Zardonic

Venezuelan producer, DJ, multi-instrumentalist, and composer Federico Ágreda adopted the Zardonic alias for his drum'n'bass work while still a teenager in 2004. The name arrived alongside a signature white mask featuring eye openings and a single dark vertical stripe down the center, setting the project apart from his black metal outlets Gorepriest and Sol Nocturno as well as the dark ambient and industrial noise efforts Triangular Ascension and Intimus Universum, even as the sound itself erases clear lines between metal and aggressive electronic dance music. After issuing several albums, EPs, and singles that began with the Subsonic Stigmata LP in 2004, Zardonic gained wider attention through a contribution to AK1200’s 2007 release Weapons of Tomorrow. In 2009 the project scored its own global club success with the track “Policia” that featured J. Messinian. The 2016 world tour underscored the growing international profile by including dates across South America, North America, Europe, and Asia.

Ágreda first explored recording at age five by capturing household noises and radio broadcasts on a basic cassette recorder. At thirteen he encountered Pantera through his older brother while playing Duke Nukem 3D, an experience he later described as formative. He began composing original material at sixteen and launched Gorepriest as his initial band in 2001. The debut Zardonic recording, Subsonic Stigmata, appeared on VeNet Music Development in 2004, followed the next year by the album Red Phasin on the same imprint. In 2006 he issued the “Her Lust for Blood/Scourge” 12" via Death Brigade Records and the Quandam LP on Darkland Recordings before establishing his own outlet, Zardonic Recordings.

Zardonic reached listeners overseas in 2007 when “Moonlight Ceremony” appeared on the AK1200 mixtape Weapons of Tomorrow. A series of further releases followed in 2008, among them the EPs Chaotic Serenity on Death to Music Productions and Bloodforged on MindSaw Digital, the untitled T-FREE release “Braindrainer/Reliquia/Acid Industries,” the single “Halfbeaten/Nightcrawler” on Suicide Dub, and joint tracks with Identity and Malsum. His remix of Nine Inch Nails’ “The Hand That Feeds” was also posted on the band’s official remix site. Zardonic Recordings put out the EP Those Who Know the Truth in 2009, the same year Cymbalism Recordings issued “Policia” featuring J. Messinian backed with “Fresh Meat.” The single became an international club favorite and prompted a European tour in 2010. Big Riddim Recordings released his remix of AK1200’s “Junior’s Tune,” while Zardonic delivered the Lovecraft Machine EP on his own label and the South of Human EP on Human Imprint Recordings, both in 2010.

The End of Days, a joint EP with Numbernin6, surfaced on Human Imprint in 2011, the same year Culture Assault Records released the El Sistema EP. Another collaboration with Numbernin6, Bad Medicine, arrived in 2012. That year also brought the collaborative album Vulgar Display of Bass on Big Riddim, which included appearances by Omar Santana and Counterstrike among others. The label issued Far Beyond Bass (The Vulgar Remixes) the following year. Zardonic then signed with eOne, which released the wide-ranging Antihero LP in 2015 containing original productions, remixes, and instrumentals across varied styles. In 2016 Ágreda undertook a world tour spanning four continents and issued multiple remixes, among them versions of tracks by Sonic Syndicate, the Qemists, and Celldweller. The latter two artists contributed featured appearances to the 2018 album Become.