Georgia’s heavy metal underground has been quietly sharpening its blades, and Evil Sinner are one of the young bands pushing that charge forward. Formed by drummer JaCorien Lester before expanding into a full trio with bassist‑vocalist Remington Hill and guitarist Chino Salazar, the band have quickly built momentum through raw demos, a striking debut album, and a growing presence in their local scene.

With new music on the way and a clearer sense of identity than ever, we caught up with the band to talk origins, influences, and the road ahead.

Interview

TheNwothm: Hey there! First of all can you introduce Ëvil Sínner, who is in the band and where you are from?

E.S:  1.Hello, Evil sinner consists of JaCorien Lester (Drums, Synthesizers), Chino Salazar (Lead Guitars and Backing Vocals), and Remington Hill (Bass and Lead Vocals)

TheNwothm: How did you guys get together and choose a name?

E.S: Well at first the band started off with just myself (JaCorien Lester). The band was originally called Raven without knowledge of the already well established Raven from the early speed / Nwobhm era. By the time I figured that out, I had already released the first demo “Power surge,” and was in need of another name of course. So one night I was sitting in my room listening to exciters first record “Heavy Metal Maniac” trying to come up with cool names, and the last track on that record came on and it’s titled “Evil Sinner.” So I just thought, “Hey, what if I named the band after my favourite song from my favourite band.” That was in late July of 2024.

Remington was the first to join, I had already known of him from a band he was in at the time called Archangel Force down in Blackshear, Georgia. Around December of 2024, we got offered an opening slot for void who were coming to Atlanta during their tour. At the time, I didn’t know anyone within a decent range of myself to try and start a band with, so with us knowing each other pretty well by that time and being interested in how it could go Remington offered to join on bass and vocals.

We didn’t find a guitar player till May of 2025, His name was Yechiel and I had known of him from being in a punk rock band from Atlanta called Selvedge. We found a contact for Yechiel and offered him the gig, soon after that we set up a rehearsal and it didn’t take more than one song for us to realise he was the guy.

We were originally supposed to stay a three piece but Yechiel voiced that he needed more support on stage so we started looking again. We tried out like 3 different guys, one of them I’m still friends with his names Jackson. Jackson was the last guy we tried out and he was decent but he wasn’t what we needed. So after we figured we needed a more aggressive guitar player yechiel mentioned that he had a friend that played guitar and that was also into 80s metal.

Surprisingly enough, they were in Selvedge together so I told him to call em up. He called chino on the phone, and I asked him to play anything he wanted over the phone just to get a good idea of his playing style. Chino played some leads and a few 80s thrash riffs that we all knew and I knew right then and there that we had to get this guy in the band. So that’s basically how we got together, eventually Yechiel ended up leaving right before the first album released, but we are still cool with him and he’s still a cool and talented dude.

TheNwothm: You are from Georgia so has it influenced your music in anyway?

E.S: Us being from Georgia and in the south has influenced us a little bit, we draw a little bit of influence from old southern rock bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blackfoot, and Molly Hatchet. Our main influence or drive to keep going mainly comes from a band that originated in Atlanta called Hallows Eve, they we’re arguably the very first heavy metal band in Georgia, and how they came to be, and what they experienced in the music scene of Atlanta at that time really reminds us of our selves and things that we experience / go through currently because we’re from Georgia.

TheNwothm: Which musicians or bands first made you want to pick up an instrument? Any idols?

E.S: For me (JaCorien) the band that made me wanna start playing an instrument was Black Sabbath. My parents have always been into rock and heavy metal, so hearing that music around the house or in the car really made me interested in playing music and learning an instrument. My current idols are Dan Beehler (Exciter), Tommy Aldridge, and Lars Ulrich 

For me (Chino) I started with playing Regional Mexican music because that’s what I grew up listening to but after I met Yechiel he showed me a lot of cool bands like Metallica, Rolling Stones, Misfits, and Motörhead and it really made me change the way I played guitar. My current idols as of right now are Cliff Burton of Metallica and Chuck Schuldiner of Death

For me (Remington) Just like any young metalhead, picked up bass because of Cliff Burton, Lemmy, Tom Araya, and Cronos. Nowadays I’m mainly influenced by Lemmy, Mel Schacher, Jack Bruce, and AC Wild. At first I’d play Slayer and Venom songs on bass, at this point I mostly play Blues Rock and Soul basslines along with the Heavy Metal of Evil Sinner

TheNwothm: What bands do you have saved on your playlists right now? And are there any in particular you would love to play with?

