Two new Jawbreaker releases have just been unleashed upon the world!
First out is Krematorium, a thrash band from Rijeka, Croatia that on their latest EP Altar of Lies has incorporated more of a speed metal sound into their music. The tape is out now on Jawbreaker Records and contains three tracks of furious speed/thrash. Limited to 100 copies on blood red tape.
Next up is Commando. This demo tape is their debut release and contains two tracks of darkened heavy metal. Limited to 100 copies on hellflaming orange tape.
Get your hands on JAW-016 and JAW-017 or die trying!
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Recently we had the pleasure of interviewing Nonoy Padrejuan, guitarist/vocalist from Paganfire. Hailing from Quezon City, Philippines, Paganfire has been wreaking fear and death for the last 15 years. True underground warriors to the core, the band has never been taking it easy or waited for success to suddenly come knocking on their door. Instead they have been collaborating with countless labels and bands from around the globe, spreading forth their brutal thrash metal like a horde of plague-ridden black rats.
Paganfire has been active since 2003. Tell us how the band got started!
N: Greetings mate!!! Actually me and Jay [Drums] got together in 1999, under a different name, playing covers of our favorite bands. After 2 years, our then bassist/vocalist Dennis thought of the name PAGANFIRE, and we used it since then. Come 2002, Alvaro [bass/vocals] and Rowell [guitars] stepped in, and we played around the Metro Manila area actively. It was 2008 when Rowell got replaced by M.A. and from then there was no turning back!!
Judging from Metal Archives, you guys have released only one full length album [2013’s Wreaking Fear and Death], but an extreme number of splits and other releases. How come? Do you even keep count of them?
N: Apparently it took us quite a while before we managed to do the debut album, we are not on a rush anyway, and right now the 2nd album’s creation is slowing down too, but no worries, we are keen on working on it a lot sooner. There was no conscious action to flood the world with splits, it just happened, WRITE, RECORD, RELEASE, D.I.Y. or die!! Let’s just say we never backed down from any project proposal, it is always a pleasure to work with fellow maniacs from everywhere anytime! NO, I haven’t counted them lately, perhaps when I update my list, but for now, the barrage will continue. BARRAGE OF NOISE!!!
How does your song writing process usually take place?
N: There is no definite time frame when we work on a song(s), some just take a few hours and sessions of rehearsals, while others are way too hard to finalize. Normally it’s either me or Alvaro who presents a new song or two at rehearsals, and from then we work on it, letting the METAL flow naturally, jam and bang our heads to it. That’s the way we do it, and let’s see if it will change sooner or later.
To my ears, your music sounds like thrash metal of the most extreme kind – a bit like Sadus, Hypnosia or early Kreator. How would you describe your own music? What are your influences?
N: AARRGGHHH!!! I am glad you are reminded of such legends with what we do! Paganfire plays true underground thrashing metal, no more, no less. Bare, raw and filthy thrash metal!!! As a band we are into thrash, heavy metal and punk, as individuals musical influences are many! And it is indeed excellent that we have a common area of interest and that is thrash metal! Other non musical influences would be movies, books and the fact that we are living in a third world country that will swallow itself whole very soon!!
What kind of books and/or movies is that?
N: Practically we read and watch a little bit of everything, but most of the time it is the horror/occult movies and books that stand out, and of course the biographies of some interesting personas like dictators, serial killers, criminals, despots etc etc.
Tell us more about the situation in the Philippines in general.
N: The Philippines is in a near self destructive state, I think it is just a matter of time before everything spills over, ravaged by politicians and their self appeasing ways. I bet you have read about the thousands killed by the useless drug war, the endless political bickerings, social media propagandists, and now our soaring inflation rates. Would you believe we have third world wages against first world prices?? Our president is a lunatic to say the least. In general, the Philippines is in a poor, zombified state. Now we’ll see what the future will bring.
How’s the metal scene over there?
N: I cannot call it a “scene”, it was always a group of individuals whose activities resemble a “scene” to me. Sure enough you have the standard (bands, zines, maniacs) which is not totally a bad thing, but I want more, more hardcore metal maniacs, more controversial zines, more hyperactive non trendy bands, etc etc. Perhaps we can say I don’t like the scene? Whatever!! Whatever works for them, as far as Pagafire we’ll just walk our own path and do our thing, regardless of what is happening or is popular to do in this “scene”.
With several new releases coming each year usually, you don’t seem like a band who like to sit still. What’s next for Paganfire? Total world domination?
N: Kudos to you for noticing that!!! We can say that we are very active indeed, as I reply to this interview, we just did a pair of weekend shows in my hometown, we went 500 kilometers from Manila, and it was a worthwhile experience to say the least, and we are now planning the next shows. If somehow the possibility of touring Europe and other continents happens we’ll gladly do that, but as of now, none of that will happen soon. As for the release onslaught, keep your eyes and ears open, as I have been informed that the test presses for the next vinyl release will be ready and some months ago our friends from Brazil’s VDM productions vomited forth their version of our debut album “Wreaking Fear and Death” with different layout and bonus tracks of course! And yes, as far as I am concerned that is what a true D.I.Y. underground band should do: write, record and release!!!
Jawbreaker Records would like to thank Nonoy and Paganfire for the interview, and give our eternal respect for their dedication! This is the true spirit of the underground, this is the way it should be done – WRITE, RECORD, RELEASE!
