Wikipedia / Angerfist
Wikipedia / Angerfist
Danny Masseling (born 20 June 1981), better known by his stage name Angerfist, is a Dutch hardcore producer and DJ. He has maintained popularity in the hardcore genre for an extended duration, and is often referred to as the "King of Hardcore". Many claim that his music, featuring distorted kicks and aggressive vocals, has defined the modern hardcore sound.
Aside from his main alias, he also produces other genres and subgenres under various aliases and is part of the groups the Supreme Team (with Outblast, Tha Playah & Evil Activities), Masters Elite (with Catscan and Outblast), and Roland & Sherman (with Outblast).
During live acts, Angerfist is accompanied by MC Prozac (Minne Roos), who, since 2013, has adopted the DJ Bloodcage alias which he previously shared with Angerfist. Angerfist and MC Prozac have chosen not show their real face during performances, opting to wear a white hockey mask instead.
Career
Early Years
Angerfist started making music at the age of 16. Beginning with 4-beat programmed loops and breakbeats, his interest in producing music started to grow. He began his career in 2001 after sending a demo to Mark Vos, also known as DJ Buzz Fuzz, director of BZRK Records. Vos liked the tape and signed Angerfist, who then released his first EPs under the names Menace II Society and Angerfist. Angerfist soon gained popularity in the gabber scene because of the aggressive "nustyle" sound he made. His style is characterized by hard bass drums and vocals sampled from various media. Film and television samples are common in his music, and his love for 90s-00s gangsta rap has seen this influence his musical style and lyrics. By the mid 2000s, he already had several popular hardcore tracks to his name, including "Dance with the Wolves", "Raise Your Fist" (the lyrics "Raise your Fist, for Angerfist!" have since become synonymous with his brand), and "Riotstarter". His increasing popularity gave him the opportunity to produce the anthem for Masters of Hardcore in 2005, titled "The World Will Shiver".
Performances & Mask
Angerfist has performed at many well known harder styles events such as Sensation Black, Masters of Hardcore, Defqon. 1, Knockout Outdoor, Mysteryland, Thunderdome and Dominator. He has also played at several mainstream EDM events, such as EDC Las Vegas, Tomorrowland, Electric Love and Ultra Music Festival. Angerfist's performances are well known for his Friday-the-13th inspired white hockey mask, with a similar mask being worn by the main antagonist of the horror movie series: Jason Voorhees. The mask is accompanied by a black hoodie which completely obscures any defining features. In a 2017 interview with Insomniac, Angerfist explained that he started wearing the mask because of stage fright, and wanted audiences to focus on listening to his music instead of his on-stage personality. While he concedes that he no longer experiences anxiety when going to play in front of large audiences, he keeps the mask as an integral and unique part of his brand's iconography:"Many people wear the mask and hoodie at events, which is a cool sight to see when you’re playing a set. Unintentionally, it was one of the best choices I made in my career."In July 2013, it was announced that the Bloodcage project would feature MC Prozac (in his alias of DJ Bloodcage) as the live face of the project, while still involving both artists (MC Prozac and Angerfist) in its studio output.
Albums & Compilations
At time of writing, Angerfist has released 7 albums. His 2006 debut album, Pissin' Razorbladez, contained 31 tracks as well as the first Angerfist Megamix. The Megamix was a mashup of his most popular songs from his career to date, and he would go on to release several more, including annually on his youtube channel from 2010-2017. His debut album was followed by Mutilate, with 30 tracks, in 2008, and Retaliate, with 45 tracks over 3 CDs, in late 2011. He released another 3 CD album, The Deadfaced Dimension, in 2014, with his favourite track from the release being "Messing With The Wrong Man". The album went on to have a release party at the Brabanthallen, featuring other prominent artists from he hardcore scene. The following year, Raise & Revolt was released to positive reviews from critics, even if it didn't live up to the high expectations of The Deadfaced Dimension. The 2 CD album contained 15 new tracks on CD 1, and 39 classic tracks on the 2nd CD. Angerfist returned with another popular hardcore lineup to the Brabanthallen for the album release party. Creed of Chaos, his 6th album, contained popular tracks such as the title track (with vocals from Nolz) and "Pennywise", with a horror aesthetic intensified by a vocal sample from the film adaptation of IT. His 7th and final album to date, Diabolic Dice, is far shorter than his previous works, with only 6 tracks (one to represent each side of a die) better resembling an EP than a full length album. The album's release event was held at AFAS Live in late 2019.
