His name might be Mark Sugar, but the riffage he cranks out is anything but sweet! As one fifth of planet-crushing death metallers Bear Mace, Sugar is part to blame for one of the best metal releases of the year thus far, Slaves of the Wolf. Look folks, I’m always down for a good ol’ fashioned death metal ass-beating, but when it’s as high caliber as this album, it calls for some further investigation. Thankfully, Sugar was gracious enough to sit with us to discuss the making of this album, working with the legendary Kam Lee, and even an update on his “other” band, Black Sites. Bear down!
Greetings Mark and welcome to Defenders of the Faith! How are you doing today?
Mark Sugar: I’m doing great! Thank you for having me. How are you doing?
Fantastic! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. We’re a week away from the release of Bear Mace’s third album, Slaves of the Wolf. How soon after 2020’s Charred Field of Slaughter did ideas start coming together for this one?
MS: It was kind of a slow burn with this one. We took a bit of time after Charred came out. That was during the pandemic and we weren’t really playing shows, or sure what was gonna happen. I had stockpiled a bit of riffs during that time. I would say we started writing seriously in 2022. We work on a pretty extended timeline, I would say. We take our time, but we had a couple songs early on we were playing. There’s a track called “Heretics Burn” and a track called “Worthless Lives”. Those were the first two. We played “Heretics” on the tour with Macabre that I think was about three years ago now, so some of this material has been around for a little while, but we took our time with it.
You mention the pandemic, and how there were a couple years people couldn’t do much of anything, especially in terms of touring. Do you feel this album would’ve come out sooner had it not been for that? Even in 2025, I find myself talking to artists about their “pandemic record”, so to speak. You know where I’m coming from?
MS: Absolutely. That affected my other band, Black Sites, a little bit more. Black Sites was a pandemic record. Bear Mace kind of avoided that. Charred Field was fully recorded and written and made before the pandemic started. This one, like I said, we started afterwards. I will say, the record would’ve been out a bit sooner. We had some business stuff to sort out, record label stuff. That’s kind of what held it up, but I wouldn’t call it a “pandemic record” by any stretch. That was not the delay whatsoever.
So this is the post-pandemic record that’ll take out whoever’s left?
MS: It’s pre-the next pandemic. Look at it that way.
I like that! Was there anything the band consciously set out to achieve with Slaves to set it apart from past releases?
MS: No, not really. The cool thing with Bear Mace is it’s always the same goal. It’s always the same influences and the same sound that we’re aiming for, so the goal just kind of becomes refining it. Can we write better songs? Can we write meaner riffs? Can we write cooler lyrics? Can it sound better? Can we have cooler artwork. It’s just a matter of topping ourselves. I think Charred Field kicked the shit out of the first record, Butchering the Colossus, which I still like, but there is a pretty massive jump between the two. Then, it became, “Where do you go now?” We have this record we’re actually satisfied with. We also kept the same people in the band, which hasn’t happened before. How do you progress from that? I think that’s what we achieved this time around. It’s the same concept as a band, but it’s just that evolution and the next step for us.
I definitely hear that when listening to this album. I obviously loved Charred too, but this might even kick the shit out of that record, and I don’t say that lightly.
MS: *laughs* Thank you man! I hope so!
Who handled what aspects of the songwriting for this album?
MS: The way it’s historically worked is I’ll write the music. I’ll write the riffs. Big Chris (Scearce), our vocalist, will write the lyrics. I’ll occasionally chip in a line or two, or one of the other guys might on occasion. Garry Naples, our drummer, will throw in a lyric occasionally. This time around, it was a bit more democratic. John Porada, our bass player, actually brought in one of these songs completely on his own musically. There’s a track called “Prophecy” that’s all him musically. Like I said, it’s the same influences, but it’s a different perspective on them. My take on death metal from 1990 is different from John’s. He brought in a different sound to it, a different approach, that I thought was really cool. I love that song. In general, the breakdown is I’ll do the music and Chris does the lyrics.
Expanding upon the last question, was there anything Bear Mace did differently in the writing and recording of this album as opposed to past releases?
MS: I would say the writing was exactly the same. Even going back to the demo days, before even we had a full lineup, if you go back to our original demo, there’s two people in the band. It was just Chris and myself. I was programming a drum machine and Chris played bass on the demos originally. Even back then, I’d assemble some riffs, or a song structure of some kind. He would come over and, actually in this very room that I’m sitting in right now, I’d set up a microphone and he’d throw down some vocals. That would be the song. That’s exactly how we did it this time around too, same exact thing. “Hey, come by and throw some lyrics on this.” When we had 8 of those, we made a record.
