Arzenik- there’s no committee and no generative AI, just one man and a lot of noise. The deep-dive interview with Calle.

Every so often, an artist turns up who reminds you why you started digging through the underground in the first place. Calle Johannesson, the Swedish-born, Chicago-based force behind Arzenik, is one of those. He started his first band back in 1988, began behind a drum kit, and now writes, plays, records, mixes and masters everything himself. There’s no committee and no generative AI, just one man and a lot of noise.

His debut album, The Quantum Protocol, landed on 30 October, and I’ve already said my adoring and deep love piece/review on it here: https://www.devilshorns666.com/2026/10/arzenik-quantum-protocol-generic-is-not.html 

Short version: generic isn’t even on the landscape. It’s classic industrial metal gold, built on Godflesh weight, Entombed chainsaws, and a few left turns nobody saw coming.

I found Arzenik the way plenty of us find the good stuff now. It was Instagram, then a brilliant human running the Doomsday Machine page and its worldwide playlists, and it spread from there. That’s DIY and word of mouth doing the work the industry won’t, so it felt right to sit down with Calle properly.

We cover his drumming roots, why industrial metal is so grim and yet so uplifting, the Post-it note mantras on his studio wall, and how a Swede ended up in Chicago, the holy ground of Wax Trax! and the whole Ministry family tree. We get into guitar tones, the old Earache and early death metal DNA in his sound, running a one-man live show without it all falling over, and the striking visuals he builds himself. He revealed a new video for “Incarnation Of Sisyphus”, which was on its way (dropped 6 days ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoieD79bUAM ), the killer track that keeps you moshing while bouncy synths sneak in over a groove as fat as Biohazard and Nailbomb. Then we get into where he goes from here and everything in between.

Calle is an excellent, articulate and lovely human who was a joy to chat with and someone I now call a brother and comrade. 

Check this deep dive chat out:

https://youtu.be/DfRX7dsOksM

and all his great music and Instagram videos(he chats like a friend you hang out with, discussing bands and music in a walk-and-chat format- it's stellar). Go support the real wizards doing brilliant creative work!!.

https://www.instagram.com/callearzenik/

https://arzenik.bandcamp.com/album/the-quantum-protocol

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560255296660

Hit play, then go buy the album!!!