Interview with black thrash metal band from Poland - WARFIST.
Answered vocalist and guitarist Mihu, thank you!
Translated Duzl, thank you!
Questions prepared Jakub Asphyx.
Recenze/review - WARFIST - Teufels (2022):
Ave WARFIST! On March 11, 2022, you released your new album „Teufels“ with Godz ov War Productions. As the title suggests, it is a ride full of real black, thrash metal again. When you left the studio, how did you feel? Please tell us, the fans, something about the new album. What are WARFIST about in 2022?
Hi Jakub! We were damn satisfied with the outcome of “Teufels.” I mean, we were really excited to record this stuff at the time we had finally put some finishing touches to all the songs. In my opinion, this album is the most brutal, as well as the most catchy thing that we have ever made. Some people who listened to it before the premiere said that this might be a breakthrough for us. I don’t know about that. All I know is that this is an album that is going to be difficult to top. However, I guess we kind of got rid of any “chains” that were bonding us and our approach towards making music for this record was the boldest we ever had.
I am just looking at your new video for the song „Meadow of Bizarre“ and I think to myself that you did a great job. Who shot the clip? Tell us a little bit about the song.
The idea was to make an animated clip. The guy who made it for us was Temira de Temirin, a very talented dude, who thought that it would be the best to a collage of old paintings. Him and I picked some artworks that would be suitable for the lyrics, and the final result was far beyond my expectations. A really amazing thing. As for the song, it’s about one of… let’s call it urban legends that used to circle around Zielona Góra. In the seventeenth century, Zielona Góra often underwent from one hands to another, and this also determined which religion was dominant at certain period. The period that’s described in the song is the reign of Catholics. They would get rid of any trace of other religion than theirs, burn books, ban religious rituals, etc. One night, a group of Protestant children wanted to perform a religious rite of their own, but being afraid that they might get into trouble doing so within the town, they decided to go outside the walls and make the ritual at a meadow. However, somebody spotted them and told the guards about everything. They went to stop the children, but when they approached the group, everything became covered in smoke and mist. When all calmed down and the smoke had faded, the children were gone and nobody ever saw them again. In the lyrics I changed the Protestant ritual into a pagan rite, to make things more spicy.
I have your new album in my house from your label to do a review. I have not finished it yet but so far I loved what I have heard. What I have always liked about you is that you are not only orthodox and real but you do not forget sold and dark melodies. Who is the author of your music and how WARFIST compose and create new songs?
I prepare the songs’ sketches, play the riffs to the rest of the band and then we arrange the whole thing together. So, you can say that the entire group is engaged in creating music. As for me, melodies and catchiness are very important. I mean, I like bands like Blasphemy that don’t incorporate melodies into their music at all, but I’ve always wanted Warfist’s songs to stay in your head for a long time. That’s what music is about, isn’t it? The melodies also build the overall atmosphere of a song and make their message easier to understand.
What I enjoy about the new album is the sound which is raw and “dusty”. Where did you record the album, mixed and who did the production?
We recorded it at our friend’s home studio in Szprotawa, just like our previous album. However, this time we decided that somebody else should mix it. Last time, we hired Maniek from Hellspawn to take care of mixing and mastering. We were very satisfied with his job but thought that it’s time to try something different. Together with Greg we thought about who could be up for the task, and we decided to ask Miotła. He’s a guitarist of Feto In Fetus, and a great sound engineer who cooperated with us on a few live shows. He did a great job mixing and mastering “Teufels.” Gave them a raw, but at the same time clear and brutal sound. We never suggested him anything. He just picked the sound that he thought would fit the best to our music, and he did it perfectly.
Also the cover of the album really surprised me. If I understand correctly, there is a skull from a tombstone on it. The cover is simple and slightly dark. What is it supposed to show? And who created it?
Actually, it’s a photo of the sculpture on a wall of the oldest church in Zielona Góra. Some time ago I thought that it would make a great album artwork and finally had an opportunity to use it. I made a photo and Miotła edited it to look good on the album cover. I’ve heard that it’s slightly inconsistent with the title, but I dare to disagree. You know, the devil (Teufel) is associated with evil, and evil is very often associated with death. Besides, a lot of lyrics on the album deal with death. The sculpture presents a skull in a golden crown sent from the sky. I think that it’s a pretty symbolic and suggestive image, very suitable to our latest album.
In your lyrics you sing about blasphemy, sex, occultism, death and violence. What are the lyrics on the new album about? What is the main topic and idea of “ Teufels”?
Mainly about evil within humans. Recently, I very rarely write about satanism or occultism because things happening right now, or in our history, are brutal enough to make a good topic for metal lyrics. There’s no need to write about Satan, since all the devils are here. So, you can find there lyrics like in “Meadow of Bizarre,” which I described earlier. But also lyrics inspired by old legends, like the one about the Pied Piper of Hameln in the opening song. There’s a song about the Cambodian death camp, Tuol Sleng, about a serial children killer from the Victorian Era, and also about murder of a nun, who discovered sexual abuse affair in a Catholic school. Those are some of the topics. Mainly I try to write about true events.