The recording was a little different. We wanted to have a bit more control over the sound and keep it DIY. John, our bassist, was actually pretty crucial in figuring how to do that. We got some new equipment, some new ideas. We did drums with Sanford Parker, who I’m sure you’re familiar with. He had a studio that we tracked drums in. The rest of it was mostly done either at John’s house or here at my place. We had complete control over the guitar tones, the bass tones, the vocal takes, that sort of thing. Because we were recording at home, we weren’t on the clock, so we got to take more time to have it sound how we wanted versus, “Oh shit, we’re only here for a day. We’re on the clock. Let’s just figure it out and get out of here.” I think it sounds a little more vicious as a result of that.
You mention how in those early days, it was just you and Chris. When you guys started Bear Mace, was it more of a project, or was there always the intention it would evolve into a full band?
MS: The original intention was for it to absolutely not be a full band *laughs*. We resisted that idea for a while. What had happened was I’d known Chris beforehand. I met him at the old Metal Haven record store. He was one of the people I met there. There was a day where we were with a bunch of other people. I think we were at Red Line Tap, if I remember correctly. They were playing some tech death band over the speakers. This is in 2011. That was all the rage back then. It was like Brain Drill or something like that. Chris, just out of nowhere, was like, “I want to do a really primitive old school death metal band where it’s just really meat and potatoes, real basic. How come no one does that anymore? By the way, I can sing.” Which I didn’t know.
At the time, I was playing with another band that was having some issues. We were taking some time off. My thought was, “I’ve never done a death metal band. I’m sitting here doing nothing anyway. This could be fun.” The intention was to just record songs in my apartment and put them out on Bandcamp. What had happened was Chris spent the next four years telling people about this band called Bear Mace and people started asking us to open for them and jump on shows. After years of us refusing to do it, we were finally like, “OK, fuck it. We’ll get some friends in the band.” It was dudes from my other band at the time, and some neighborhood guys, and we started doing shows.
How many years has it been now for Bear Mace?
MS: I think it’s been…the demo was from 2012. It’s been a while man.
10 years and change.
MS: 10 years and change, and it’s worth noting that at the time, the story I just told you, the really hyper throwback OSDM thing wasn’t like this back then. The Death to All tour didn’t happen yet. Gruesome didn’t exist yet. People weren’t doing that. I’m not saying we invented it. We’re obviously derivative of that scene, but we were before a lot of that caught on.
You’re 110% right, because I was definitely in my first year of college by the time the whole OSDM revival happened. 2017 was when that whole avalanche of Tomb Mold, Blood Incantation, Molder, and whatnot started happening. It was cool when it initially happened, but you’re correct. The early ’10s were a wasteland for that sound.
MS: Yeah, it did not come back into fashion yet. A lot of the bands that were doing it originally had not come back yet. I think Obituary had not come back yet, at the time. Cynic was not active at the time, I don’t believe, or didn’t sound like death metal at the time. Obviously, Chuck (Schuldiner) was dead. Death wasn’t doing anything. There wasn’t a whole lot of that sound happening at the time. It’s back now. I’m stoked. Gruesome’s putting out a record the same day as us. I’m excited to hear it.
Being one of Bear Mace’s two guitarists, I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you about the brutal riffage that dominates this release. when it comes to formulating riffs and solos, do you collaborate with fellow guitarist Tommy Bellino, or do you each bring your own ideas to the table at rehearsal? Furthermore, for you, what is the key to a killer death metal riff?
MS: Oh, that is a good question! To answer the first part, we’re not really a jamming kind of band. We tend to come into rehearsal with our homework done. We just play the songs as they’re written. I do a lot of the homework at home first. Bellino kind of has his own thing going on. He’s in a thrash band called Armored Assault, who are also fantastic. They actually were working on a new record too, so more of his riffs go to that.
With Bear Mace, what usually happens is I’ll bring in some basic stuff, basic riffs and structures. Sometimes, he’ll add to that. He’ll put different parts on top of it, whether it’s harmonies or layering different stuff. It’s not about who’s bringing in what. That process is more about who goes first. So far, it’s been me, but I think as the band goes on, he’ll be bringing in more stuff because he’s actually an incredible riff writer.
