Photographer Credit: James Cantu @metajams
After years of writing, setbacks, personal hardships, and a pandemic-era recording process, Arsis Thesis have finally arrived at their debut full-length, Ustanak. Translating to “rebellion,” the album is a deeply emotional and politically charged body of work that explores rage, resistance, injustice, sacrifice, and the complicated psychological journey that comes with confronting a world that often feels fundamentally broken.
In this interview, Nick Blevins takes us behind Ustanak, discussing how the album changed during the years it was put on hold, why anger became such an important creative force, the stories behind some of the record’s most expansive songs, and what Arsis Thesis ultimately hopes listeners take away from the experience.
Congratulations on releasing your debut full-length, Ustanak. After introducing yourselves with Pangea, what made now feel like the right time to create a full-length statement?
“Thanks! We actually wrote and half recorded all of Ustanak back during the pandemic in 2020, planning on a release soon after, but a string of personal hardships unfortunately put that plan off track. The silver lining is over the years the songs and themes of the album morphed into what they’ve become today. Getting through the hiatus we were forced into made this album more representative of our rebirth as a band, and I think it’s much stronger for it.”
The journey toward Ustanak was clearly anything but straightforward. While the original intention was to record and release the album shortly after its creation, circumstances ultimately forced Arsis Thesis to step away from the project. Rather than rendering the material obsolete, that time away allowed the band to grow alongside the songs.
What began as a collection of songs written during an incredibly uncertain period eventually became something much more personal. The years between its original recording and eventual release gave Arsis Thesis an opportunity to reconsider the material, allowing the themes to develop alongside their own experiences.
That sense of rebirth becomes an important part of understanding Ustanak. This isn’t simply an album that survived a delay; it is a record that was reshaped by the delay itself.
The title Ustanak translates to “rebellion.” Why was that the perfect word to represent this album, and what does rebellion mean to you personally beyond its political or historical context?
“Ustanak is an album about rage and resisting authoritarianism, but it’s also an exploration into the psyche of those who realize they are living in a world that is unjust by design. I think rebellion can take many different forms in the landscape of today’s society. Across my amplifiers I spray painted an old Woody Guthrie mantra ‘This Machine Kills Fascists,’ and I think that’s representative of how I approach rebellion. I believe Art and its creation is the ideological antidote to fascism, and that’s what we aim to do.”
The title immediately establishes the album’s confrontational spirit, but Blevins’ explanation reveals that Ustanak isn’t interested in presenting rebellion as a single, straightforward concept.
For Arsis Thesis, rebellion can exist through art, expression, community, and the refusal to accept injustice as normal. The album explores what happens internally when someone becomes aware of the systems and circumstances surrounding them and decides that simply accepting them is no longer an option. That philosophy also gives the music itself a greater purpose. Creating art becomes an act of resistance. The songs aren’t merely documenting anger; they are attempting to transform it into something meaningful.
You describe the record as being fueled by “unending, unfaltering rage.” Was there a specific event or series of experiences that sparked the emotional foundation for this album?
“Living through what seems like an unending drift towards fascistic tendencies in United States politics is the main factor fueling the rage on Ustanak. Witnessing a state sponsored military force commit blatant murders and abductions of my fellow humans is absolutely heart wrenching, and sickening, and was a major factor in crafting the thematic context for Ustanak. Put frankly, Fuck ICE.”
There is no ambiguity when it comes to the emotional foundation of Ustanak. The record was born from watching political and social events unfold and feeling the anger, frustration, and helplessness that can accompany them. But that rage isn’t presented simply as an emotional outburst. Throughout the interview, Blevins repeatedly returns to the idea of channeling anger into something productive. That distinction is important. Ustanak doesn’t suggest that anger itself is the problem. Instead, it asks what someone can do with that anger once they recognize injustice around them.
Rather than portraying anger as something destructive, the album seems to frame it as something that can be disciplined and purposeful. How did you approach writing from that perspective?
“I’ve always believed that confronting negative emotions and funneling them into something productive is the only way to overcome hardship in this life. It’s easier said than done, but in the context of Ustanak I believe the monologue towards the end of ‘Firebird’ is a good example of what the album is trying to say. Funnel that rage and anger and use it to make sure the ones you love are protected.”
This philosophy may be one of the most important keys to understanding the record. There is a difference between rage that consumes you and rage that motivates you. Arsis Thesis is interested in the latter. The band isn’t pretending that anger is easy to control or that transforming pain into something productive happens automatically. Instead, Ustanak embraces that struggle.
“Firebird” becomes an especially strong example of this approach, using its extended structure and closing monologue to emphasize the idea of turning overwhelming emotions into action. The message is ultimately one of protection and responsibility: anger can be used as fuel when it is directed toward helping the people you care about and pushing back against what you believe is wrong.
Do you see Ustanak as telling one continuous story, or does each track represent a different stage or perspective of rebellion?
“I view the different tracks as different emotional states that one goes through when participating in active resistance. Songs like the singles ‘Ustanak,’ and ‘Capricorn’ are a more straightforward anger, but a song like ‘Derision’ is more nuanced. It defines the malaise and hopelessness when confronted with injustice, and realizing what’s happening is not normal. It’s a dive into the psyche of an uprising.”
Rather than treating Ustanak as one linear narrative, Arsis Thesis approaches the record as an emotional journey. Resistance isn’t always a constant state of anger. There are moments of frustration, exhaustion, hopelessness, realization, determination, and ultimately hope. The sequencing of the album reflects those different emotional spaces. “Derision” represents one of the more complicated sides of that experience. While tracks like “Ustanak” and “Capricorn” express anger more directly, “Derision” explores what happens when that anger is accompanied by the realization that something is deeply wrong.
