Swiss thrash metal band Total Annihilation have just released their fourth album on January 16th entitled Mountains of Madness. Total Annihilation’s vocalist Daniel Altwegg spoke with Metal Express Radio about their new album, the music scene in Switzerland, being a band for twenty years, and more. Check out the chat below!
Metal Express Radio: Total Annihilation have just released their fourth full length album entitled Mountains of Madness, what can you tell fans about your latest album?
Altwegg: Mountains of Madness is the result of an intense phase of the band. Over the course of the last few years, a lot has changed in our workflow and in the approach how we want Total Annihilation to sound. We put a lot of time and effort into different things and evolved a lot in terms of musicality. Overall, it’s more thought through and the most brutal and aggressive piece of music we’ve created so far.
MER: How was the writing and recording process, being your fourth album?
Altwegg: Since shortly after the release of the previous Album …On Chains of Doom all live activities came to a halt, we started earlier as planned on the songwriting for the new material. These circumstances gave us the opportunity to work out every detail we wanted to improve. We put more time into the development of the sound itself as well as a lot of fine tuning on every song. Even though we had a lot of time, when we hit the studio for recording, we didn’t have all songs ready as we wanted them. So, we decided that we would do a second studio session for the remaining songs. This decision gave us more time to improve the very last details, and we couldn’t be happier with the result.
MER: Is there a certain song you would suggest a fan to listen to first?
Altwegg: Definitely “Nyctophobia”! This track is the perfect mixture of the old and new Total Annihilation DNA. It has the raw and relentless energy from the previous material but also the newer approach in terms of Song structures and musicality. In my opinion this song is the bridge between the old and new Total Annihilation.
MER: How would you compare Mountains of Madness to your previous three albums?
Altwegg: It is more brutal, more aggressive, faster and more complex than the previous albums. Mountains of Madness show the development and evolution we went through as a band in the past years.
MER: What do you see as plans for Total Annihilation to support the album in 2026?
Altwegg: Of course, we want to bring the new album to places we’ve never been before but also return to places that supported us in the past 20 years. We’re working hard on a lot of opportunities to bring the band on the road with the new album.
MER: Is there anywhere you hope to play live and why?
Altwegg: We want to play where there are maniacs that appreciate a brutal and aggressive live show. That can be at a big festival but also in your parents’ basement when they are out of town. We love to play live, and we want to have a good time with the people in the crowd. Sure, every band dreams about the big stages, Nightliner tours and thousands of people in the crowd. While we’re not averse to these things we stay realistic. In today’s economy touring has become very expensive, and it is mostly a gamble for a band in our size if a tour is financially possible.
MER: How would you describe the metal scene in Switzerland?
Altwegg: Overall, the scene here is very active and diverse. There are a lot of players that kept the whole thing alive over the years, and it is great to see that there is this kind of support. Even though a lot has changed in all those years, the fire is still burning for heavy metal in Switzerland. But unfortunately, it became harder to connect with the younger generation of metal fans and there are not a lot of newer bands coming up these days.
MER: Is there anyone you hope to tour with and why?
Altwegg: Actually, we don’t have a particular band in mind. Wait, maybe our buddies in Vomitheist (fantastic Old-School Death Metal Band), but I think we wouldn’t stand more than a few days on the road together since every time we play with them, we have a total escalation in the backstage and the hardest hangovers the day after.
I would say we would love to tour with everyone that doesn’t do the whole thing because of money. Music, Fun and a good time together should be the main goal.
MER: Out of Total Annihilation’s four albums, what is one you would suggest to a new fan and why?
Altwegg: It depends on what you personally prefer. If you are more into old-school Thrash Metal, I would suggest you start with the first two albums 84 and Extinction. If you’re more into Thrash-Death Metal, then check out …On Chains of Doom. And if you prefer more Death Metal than Thrash, then you should go with the newest album Mountains of Madness. On every album you can find the Total Annihilation DNA but over the years our sound has developed, and we’ve been getting better at our instruments.
MER: Total Annihilation has reached twenty years as a band, what have been some of your favorite memories over the last twenty years?
Altwegg: For me personally it’s the time we spent together. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the rehearsal room creating new songs, live on stage or the time we had in the studio. Sure, on the road you experience a lot. Good and bad things happen but ultimately you grow together as a band with all those experiences. To put maybe one special memory in the spotlight, that would be the tour we did in 2025 with Anal Vomit from Peru. It was the first tour in over 10 years, and we had a lot of fun playing these shows.
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