E.S: We have tons of bands saved on our playlists, we listen to a lot of different bands and a lot of difference genres, but the main four that never seem to go away for all of us are Exciter, Savage Grace, Judas Priest, and Running Wild. As for bands we’d like to play with, definitely Amethyst, Templar, Creatures, Enforcer, and or Cruel Force. For the most part it’s mainly European bands, we’re not really a fan of what’s going on here in America right now, too many copy and paste bands but there’s two that catch our eye and that’s Interceptor and Wanted. We’d love to play with those guys sometime.

TheNwothm: Your first demo “Power Surge” came out in 2024. What was the main goal when you recorded that early snapshot of the band?

E.S: The main goal I had when I released “Power Surge” was just to create something raw, new, and different from what most newer bands were doing around that time, but also create something old sounding and familiar. In my opinion, “Power Surge” perfectly captures that early – mid 80s vibe, it’s raw and oldschool just like we like it but also has a modern twist to it.

TheNwothm: “Thermo-Nuclear War” followed the same year. What pushed you to release a second demo so quickly?

E.S: After I released “Power Surge,” evil sinner started to gain a decent amount of attention from people up in Atlanta and also in other parts of the country so “Thermonuclear War” was just something to keep the momentum going, and to show people what else I could do at that time.

TheNwothm: Your debut full-length “Fears to Fathom” landed in 2025. What did creating a full album teach you about yourselves as musicians?

E.S: Writing and recording “Fears to Fathom” showed us that we are very mature when it comes to writing despite being so young. At that point, we had already played a decent amount of shows and had experienced a lot, so there’s a lot of realness to that record and a lot of topics people wouldn’t expect a bunch of high schoolers to write about.

It also taught me (Chino) that things aren’t perfect and mistakes will happen but no matter what there will always be a way to get rid of those mistakes and making everything perfect takes time and effort to really get the final product we wanted 

For me (Remington) it taught me how draining it can be to record extremely late during sleepless nights. Nonetheless, while it may be stressful in the moment, the experience is fun in the end and most things in life you just need to look into like that

TheNwothm: Your most recent single “Witch Killer” came out in January. What can you tell us about the song and how it reflects the bands current direction?

E.S: Well “Witch Killer” is a concept track pulled off of an EP we have under the same name. The song and entire EP are about the Salem witch trials and how superstition and psychological manipulation caused the deaths of hundreds and maybe even thousands of innocent women, children, men, and animals to lose their lives. Also, I personally have a big interest and fascination with Black Magic and the occult. I personally know a lot of people who dibble and dabble in that stuff and it’s super interesting to me so I wanted to tie that into our song writing and image a little bit.

TheNwothm: When you’re jamming in the garage or rehearsal room, what usually sparks a new riff or song idea?

JaCorien: When we’re Jamming usually what sparks a new riff or song is just us playing around. Usually well just be joking or playing random stuff and it’ll catch someones ear and that’s when one of us will usually say stop and we’ll all start whatever we heard over and everybody joins in and we just play whatever comes out and whatever we feel in that moment. After doing that probably once or twice we get a somewhat clear vision of what we want and we’ll jam on that more seriously until it becomes a clear and complete song.

Remington: Another way is some of us we’ll be jamming while another member is occupied so creative minds can link. Such as, I would be on guitar and Chino would be on drums while JaCorien would be occupied. JaCorien hears something he thinks would work really good, and we record demos from there.

TheNwothm: How do you balance spontaneous jamming with structured writing when shaping a track?

JaCorien: I’m not really sure how we balance that because we do a lot of spontaneous jamming and messing around. Usually we’ll just jam something as many times as we can and it’ll just work itself into a structured song. The music essentially writes itself if I’m being honest, we never spend a lot of time on stuff when it comes to writing songs it kind of just eventually pieces itself together.