As far as writing a great death metal riff, what I always picture in my head, and I’m sure you’ve seen this on YouTube, but there’s those videos of the original Tampa bands like Deicide and Morbid Angel rehearsing in storage units. Have you seen those?
Oh yeah.
MS: I always picture that in my head. You’re 20 years old. You’re sitting in a locker you rented that’s 5 feet by 5 feet, and it’s so hot your bass player’s gotta stand outside of it. It’s just sweaty and dumb and fun. You can’t overthink it or make it too complicated. I play in prog bands too. I play more technical music. I love stuff like that too, but Bear Mace is really about the power of the big, stupid riff. Giant, ignorant riffs. If it takes you more than 5 minutes to learn how to play, it’s not making it into a Bear Mace song.
Right on! There’s one video in particular of Morbid Angel playing in said storage locker. I can’t remember if it was “Maze of Torment” or “Chapel of Ghouls”, but they’re just killing it. I saw it for the first time a few years ago and was just in awe, and then it sunk in: When they initially recorded these songs, they were just kids playing this crazy music. Nobody ever imagined that 35, 40 years later, people would be watching this footage and viewing it as “historic”. But like you said, it’s that power of the riff that has kept people hooked on this music for all those years.
MS: Yeah.
If you don’t have the riff, you have nothing.
MS: It’s one of those things where you figure out playing stuff life too. When we did the first record, and like I said, I like the first record, but some of that was a little too convoluted to work live. I was new in the band. i was bringing in more thrash influences. There’s a lot of Voivod parts on that record, and maybe even ’90s Testament riffs. That’s cool, but in the context of death metal, we’ll play shows and maybe we’ll find that the fast parts don’t work so well. People respond more to the midtempo Bolt Thrower speed stuff. If you’re playing live and no one’s moving, it didn’t work. We played a show where I saw two guys pick up a third guy like a battering ram and just start carrying him around the pit like that *laughs*. One guy had his arms. The other guy had his legs. It’s like, OK, whatever song that was, that worked. That served its purpose, you know? If you’re doing something that’s not effective as a death metal riff, and you’re playing it in public, people will definitely let you know.
Kam Lee of Massacre fame makes a guest appearance on “Captured and Consumed”. How did this collaboration come about?
MS: That was a very cool and unexpected surprise for this record. We had opened for Massacre a couple times, starting with when they first reunited. I think that was in 2022, 2023. We played with them here at that show, which that lineup broke up later that day. When Kam came back with the new lineup, we played with them as well. We sort of got to know them a little bit at the show. We were talking to the guys. The whole band is super cool. We played that show. The next morning, he messaged the band on Facebook. I guess he had been sitting at the airport, listening to the album, and he said he really liked it.
Out of the blue, he’s like, “Hey, if you ever need a guest vocal, let me know.” It was something Chris and I joked about after the show. “How crazy would that be if we got Kam on the next album?” We would joke about guest collaborations and people we could get involved with, just these crazy hypotheticals. For him to actually put that out there was super cool, especially because Massacre, especially the From Beyond record, is ground zero of what Bear Mace does. That’s such a huge influence on what we’re doing now.
It’s a collaboration that makes sense. Those vocals are still as intense as ever, and that’s somebody who many consider to be the OG death metal vocalist.
MS: He was absolutely the OG. He was the vocalist in Mantas, before Death. He’s quite possibly the first guy, and he still sounds great! The new Massacre albums are excellent. The guest spot he did with us, we didn’t think he was gonna sing half the song! We thought he’d do a chorus or a line or two. A day later, he sends us back half the song, and he sounds amazing. He’s still got it however many years later. He’s killer.
Another song I want to ask you about is the ripping death-thrasher, “The Iceman Cometh”. Who came up with this one, and how does it feel to be the second Chicago death metal band with a song about Richard Kuklinski?
MS: Ah, you’re the first person to catch that! No one else has called us out on that before.
That’s Chicago for ya!
MS: Chicago! That one was kind of the typical Bear Mace process. I had some riffs. I thought the record needed something fast, so I came up with that and sent it to Chris. He kind of sat on the idea for a while and he said, “I’m gonna write a song about Richard Kuklinski.” After doing a little more research on him, I was like, “You know what? That’s absolutely what we should do. That fits right into the Bear Mace wheelhouse perfectly.” We put it together from there. The song is not subtle or metaphorical at all. It is exactly what happened. Everything in that song is factual and that’s just what that guy did. He was a terrifying individual, but the perfect guy to write a death metal song about.
