‘Songs’, ‘Shows’ and ‘Determination’.
William: That sounds about right. We are all about the songs. For us it’s not enough to find a good thrashy style and stick with that. We want every song to be unique, to have its own personality.
Albert: Yeah, when you listen to our upcoming album you don’t want to feel like you’ve listened to different parts of one long song. I feel like we pulled that off.
William: For sure. We also love to play live. In the beginning, that’s what we went for instead of chasing a record deal from day one. Let’s start by focusing on the live shows.
Albert: We also had some trouble finding truly committed members. Which leads us in to ‘determination’, the third word. We want to tour the world and we feel that we are ready.

Metal War: Your sound screams classic thrash with modern grit. Was there ever a moment early on where you debated going in a completely different direction?
William: Actually no. It’s been the same direction since Albert and I started the band. Since I’m the main songwriter so far, these are the songs that chooses themselves to get written – based on the music we love and grew up with.
Albert: And then it most of the times lands in stuff from the 80’s and sometime 70’s, when music was for real and everything was not about putting the songs in computerized templates where everything sounds the same in the end.

Metal War: Your name, Hostilia, already feels like a declaration of war. What does it mean to you, and how does it define your mission as a band?
Albert: It actually comes from the Latin word for ‘hostile’. As soon as I first said it out loud, it just felt good.
William: To me ‘Hostilia’ has some kind of ‘take no prisoners’ attitude to it, and that’s pretty much how we feel about the band. We got Niklas Sundin (ex-Dark Tranquillity) to do the logo, and once we saw what he came up with the name was a done deal.

Metal War: Your EP Atomic Thunder hits like a sledgehammer. What was the writing process like, and did you feel pressure to prove yourselves with that release?
William: The writing process was no different really then it use to be. I came up with some songs. This time Gabriel contributed with a couple of great riffs and Albert and I put the lyrics together.
Albert: There was no outside pressure. But we always feel that we want to improve ourselves. We kind about making jaws drop, but that’s pretty much it actually. If we could go back in time it would have been better if our current vocalist Tim had been on the EP. This time our cousin Samuel helped us out, that’s why it to us feels a bit dated even though we
still really like the songs.

Metal War: Recording All The Blood Spilt – The Top Floor Live Sessions live, with no overdubs, is a bold move. Did that raw approach unleash something you hadn’t captured before?
William: It was kind of the demand from the producer Jakob Herrmann who owns Top Floor Studios in Gothenburg. He saw us live and said that he wanted to capture what he felt that night but in a controlled environment, like in his studio. To see if the energy was real.
Albert: We never thought of it as bold. We were just focused on do what we do and give it our best shot. But this time it was added pressure since we recorded videos at the same time. Jakob said that people aren’t going to believe that it’s 100% live if you don’t document the whole thing. So we played three different versions of three of our songs with camera guys filming and then picked the best takes for “All The Blood Spilt”.

Metal War: If one of your releases was a weapon, what would it be — and which one would you hand to a first-time listener?
William: I would definitely go for our upcoming album. I would show that to a first time listener because that is Hostilia today.
Albert: The album is like a survival knife from the Rambo movies. It’s sharp, deadly and has got a lot of gadgets.

Metal War: Sweden has a legendary metal scene. How does Hostilia carve out its own voice without getting swallowed by that huge legacy?
William: I hope we’re contributing to that legacy instead of competing with other bands, because I can’t say any Swedish band that sounds just like us.
Albert: It feels great to be a part of the Swedish metal scene. It makes you proud that it’s so respected internationally. The bands before us obviously did a great job create something metal fans appreciate. If someone thinks were adding to that legacy… Well that’s something you only dream about.

Metal War: What’s something fans often get wrong about thrash metal that you’d like to set straight — either musically or philosophically?
William: Hmm, a hard one. Perhaps that some people make up their mind that thrash metal can only be one thing, when thrash metal in fact is the most versatile metal subgenre of all.
Albert: Yes, you’ve got the very serious bands that go for the blackened thrash metal, you’ve got the German scene, the Bay Area scene. You’ve got the bands that go for the more tongue-in-cheek fun stuff.
William: I guess that’s why we like it, because you can do pretty much anything within thrash. You’re free to create the metal you want.

Metal War: You’ve mentioned influences like Slayer and early Metallica. If you had to battle them in a live showdown, what song from your setlist would you throw down first?
William: I would go for our upcoming single “P.T.D.”. It’s fast, there’s a lot of stuff going on and fun guitar parts.
Albert: I would say “Final Breath” because I like how the drums kick off in a Motörhead way.

Metal War: What’s a riff, lyric, or breakdown from your discography that still gives you chills – even after playing it over and over?
William: I would say the breakdown in the song “Eternal Death” always works. Everyone gets it immediately without having heard the song before. It brings a great vibe.
Albert: I really like the doomish part in the song “Bone Collector”. It’s great fun to play, and for once not that fast haha.

Metal War: Your music has this raw, live-wire urgency. How important is unpredictability and chaos in your creative process?
William: It’s great that you’ve noticed that, because it’s super important. We want everything to sound genuine and vibrant, like it’s almost tipping over – and with that comes unpredictability and chaos I guess.

Metal War: Do you remember the first moment someone screamed your lyrics back at you? How did that moment shape you as performers?
Albert: That’s the best feeling, and when you see someone in the audience know all the breaks in a song and stuff. Then you feel like “Wow, they actually really like us!”

Metal War: What’s coming next for Hostilia — and is there anything you’re deliberately not doing just to keep the fire burning the right way?
William: It’s better to think about the stuff that works for us and try to evolve that. To make things go quicker in the process. We’re going to record some new songs this fall, even though the album isn’t even out yet.
Albert: We’re going to enjoy the album release and the upcoming tour with the The Haunted. Hopefully after that to record more albums and more tours. Determination, you know.
Metal War: Thank you very much for your time!

The interview was conducted by Joanna Gonas.