TheNwothm: When you’re not rehearsing or writing, what do you each enjoy doing in your spare time?

JaCorien: In my free time I like to spend a lot of time in nature, Í go for lots of walks and I spend a lot of time in the woods just sitting, relaxing, and enjoying Mother Nature herself. I try not to spend a lot of time on my phone and social media so usually for the most part during free time Ím out doing something and just experiencing life.

Chino: For my free time I like to work out I’m a very productive person when it comes to like fitness stuff. I also watch a lot of tv so like any movies shows or videos that catch my eye I’ll put it on and relax maybe have a snack or two. I also play a lot of old video games so that’s cool I guess.

Remington: For my free time, I narrow it down to basics. I work out, I listen to music, I play music, I watch documentaries on Military History, I hunt. Simple as that.

TheNwothm: If you had to create a super hero for each of yourselves who/what would it be and why?

Jacorien: If I could create a superhero for myself it would definitely be someone who can fly and someone who can turn themselves invisible. I choose those two powers because I love traveling, and I love just seeing Mother Earth and the great outdoors, if I could fly I’d be flying around everywhere just seeing everything I can. I also chose invisibility because I just like to fly under the radar, a lot of people don’t know this because I’m in a band but, I’ve always been a shy person and kind of a loner, so sometimes I’d just like to not be seen and to go through my life without people coming up to me and putting me up on this imagery pedestal. If I could be invisible people wouldn’t see me and I could spend more time just being alone and not being seen all the time. 

Chino: My superhero would be Beer man who gives beer to everyone and makes the whole night. 

Remington: My superhero would be the best version of myself I suppose. I don’t wish to do supernatural things that much because I live in the moment. I suppose that’s what me and JaCorien’s has in common. He would like to see the world. I would, but the world is inherently evil. I’d love to see the bright side of the world: Family, community, fellowship.

TheNwothm: What has been your favourite gig so far and what made it stand out?

JaCorien: So far my favourite gig has been Conyers Georgia (3/28/26). That show had our biggest crowd at that point and we got to headline which is always a treat. The energy was just amazing and everyone was just so into it so that was incredible. We had tons of photographers there, we had the audio recorded for some live releases, and also got to record our very first music video for witch killer so it was just all around an amazing time and we are very thankful for that opportunity that was given to us and are deeply grateful for all the fans that showed up that night because if it wasn’t for them we’d be nothing. The fans are what make doing this special and we appreciate them for their constant love and support 

Remington: My favourite show so far has either been Conyers (3/28/26) or (10/23/25) with Interceptor. Either way, it’s a great time to be with brothers of the scene. Always a fun rememberable night. Same could be said with every show we play with our Georgian Deaththrash brothers, Callous.

TheNwothm: What gig plans do you have coming up?

E.S: So far we have a show coming up April 11th with callous Ín Tallapoosa Georgia and we have our first festival appearance that’s being worked on for later that month or early may I believe. This summer we’re gonna be playing and branching out farther to support our next record that’s gonna be out around that time.

TheNwothm: So considering you just put out a single, do you have more music on the way?

E:S: Yes we do have more music coming, we have some live releases coming out soon and the first single for our upcoming sophomore album coming out sometime in mid May or late June. The album will also be out this summer which we are super excited for, it is going to be called “Into The Wild” and we feel this is our best work yet and we’re super proud of how everything turned out. Into The Wild goes in a more straightforward classic heavy metal / power metal direction. (Savage Grace, Omen, Running wild, etc)

TheNwothm: How can our readers buy your music and merch?

E.S: Readers can buy our music and merch at the ironbound records store in band camp, and for readers in Georgia they can come to shows and get merch from us personally.

TheNwothm: Where can fans follow you online?

E.S: All fans online can find us @Evilsinnerbandofficial on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and more.

TheNwothm: Anything else you would like to mention?

E.S: One last thing I’d like to mention is that we are about to release our very first music video for our last single “witch killer” we are very excited for its release and are pleased with how it turned out so for everyone reading this make sure you go Give it a couple watches and make sure you tell all your friends!