Raw War Printed issue 2

The release of the second long awaited printed issue of Raw War is now very close at hand!

A list of all content plus all the exclusives will be updated under the coming week.

Grue Interview!

The time to talk to the band Grue is now! 
With me i have  Barghast (vocals and guitar, ), and Ghast (drums and vocals)...Lets dig in.

 1. Hails! 
How are things and how did your live ceremony at Dusk in the 28 of february go? 

B: That Dusk show was fantastic! It was our first time there as Grue, although we'd both played there before in previous bands (Nachzehrer and Fresh Kill). Providence is a great town for heavy metal. 

2. As a newly born (2011) horde as Grue is how would you describe your first steps in the outside world felt and what if any kind of obstacles was first to tear down? 

B: When the band first started, the first thing everyone would say to us was either "when are you getting a bass player?" or "can I play bass for you guys?" I think the first real obstacle (after deciding that we were committed to remaining a two-piece) was figuring out how to write music that didn't just sound like a regular black metal band with the bass removed (instead of just turned all the way down, to drag up an old joke one more time). And for me, that also involved doing a lot of work on my guitar and amplifier set up, learning to play in a new tuning, things like that. 

G: As a new member of Grue I felt it necessary to put my mark on the sound and help elevate our music to another level. The first shows we played were met with strong support from true metalheads. Any obstacles that might have been there were quickly found not to be an issue. 

3. When your first release the split "Lo, the Curse of the World Cometh" with Word of Unmaking was manifested and spread out how was the reception? 

B: The reception was fairly positive, but unfortunately the tape ended up coming out at a time when the band was fairly inactive - the original drummer was very busy with other bands and personal stuff, and I was at a low point of motivation. When Ghast joined and we started writing new songs and re-arranging the old ones, the situation was a bit strange because the only recording we had was with a different drummer, with different song arrangements from the way we were playing by then. 

4. How would you describe your lyrical content & occult directions and how would you describe the energy that Grue eminates? 

B: To be honest: we are not practitioners of the occult, nor do we worship Satan (or any other spirits or dogmas). My lyrical inspiration is a mix of personal experience ("Ascending the Necrolith" is basically auto-biographical), science fiction and fantasy literature ("Across Black Seas of Infinity" is directly based on the opening sentence of "The Call of Cthulhu" by H.P. Lovecraft), or a mix of both ("They Who Walk Behind the Skies" comes from short stories by J.G. Ballard and William Gibson, as well as my own experiences working at a needle exchange and as an overdose prevention counselor). 

G: As Barghast has pointed out we do not worship or follow and doctrine or dogma, the real energy and power comes from within. As musicians, we tap into this energy in the form of live music and actively crafting new things to represent who we are as a black metal entity. 
Our lyrical focus is on observations of life and analogies that we draw from that. The works of H.P. Lovecraft resonate strongly with me as well. 

5. Last year your first full length album "Casualty of the Psychic Wars" was released. This powerfull entity i guess one can be seen as the real first corner stone in Grues existence but how you feel yourself of it? Did you reach your goals you set out with it, etc? 

 
B: It took a long time for us to finish "Casualty of the Psychic Wars," because as we were working on it we had to figure out how we wanted to sound as a recorded band. With the tape demo I had just tried to capture what we were doing live but on this album we paid a lot more attention to things like vocals and backup vocals, drum sounds, arranging and layering the guitars, and so on. 
I'm very proud of the way it turned out, but I'm also looking forward to working on future recordings much more quickly and efficiently now that we have a better idea of what we're trying to do. 

G: I am very proud of our first full length. I also agree that it is our first corner stone given that we are writing and producing music at a good rate. The goal with the record was to establish a new platform for the band and make a statement of what we are as a black metal band; I feel we accomplished that despite the amount of time it took to release. 

6. What would you say is the most inspirational experience you receive from our modern society and what drives Grue to thrive the most? 

B: If modern society inspires me at all, it's mostly in a negative sense: for all of humanity's illusions of progress, our history has been built on cruelty, injustice, degradation, and waste. 
As someone who was born into a white male skin in North America I'm fortunate enough to suffer less than many others, but I suppose you could call this general pessimism (and sometimes shame, anger, disgust) about the human race "inspirational" for Grue's music. 

