Someone posted about these guys (pronounced May-Axe) on their Facebook page, so I hit the link provided and was met with what can be best described as black evil heavy metal rock' n'roll! Bands such as Bewitched, early Bathory, Motorhead, Venom and later Darkthrone were used to describe this band's sound and that description hit the nail on the head.

They have been around for a few years now, but the first song I heard was the title track off the 5 track EP 'Six Pack Witchcraft' (how can you possibly go wrong with a title like that?!) released in 2010 and within the first couple of riffs they had me hooked!  I wanted to find out more about what makes this band tick and delve deeper into the world of Maax so fired off some questions to Kyle Kreider (Guitar).

Hails! What's the history of the band?

Kyle - “Maax formed in the winter of '07 from the debris of another long running metal institution formed in '99. We consolidated to a three piece, which became the 'Dawnbringer' sessions. This lineup was short lived as Sky Kingrey (bass/vocals) had to relocate his life making a regular band rehearsal impossible.  One day Brett Schlagel rang my cell phone one day and said, "Hey man, heard you're looking for a bass player. I got the bass and I got the skill!" How could I say no?  We began writing for the 'Six Pack Witchcraft' EP immediately. Meanwhile, I was corresponding with a long time friend of the band, Tim Green, who at this time was still enlisted in the US military and stationed in Iraq. He expressed interest in joining a band as a vocalist when he returned home. We recorded the five songs you have on the 'Six Pack' EP with this lineup of Tim Green (vox), Brett Schlagel (bass), Kyle Kreider (guitar) and Jeff Brown (drums). After releasing the EP on Abyss Records we made an executive decision to move Brett into a second guitar position in the band, the guy is a natural guitar player! We were able to incorporate lead guitar pieces and layer the rhythm sections for bigger sounding choruses and hooks, but we still remain dirty and mean sounding. After exhausting my resources in looking for bass guitarists I switched my efforts and asked some guitar players I knew if they would be interested in playing bass for Maax and that turned out to be easier! We landed the best bassist to date in Jeremy Starkey, our current bass player and stickler for tightness! Jeremy is also resident guitarist in long standing Indiana death metal institution Necrophagous. We have written and recorded our follow up full length to the 'Six Pack' EP with this lineup.”

You have an album, 'Unholy Rock 'n' Roll', coming out soon via Abyss Records. What can we expect from it?
“'Unholy Rock & Roll' is full on Maax, it is what the title implies! The songs are a bit bigger, more hooks, catchy choruses, big lead guitar pieces but the intensity and beastial attack is  ever present. I know this word is taboo around here, but the record is fun in a piss-drunk and slutty kinda way. It's the sonic equivalent to a bunch of pissed off bikers having a good rape and pillage! It's fun to play and takes a lot of pressure off in the live setting. It's unapologetic heavy metal!”

Your debut album 'Dawnbringer' came out in 2009, was that album in the same style as the EP and the new album?

“'Dawnbringer' is a much colder BM record with a very 'aggro', cult vibe to it. We  began to write the thrashier 'black and roll' driven stuff during this time, and some of those songs carried over to the next sessions, but we wrote 'Dawnbringer' with a bit of a different mindset and a definite BM direction. Our new material has obviously evolved into what it is now due to our approach in song writing being a bit different, and much more cohesive, but our current sound was taking place and being formulated during the 'Dawnbringer' sessions.”

What bands shape and fuel the sound of Maax? What possessed you to play such music?

“It's hard to be band specific or even album specific. I think a lot of our metal comes from obvious influences growing up with American heavy metal, thrash. British heavy metal is an obvious component, with the big guitar solos and the Motorhead vibe. Punk, BM, DM, it's all there in some form or another. Bands like Crue and Priest taught us how to write and structure a song, and bands like Celtic Frost and Venom taught us how to be evil and primitive. With a '90s wave of Black Metal influence you get what Maax has become in a nutshell!”
Do you play out live often? Much planned gig wise for rest of this year?
“We gig on a regular basis. We have quite a few big dates here in America planned, Central Illinois Metalfest and The Gore Growlers Ball in San Antonio this year to name a few. The new record should hopefully bring us some international opportunities!”

Tell us about your local underground scene, what bands can you recommend?
“I recommend Legion and Necrophagous, two of my favorite local Death Metal bands since the early '90s. We also have The Gates Of Slumber, Demericous, and Radiation Sickness for some good Indianapolis based bands.”

And finally, here can people buy/hear your music?

“You can purchase our music as well as merch from www.officialabyssrecords.com, and we have our first two releases on iTunes. However please get the CD or records to listen to, it's a fucking shame no one buys hard copies anymore. Metal has always been proud of old school traditions so do yourselves and the bands a favour and buy their shit!”