As far as Macabre, obviously we were aware of the song. We’re aware of them. We toured with them, but they’ve written songs about every serial killer. If you have to rule out everyone who’s killed people just because Macabre already did it, there’s nothing left to write about then. There’s some other band that wrote about him too. I think it was some punk band. I forget who.
Did Power Trip have a song about him?
MS: It was someone older than that. Power Trip might’ve done it too. I don’t even know. That would be crazy if there were four songs about the same guy.
Now I gotta look this up before I go crazy.
MS: That would be news to me if they did that. I’m not hyper-familiar with Power Trip.
Now I don’t think it was Power Trip, but now I’m thinking it was one of those crossover bands.
MS: I feel like it was someone in the ’80s. Not Circle Jerks, but someone of that scene, that era. I could be way off.
Dr. Know had “Mr. Freeze”.
MS: That’s a different mister though, different guy. That song is cool though.
That song’s great!
MS: That’s one of the ones Slayer did, isn’t it?
Yes, Slayer did that and I think one other Dr. Know song.
MS: Yeah, that’s a cool song. I don’t know if that’s about him. It could be.
Who knows? This one, however, is about the actual Iceman, and it rules. As does the whole album, for that matter, but you know me. I love my fast stuff amidst the crushing midtempo death. I like the variety it gives, especially on a record like this.
MS: Yeah, the variety is super important, especially if it’s going to be a 32 minute death metal record. You need some fast stuff, some slow stuff. We deliberately slowed a couple songs down to give it more variety. Initially, a lot of what we wrote was extremely fast, but this song…one of the things we always swear by is if you’re going for that early death metal sound, it helps to be influenced by the stuff that proceeded death metal. Having said that, this is basically a speed metal song. It’s almost a Slayer song with the guitar tradeoffs especially, and stuff like that. It’s fast, short, and very to the point. It’s almost proto-death metal in a weird way.
Yeah, I know exactly what you’re talking about. It’s funny because I heard a lot of Slayer in the riffs and vibe of the last album. If I remember correctly, I think I even said something to the effect of, “If Slayer were death metal, this would be it.”
MS: When I was in high school, Slayer was death metal! That’s the thing. The boundaries shift. When I was growing up, anything beyond Metallica, anything less melodic than that was death metal. Slayer, when I was growing up in the late ’80s, early ’90s, was absolutely considered death metal. Now you have people saying Black Sabbath isn’t metal at all. The goalposts shift over the years.
Don’t even get me started.
MS: Me neither man. That’s infuriating. Part of what we do is we listen to a lot of different stuff. We’ll take it back to things that proceeded death metal, whether that’s Slayer, Voivod, Kreator, Celtic Frost, bands like that. Even stuff like Sabbath and more ’70s stuff. Even lyrically, Chris isn’t just writing about things you hear in other death metal songs. There’s a lot of influence from true crime and horror movies. The same stuff that you might’ve heard on Scream Bloody Gore or Seven Churches, that stuff was super influenced by those same things.
Bear Mace’s lyrics are rife with tales of war, both historical and mythical. Is there any one member in particular responsible for this direction?
MS: Chris is the war guy in the band. It’s not that the rest of us are uninterested, but he would be the expert. He certainly has the knowledge and a bit more of the terminology to write about that stuff. I occasionally bring a little bit of war lyrics to the table, but something like “Drown Them in Their Blood”, or “Charred Field”, the song off the last record, that’s all him. He’s absolutely the guy when it comes to the war lyrics.
Our readers also know you from your work with Black Sites. Anything new happening in that camp we should be aware of?
MS: Yes. I know the band’s been laying low for a couple years, but at any given time, two things are true: Black Sites is gonna have a new lineup and Black Sites is making a record. At this moment, those two things are both happening. I can’t really say a lot about either one yet, but it’s pretty cool and I think people are gonna be pretty surprised when they hear what’s going on.
In closing, what does the rest of 2025 have in store for Bear Mace?
MS: Well, we are doing a record release show here in Chicago at LiveWire on June 27th. There is a show in July in Davenport, Iowa. There will be more shows in Chicago after that. We are looking at some tour dates possibly into the fall. We’ll just see where the record takes us. That’s all I know for now, but so far the response to this new one has been really good. We’ll see where it takes us.
The new Bear Mace album, Slave of the Wolf, is available now. For more information on Bear Mace, click here.
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