G: I have a general disgust and loathing of modern society. Living in a populated area further propels these influences and Grue is a way to combat these feeling that I have and channel that into a more constructive form of art. The two of us share similar thoughts on current day living are able to raise our sound as a weapon of bitterness. What drives us to thrive is the satisfaction of creating an art form that helps us and the listener cope with these sorts of things. 

7. How does your concert plannings look like for the coming spring and summer? 

B: Right now we have a run of shows planned from now until mid-summer, in the New England and New York area. I'm really happy that I was able to work with Chasse Galerie to bring them down from Quebec for a couple of shows with us (in Boston and New York City). 

8.Is there some hordes in your surroundings that you respect? 

B: There are a bunch of great metal bands in New England these days. If you haven't already, check out Bog of the Infidel, One Master, Morgirion, Haxen, Sangus, Morne, Obsidian Tongue, I could go on… 

G: I would add PanzerBastard and Blessed Offal. These are 2 bands that have been around for some years in the Boston scene and have earned my respect as die hard individuals. Morne deserves another mention too, they are a monumental force and they are highly recommended. 

9. Is some kind of tasty Grue merchandise on its way this year? 

G: We do have some new merch items in the works. I would like to do another dual sided shirt design with an image of us performing since we are very much a live band. I will add that all of our shirt and patch designs are rendered and printed by us. If you have a Grue shirt or patch then it was hand drawn and printed by the two members of Grue exclusively. 
This DIY approach to our products makes what you get from us more genuine. 

10. What is your most imminent actions for the band now? 

B: We're going to be recording four songs in the next couple of weeks. 
One of them will be going on a cassette compilation of New England metal bands, and we'll also be working on putting out an EP on cassette and/or vinyl hopefully. 
This recording will be all new songs, plus a cover of "Rake" by Townes Van Zandt (an American songwriter who wrote some of the bleakest, darkest songs in country music). Playing covers isn't something we'd normally do, but we've been making an exception for this song. Further in the future, we're eventually planning on re-recording some of the songs from our cassette demo as well, since they've taken on new shapes with our current lineup. 

G: Inspiration for us has yet to be a lacking force. 
The goal is to keep writing and recording new (and the last of the old) material and bring our live ritual to as many places as we can. 
We will eventually write another epic that will more than likely go well beyond the 10 minute mark.

11. Thanks for your time & best of luck!

Evilforces Interview!

Hails and welcome to the endless cave of Raw War! 

1.As I understand you are a pretty fresh band? For how long have you existed in this manifestation and how and why you people hook up and created Evilforces? 

-First of all Thanks a lot for the support and interest in Evilforces. Well yes, we are a very fresh band. I used to have other BM project but we (the other members and I) decided to go in separate ways. 
I started to write the album in July 2013 and so I create Evilforces in October. Nestor Avalos plays the bass and he joins now in 2014.

 
2. Where is your stronghold located and how is your local "scene"?

- León, Guanajuato, México is the location. 
Local Scene? I think there are a very good bands but they need to take the music business seriously. 

3. Your musical inspirations as you mention on your FB page is Mercyful Fate, King Diamond, Bathory, Celtic Frost, Gorgoroth (old), Emperor, besides all this great golden artists is there some current new hords that you support and respect?  

- Yes of course, there’s a lot of very good projects nowdays who keep the early Norwegian essence alive, first to came to my mind are Dødsfall, Krypt, Omegathrum Moon, Djevelkult, Pagan Hellfire, Moonkult…… There’s a lot of fresh new killer bands all around the world.

4. Lets talk about the coming album "Pest Plagues & Storms", by the title one can get a grasp of its taste of boiling blood I guess but please describe its internal themes and what pushed you in this direction of lyrics?

- Just like the title of the album says, the lyrics are about Pest, Malevolent Forces, Rage, Plagues, blood of course there will be blood, also I were inspired by possessions, violent activity from poltergeists and stuff you know, so I decided to take the whole thing to the lyric themes in this album. 
In fact in the top of the logo you can see this Pazuzu’s head, a demon that brings all this illness.  

5. Is there a catharsis reward through your music for you or is it more like digging your soul deeper down the spiral?

- Of course there’s a reward in every single part of every single song, and well, as I told you before the lyrics are about Evil, Hate and Anger Future is uncertain, I don’t know about what I’m going to talk in the next albums but for now I’m not hailing nobody.