Charting Poll Successes
In DJ Mag's Top 100 DJ edition of 2011, Angerfist made his debut appearance on the list, featuring at #39. Over the years which followed, he remained a mainstay in the middle of the list, consistently placing in the 30s and 40s until 2021. As of 2026, his career high ranking on the list was No. 29, which he achieved in 2018. He was ranked No. 71 on the DJ Mag list for 2023, which also marked his 13th consecutive, and final year featuring in the list. He is one of the only hardcore artists to have appeared consistently on the list; the only other noteworthy inclusion being his wife: Miss K8. Some have criticised his involvement in the list, with critics arguing that his inclusion and involvement commercialises the hardcore sound.
Angerfist spent many years voted as DJ Mag's Top 100 "Highest Hard" artist, often competing with compatriot hardstyle artist Headhunterz for recognition as the worlds most popular DJ producing harder sounds. Angerfist won this award a total of 7 times, including three straight years from 2014 to 2016,, and four straight years from 2020 to 2023, which marked his final stint atop the category. American Hard Techno artist Sara Landry has since gone on to redefine the category, winning the Highest Hard in 2024 and 2025.
Masters of Hardcore conducts an annual poll amongst fans to vote for their favourite hardcore tracks released in throughout calendar year. Angerfist's tracks have won this poll on a number of occasions:
2014: "Knock Knock" - featuring Heisenberg's "I am the one who knocks" line, from popular series Breaking Bad
2019: "The Heartless" (with Tha Playah)
2020: "Face My Style" (with Tha Playah)
2021: "What Happened"
With his wins during the years of COVID-19 lockdowns (2020 & 2021), where the hardcore scene was not permitted to host events due to the risk of viral infection, Angerfist remarked that it was a unique experience to win the award for a track which fans didn't hear at a festival or party, but rather, listening from the comfort of their own home.
Collaborations & Other Genres
In the 2010s, Angerfist broadened his musical repertoire to begin collaborations with raw hardstyle artists, outside of the traditional hardcore scene. In 2016, he produced the anthem for Airforce Festival, in collaboration with Radical Redemption, who was seen as the biggest name in the rawstyle scene at the time. Later, Warface and Angerfist wold cross paths, with rumours of a collaboration beginning in 2018. Warface had previously collaborated with other hardcore artists, such as N-Vitral. "Number 1" was released towards the end of 2018 on End of Line Records, with the duo going on to play a unique B2B set at the following year's edition of HardFest. Both Angerfist and Warface wore their signature masks on stage during their performance. In 2026, it was announced that Angerfist would be premiering a B2B set with masked raw hardstyle duo Gunz for Hire, named "Masked Military".
In the mid 2020s, with the emergence of a new hard dance genre: Hard Techno, Angerfist expanded his musical horizons. Whilst he spent the majority of his career producing the modern hardcore most associated with his brand, which is typically played at 180-200 BPM, in 2022, he began to experiment with other genres and producing slightly slower tracks. This progressed further, when he began incorporating hard techno songs into his own sets, and releasing collaborations with techno artists such as Reinier Zonneveld, Gaston Zani, and fellow masked artist CARV. Angerfist believes that the hard techno and hardcore techno are very similar sonically, despite the scenes remaining self-segregated for historical reasons. He also started a new alias, M4ZE PUSHER, with the intention of exploring slower and more minimal genres such as trance, progressive house and techno.
Discography
Albums
Pissin' Razorbladez (2006)
Mutilate (2008)
Retaliate (2011)
The Deadfaced Dimension (2014)
Raise & Revolt (2015)
Creed of Chaos (2017)
Diabolic Dice (2019)
Singles and EPs
Remixes
Free releases
References
External links