I cannot help myself and I have to ask. You play metal style which is strongly against Christianity. You live in Poland which is considered a strong catholic country. Do you have any problems there? Can you be promoted on TV or in the newspapers? How is the life in Italy affected by Christianity?
I guess you mean Poland because I’ve never lived in Italy 😊 And actually I’d never like to. Italians are too open in my opinion and talk too much, hahaha! Well, Poland has been getting more and more Catholic over the past few years. How does it affect us? We have more shit to criticise and write about. But seriously, if it goes on like this any further, we won’t be any similar to orthodox Muslim countries, where religion sets the law. I hope it doesn’t come to that because I don’t like the idea of living in Medieval times. The problem with Christianity in Poland is that Christians think that everybody should share their point of view, and if they don’t, they should be forced to do so. Also, they want to make everything inconsistent with their ideology illegal, and I guess that’s the biggest problem, especially that our current government licks asses of priests and does everything they want them to. So, as you might suspect, there is no metal in mainstream media and everything that criticises the church, has to remain in the underground. I don’t mind that, but I do mind somebody telling me what to do. I hope that this situation won’t last longer, because as far as I can see, a lot of young people don’t care about religion and just want to live a free life. I hope that their and our voice will eventually be heard.
WARFIST have been playing for 18 years. When you look back and think about your beginnings, what was the main impulse to play metal? Which bands influenced you at the beginning?
At first we were very much under the influence of Australian bands, such as Destroyer 666, Gospel of the Horns or Bestial Warlust, but also the so called first wave of black metal. As for the main impulse? Difficult to say. I guess it was the need to create some violent, aggressive and extreme tunes. Before Warfist, Witchfucker, with whom I founded the band, and I, played in death metal band Ebola, but we wanted to play something more old school and in the style of 1980s. You know, back when the division to subgenres such as heavy, black, thrash, death, or doom, wasn’t as clear as it is today.
Let´s stay in the history…how do you perceive the differences between the present and your beginnings? Everything has changed – technology, sound, recording studios, we have the internet and music downloading. How have those changes affected your band? Did you have to adapt a lot?
Sure! Things have changed drastically since our beginnings. Our first materials were recorded in our rehearsal room on a tape recorder. But that wasn’t a back then. We just wanted to be as oldschool as possible, plus, back then we couldn’t afford a studio. Also, tape-trading was still alive and getting in touch with other bands and trading stuff with them was still alive and well. The Internet was already common, but I remember one thing about it that actually really helped to promote the band online, and it was MySpace. I don’t know if anybody remembers it now, but it was a great database of new bands that made contact and promotion very easy. Apart from that, technologically-wise things are not that different. Maybe when it comes to studio software, but we just play and this change is more noticeable for sound engineers.
I follow your Facebook page and I know about your concerts but honestly, there is not much outside of Poland. Why is that? Is it because you do not want to or because of money? What about some tour to support your new album around Europe and go to the Czech Republic?
Honestly, I don’t know. Probably there’s no much need for Warfist to play live outside of Poland. We don’t receive many gig offers from abroad lately. For the time being, we’ll probably play at Odysey to Blasphemy in Oberhausen, Germany, with bands like Bethlehem, Possession and Denial of God. That’s gonna be in October, and currently it’s the only gig outside of Poland that we have booked right now. Probably it’s also because of the money. You know, we’re not a very well known band that would fill the club, and we still need some cash to get to the show, so probably a lot of promoters don’t want to risk loses. Anyway, we’d like to play more abroad, but we also don’t want to force it. If somebody wants us, will do our best to play. If not, we won’t beg. As for Czech Republic, we played one gig there almost ten years ago. It as in Mlada Boleslav, and the show was fuckin’ wild. I’d like to do that again some day.
I feel that extreme styles are very popular in Poland. Especially death and black metal bands there are amazing! I receive a lot of new album for reviews, I do many interviews and I feel that your scene is very strong. But that is my point of view of a person who does not live in Poland. How do you feel about that? What about concerts, promoters, clubs, shops with extreme metal music?
It is true – Polish metal scene is indeed very strong. It has been for many years, especially when it comes to death and black metal. Too bad that such genres as thrash or heavy are not as popular here. However, things begin to change and more and more young bands begin to play such music. Unfortunately, a lot of it is just copy-paste of ideas of the 1980s bands, and nothing much interesting in the long run. I do hope that things will get better in this case, and we will have another band like Kat, TSA or Wolf Spider. But still, there are enough great bands here to say that Poland has nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to metal, and some bands play as good, as a lot of more popular groups from Sweden, Germany, Norway or USA.
Thank you so much for the interview and I wish your album great selling, your concerts to be sold out. I am looking forward to see you at some concert. I wish you also luck in your personal life. Let the force guide you! WARFIST FOREVER!
Thank you, Jakub! All the best to you to. Thanks for your outstanding support. I really hope that we’ll have a chance to play in Czech Republic one day, and drink some whisky. Cheers!
Recenze/review - WARFIST - Teufels (2022):
Recenze/review - WARFIST - Grünberger (2019):
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