6.Besides the full album is there some plans or talk about making some split with someone?    

- I had not thought about making a split but if any band interested has the same goals as Evilforces why not, we could consider a split album.

7. Can you describe Pazuzu’s background a bit more? And besides this beast is there other ones that also could work for your purposes? ...And i think it was the Pazuzu who was inside the possessed girl in the movie "The Exorcist" also...   

- A short info about Pazuzu it’s that he was the King of the Demons of the Wind, and son of the God Hanbi a God of Whom very little is known, aside from the fact that He is Pazuzu’s father. Pazuzu, the Assyrian Demon also represented the southwestern wind, the bearer of storms and pest. 
Ok this is the main info around the net but you may find some other information which claim contrary in particular that Pazuzu was respected as a God. 
Of course, in the other songs we talk about Lilith & Lamaštu, another two main summerian demonesses, and yes, Pazuzu was that demon of this Legendary movie. 

8. When one like me that lives in little Sweden thinks of living in a place like México one would have the impression that "street violence" etc would be a quite common everyday experience... Is that impression half truth or only a one sided "media projection"?

- Half truth, there’s violence all around the world nowdays. I think it depends in the city where you live, there will always be less safe than other places in every country.

9.Who made your bandlogo and the other visual representation?

- The primary idea of the logo was made by Luciferium War Graphics and then I made some arrangements. 

    
The Art Illustration was made by our bassist Nestor Avalos

 
and the person who appears in black with makeup and this black robe is Denisse Juárez, a very close friend of mine.

10. On which record label will your album be released on and when?   

- Well just like you said in the beginning, we are a fresh new band so we haven’t a record deal yet. 

11. Right now what is Evilforces most immediate plans? 

- Find a label to debut our first album and probably consider making a VideoClip for the song “Destroyer’s Pest”.

Nechbeyth - Coerce Creed

Well after their last bestial holocaust i was not directly hovering in fear for this new releases good quality or not...

it may even be an better terror assault this Ep "Coerce Creed" then the last blistering outing "Blood. Axis. Domination"!!

But ...then again it feels wrong to split them apart because i feel like they are already connected deeply through Nechbeyth blood and flows together naturally anyway.

After the dystopian mood setting intro (which is baked into the first real song also the same is done in the end with the outro) the bulldozing commence but not only in some blind "wall-of-sound" buzz but like a strong and well defined war tank crushing all the resistance with both brutal cold power and refined modern weapon technology.

All through the 5 tracks one discover many killer riffings and interludes and speed shiftings which may not be evident on the first spin but that just makes it last longer. The intertwined ancient war gods feels rightfully at home here.

And a hails also goes to the cover art by NothingSacred SvArtwork and all the layout/design which fits like an uniform on this trooper metal body!

And though the whole chaotic atmosphere is burning your ears (and hair) away one find its core more intelligent them some may think this could inherit.

Track list:

1.     Intro+KMST Oath         
2.     Ruination Conquest         
3.     Eradication Vortex         
4.     Coerce Axiom         
5.     Lynch Directive+Outro         

Vampire Interview!

Lets sit down and chat some with the guitarist Black String of the Swedish death/trash metal band Vampire!

1.Greetings! How are things right now? Lots of commitments?
Time for some touring next month also i understand?

- Hey there. Things are quite calm in the Vampire camp at the moment if you don’t take the promotion work into account, meaning dozens of e-mails each day and a couple of interviews on top of that.
There are no touring plans as of now apart from our album release show with Miasmal and Morbus Chron in Gothenburg in April.
Hopefully we will perform some additional shows around Scandinavia after the album release and do a proper tour later on.

2.Are you pleased with the end result of the coming first full album? What would you say if any is the difference between the demo and the new songs music wise?
When you started on the album work was there a clear vision you had for it or did the creative "death" impulses take you through track to track?

- It’s close to a perfect first album I think.
Compared to the demo the album shows improvements in the song structures and general performance, not to mention the slightly more atmospheric passages which our demo only hinted at. We didn’t have a clear vision of an album when we begun writing new songs after the release of the demo, but let’s say that the album manifested itself once the opening track ”Orexis” was finished, which was the last song we made for the album.

3. Possession from Belgium manage it now also but I must say there was a while ago i witnessed a band with just one demo tape that instantly manifested a buzz in and around the underground as Vampire did!
Of course one does not know the perfect formula to manage to strike the right chords as this but did you have some hunch of the "future to come" before you released the tape?