That emotional complexity keeps Ustanak from becoming a one-note record. Its rebellion has multiple dimensions.
“Capricorn” was one of the first songs listeners heard from the album. Why did you choose it as an introduction to Ustanak, and what makes it representative of the record?
“‘Capricorn’ is actually the first song we ever wrote as a band and I think it defined what Arsis Thesis would become. I think it’s a much more approachable listen than some of the longer songs on the record, and I personally love the catchiness of the chorus, and bridge sections. I think it gives the listener a taste of sonic exploration we try to achieve, and then they can dive further with the rest of the album.”
“Capricorn” holds a special place in the band’s history because it predates the album itself. It represents the foundation of what Arsis Thesis would eventually become. Its role as an introduction makes sense: while Ustanak contains longer and more experimental compositions, “Capricorn” offers a more accessible entry point without sacrificing the band’s desire to experiment.
The track’s chorus and bridge provide memorable moments, while its structure gives listeners an early glimpse at the musical exploration that continues throughout the album. In many ways, “Capricorn” serves as both an introduction to Ustanak and a reminder of where Arsis Thesis began.
The title track closes the album in a powerful way. What did you want listeners to feel by the time they reached the end of “Ustanak”?
“I want them to feel uplifted, fulfilled and reassured in their anger towards injustices they witness. That they have power to create community and positive change in the world even if they have to use anger and rage to do it.”
That answer encapsulates the heart of Ustanak. For all of the darkness and anger contained within the album, Arsis Thesis doesn’t want the listener to leave feeling defeated. The ultimate goal is empowerment.
The title track’s position at the end of the album allows the record to conclude on that note. After moving through rage, despair, resistance, and reflection, the listener is left with the understanding that anger doesn’t have to mean hopelessness. There is power in community. There is power in creation. And there is power in refusing to accept injustice as inevitable.
“The Sunrise We’ll Never See” is an incredibly evocative title. What’s the story behind that song, and how does it fit into the larger themes of the album?
“It’s a song about sacrifice. It’s about doing what’s right to create a better world even if you will not be around to see it. Positive societal change is not one moment. It’s a long and complex confluence of influence that eventually leads to a better future, and the only way that’s possible is individuals pushing for that future even when they know they won’t be around to reap its benefits.”
“The Sunrise We’ll Never See” introduces one of the album’s most powerful ideas: you don’t have to personally experience the future you’re fighting for in order for that fight to matter. The title itself carries that feeling of longing. A sunrise represents hope, renewal, and a new beginning, but the song acknowledges that some people may never live long enough to witness the changes they helped create.
It becomes a meditation on legacy and sacrifice. Progress isn’t always immediate, and meaningful societal change can take generations. For Arsis Thesis, pushing toward that better future is still worthwhile even if the people doing the work aren’t the ones who ultimately get to enjoy its rewards.
“Firebird” and “Derision” are among the longest compositions on the record. Were those songs always that ambitious, or did they evolve over time during the writing process?
“‘Derision’ started without the long upbeat outro but we felt it needed a more powerful shift from the more melancholy vibe of the first half of the song so we decided a shift in tone and tempo would be the perfect addition. ‘Firebird’ I always knew it was going to be long, and I wanted to do a Doom metal version of free form jazz for the outro, I just didn’t know how long that was going to end up being until all the different guitar loops, and drum solo panned out the way they did during recording.”
The band’s willingness to let songs evolve naturally is particularly apparent here.
“Derision” originally had a different shape, but the band realized that its melancholy opening needed a dramatic counterpoint. The upbeat outro became the answer, creating a striking transformation within the song. “Firebird,” meanwhile, was always intended to be expansive. The idea of blending Doom metal with free form jazz gave the song an ambitious destination, but the final length wasn’t predetermined.
Instead, the composition grew organically through the recording process, with guitar loops and a drum solo helping determine just how far the track would ultimately go. These moments demonstrate that experimentation is not simply an aesthetic choice for Arsis Thesis. It is part of how the band discovers what a song needs.
If there is one song on Ustanak that best captures the essence of Arsis Thesis today, which would it be and why?
“I would say the title track is a great representation of what we are trying to do sonically, and structurally with our songs. It’s a musical suite in four parts that all have their own distinct flavors, and themes that still all remain cohesive in a way we will always strive to do with our songs and albums.”
It feels fitting that the song ultimately chosen to represent Arsis Thesis is the album’s namesake.
“Ustanak” embodies the band’s desire to make music that can move through different sounds, structures, and emotional territories without losing its central identity. Its four-part structure gives each section its own personality while allowing everything to remain connected. That balance between experimentation and cohesion seems to be central to Arsis Thesis’ artistic identity.
A Debut Built From Rebirth
What makes Ustanak particularly compelling is the amount of history already contained within it. These songs were initially written in 2020, but the album that eventually emerged is not simply a time capsule from the pandemic era. It is the product of years of change.
The hardships that delayed the album ultimately became part of its story. The anger that fueled its lyrics became something more deliberate. The band’s experimentation expanded through songs like “Firebird” and “Derision,” while tracks such as “Capricorn” connected the album back to Arsis Thesis’ earliest days. At its core, Ustanak is about resistance; but it is also about what happens after resistance begins.
It asks how people process anger, how they respond to injustice, how they protect the people around them, and how they continue fighting for a better future even when they may never see the results themselves.
For Arsis Thesis, rebellion isn’t simply destruction. It is creation. It is community. It is art. It is refusing to become numb. And perhaps most importantly, Ustanak reminds listeners that even in the middle of rage and uncertainty, there is still a reason to keep moving toward the sunrise.
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