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Jawbreaker Records are extremely proud to announce that Mindless Sinner – Master of Evil is now officially released. Shipping of all the pre-orders (thanks everyone!) has already begun, and for the rest of you: now is the chance to lay your hands on this masterpiece of Swedish heavy metal history. For a limited time only, both the yellow (limited to 100 copies) and the red (limited to 200 copies) will be available in the web shop for a special heavy metal price of 66,6 SEK.
It’s hard to believe, but remember that this is the first time EVER that ANYTHING by Mindless Sinner is officially released on cassette! So hurry up and get your copy while the stock lasts.
Swedish heavy metal legends Mindless Sinner need no further introduction. This is a official re-release of the band’s groundbreaking debut EP from 1983. Limited to 100 copies on yellow tape and 200 copies on red tape. Never released on tape before.
Includes six rare bonus demo tracks (also recorded in 1983)! These tracks are previously only available on the 2003 CD re-release by Metal For Muthas.
Tracklist:
Broken Freedom
Key of Fortune
Master of Evil
Screaming For Mercy
Heavy Metal Will Never Die*
Mindless Sinner*
Taking My Life Away*
Higher and Higher*
We All Go Back*
City Games*
*Bonus track.
This release has been made possible due to a collaboration with Night Crawler, who has contributed an awesome design for the release. Horns up!
Brace yourselves for JAW-014: The official reissue of Mindless Sinner – Master of Evil on cassette! This is the first time ever that the heavy metal legends’ groundbreaking debut EP will be available on cassette, which of corpse is the most metal of all formats.
This release has been made possible due to a collaboration with Night Crawler, who has contributed an awesome design for the release. Horns up!
Swedish heavy metal legends Mindless Sinner need no further introduction. This is a official re-release of the band’s groundbreaking debut EP from 1983. Limited to 100 copies on yellow tape and 200 copies on red tape. Never released on tape before.
Includes six rare bonus demo tracks (also recorded in 1983)! These tracks are previously only available on the 2003 CD re-release by Metal For Muthas.
JAW-013 is out now, and for the first time ever a non-Swedish band is offered on tape by Jawbreaker Records. Germany’s Cherokee play old-school, 70’s style heavy metal with incredible melodies and twin guitar harmonies. This firewater will make your head burn!
Limited to 63 copies on yellow tape and 37 copies on orange tape only.
This new cassette is the debut 4-track demo by brand new metalpunk band Knallpulver. This power trio from Gothenburg, Sweden is an infamous bunch of misfits consisting of Kalle Mossberg, Niclas Ingelman (Armory) and August Holmström (Armory).
Read on for a short interview with guitarist and songwriter Niclas “Ingelmeister” Ingelman.
Hail! Can you tell us the story behind Knallpulver and how the band came into being?
The story about Knallpulver begins a night at The Abyss [Gothenburg’s local heavy metal pub – Editor’s note] in April 2017. The singer Kalle who plays in pop band [!] nowdays wanted to scream and yell on some songs and asked if I had some project in mind. I told him that I had thought about writing some metalpunk-songs and it would be awesome if he would like to write some lyrics and do the vocals. After that I wrote 4 songs really quick and Kalle wrote the lyrics. Then we needed a drummer, so we just told August that he had to lay down some drums on the tracks. He had no choice then, so he did it. Everthing was recorded in the summer of 2017.
Should Knallpulver be regarded as a side-project or a full-fledged band? Will there be more releases and perhaps live gigs in the future, or is this a one-off release?
Knallpulver is a side-project, we have never even had a rehearsal. But I want to record more songs and do more releases, nothing planned right now but because it is a side-project I don’t feel any hurry. We haven’t really talk about any gigs, I think it would be fun to do at least. We will see when the first request comes in I guess…
Tell us about the name Knallpulver. How did you choose this name, what does it represent to you, and how would you describe its meaning to non-Swedish readers?
The name is awesome. Knall means bang, thats pretty cool and pulver means powder, pretty cool as well. So bangpowder becomes super cool.
The lyrics seems to be filled with satirical humor and with no small dose of social criticism. Any comments regarding the lyrics and how they should be interpreted?
Kalle wrote all lyrics and he describes it like this: “The lyrics have a genious balance between substance and humour. The kind of lyrics you feel compelled too like because you fear to be perceived as dumb or have lack of humour if you do not like them. The lyrics are like a more complete and mature literary version of Mulholland Drive and Dr. Strangelove.”
Finally, let’s talk about the actual music… What influences where incorporated in the writing of the songs? How would you yourself describe Knallpulver’s music?
Well at least I tried to do punk songs with the classic HM-2 guitar sound. I was influenced by a lot of Swedish crust acts such as Skitsystem, Disfear and Martyrdöd. But because I am a metalhead and love to play guitar it always comes in a lot of influence from heavy metal as well, especally in the guitar work. If you would like to spit in your boss’ face [who wouldn’t?], then Knallpulver would be the perfect soundtrack for it.
Anything you can tell us about the recording process?
The recording process went really easy. I recorded the guitar and bass at home and then re-amped it in a rehearsal room with a real amp. The drums was also recorded in the rehearsal room and was done by an evening. And after that we just recorded the vocals one evening there as well. Then I mixed and mastered it and everything was done. Went really fast and smooth.
Thanks for answering these questions. Any final words?