- We didn’t expect much from the demo tape, so everything that’s happened after its release has been a positive surprise. The formula is Hand of Doom, me and Command getting together in the first place, and some Ratwing on top of that.
Let’s see where it will take us.


4.How many tapes and colors did you let lose to the world?

- Four colors, a hundred copies each.


5. And that sweet follow up Ep vinyl release with the extra song was great!
Is any of these songs also on the full length?

- There are as many as three songs from the EP on the album.

6.By the way how was the gig at The Liffey last year? (Gamla stan/Stockholm)

- It was totally OK. It surely wasn’t the best show in the history of Vampire as we hadn’t played live for about three months at the time and it was just our third gig.


7. And when we talk about gigs i understand you have been out and played quite much?
Is there some gig that stands out when you think back?
Some disaster gig?
Some perfect gig?

- We’ve played about eleven gigs since our debut gig in December 2012, which isn’t very much in my opinion. Every gig is special in its own way, but my personal highlights would be our gigs at the Muskelrock festival and at Klubb Natten in Malmö.
I won’t bother myself with the disastrous moments right now…


8.Now you are signed with Century Media Records, you feel comfy with them?
Not that you should´t be comfy but i hope they provide you with all that you need.

- Century Media are very professional to deal with.
However, one cannot really expect much more than album releases and sales promotion from a record label these days. We don’t ask for more than that either and handle the rest by ourselves.

9. Any plans for a split?
- I’ve thought about asking Morbid Angel about that, but didn’t hit the ”send” button on my gmail account yet.

10. As blood taste like metal i think your bandname fits the bill more then well...
but if you had to choose one person in the world to suck blood of who would that be?

- Madonna maybe.

11. Thanks for all your answers!
Best of luck now!

- Thanks for the interview and support of Vampire.
Best of luck with your ’zine and art projects.

Wulfheim - Alsvart

This third album "Alsvart" is the first full album i hear from this spanish beast Wulfheim and i like it!

Sure this type of creation is nothing new or groundbreaking but it is not the meaning of it either. This is a call
from the second wave plus some years, it is soaked with ancient witch spite & raging icy forest winds.
It is part nostalgic and part personal sound.

The personal side comes in partly from the screeching production that runs like a cold steel on your back through out it all and partly reminds one of some occult industrial bands from the past... and keyboards is used to rise up the medieval epic vibe to a tasty level. it all is very hysterical and psychotic like if one would be under a soul trapping curse biting your flesh away!

The singing is a mix between troll dripping screams to crow induced illnesses to dark orcish choirs, i cant say to much of the lyrics because i dont have them but regarding the themes & names of the songs one gets a fairly good idea what they consist of and they most certainly fits the cover...

...speaking of covers the album ends (exluding the outro) with a cover of "Under a Funeral Moon" by Darkthrone... i dont think the album needs it but... why not....more meat to the goat!

This type of BM-music was made too much in the end of the 90´s and start of 00´s but now this style feels interesting again.
The only recent music that i can say is somewhat similar is Skuggan.

Track list:

1.     Overture - Intus        
2.     The Silent Chant        
3.     Alsvart         
4.     Griefhymn         
5.     Den Glemte Skyggen         
6.     Hvarfheim        
7.     Under a Funeral Moon (Darkthrone cover)    
8.     Epilogue - Hollowness        

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wulfheim/292439397483340  
http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Wulfheim/3540350524

Update

The work for the printed Raw War moves forward, i recently got back the answers to the Grave Miasma interview and waiting for answers to the interview to this -Possession-

And also interviews with Mephorash (with extra exclusive photo-shoot) and Demonicvlt, Black Altar, Wohrt Records and much more.
Stay tuned as this issue grows like a evil cancer!

Other news is that some of the artworks i have done for bands starts to surface as complete releases!
(many more on its way for the likes of Sadokist, Cultemort, The True Incest, Haternal, Nun Slaughter  m,m)

God Disease

Demonicvlt

Others thats on the horizon is Menneskerhat.

The flyer for it

 Here is a photo on all three versions on my first cover art i did last year for Incarceration.

Here is a photo on the Leichenzug release where i did the poster.

If you look for a good zine a nice choice is Riddle of Steel! (i had luck and got an ad in it too!