Thraw – Thrash Metal Fever from Carinthia (2008)

Thraw are up-and-coming thrash metallers from Carinthia who go for a technically complex sound. They also love digging for riff ideas in the roots of good old-school Bay Area thrash metal. Those riffs never stop impressing with their inventiveness and wit, and even though the guys are still pretty “green” on the scene, they make no secret of their musical potential and talent. They belong to the new-wave current of the general metal awakening in Slovenia, which is enjoying a real boom right now. I had the honor of watching them open this year’s Metal Mania Open Air festival, and with a confident set the guys made a really great impression on this nosy member of the trade. So I invited them for an interview, which we did at noon the day after the festival. The whole band turned up, with both guitarists, Domen Hudrap and Ožbej Paternus, doing most of the talking, while singer Aleksander Smode gladly stepped into the role of RockLine photographer and shot some cool moments during the interview.

RockLine: Is this your first time at Metal Mania Open Air?
Domen: Yes. It was our first time playing, but not our first time here. We were here last year, but it feels totally different when you’re watching the action from the stage for a change, because last year we were mixed in with the crowd.

RockLine: And how do you like Metal Mania?
Domen: Great.
Ožbej: It’s the only truly real Slovenian festival.
Domen: Above all, a real beer festival.

RockLine: Yesterday you played on the first day of Metal Mania Open Air. How does it feel to be the one who opens the festival? You were the first on the bill on day one.
Ožbej: It couldn’t have been better given our current status. We’re very happy.

RockLine: Why and how did Thraw come about?
Domen: Mostly because all of us in the band were already playing different instruments, but none of us had a band. So we found each other, people who like the same music, and we could start making this kind of music together.

RockLine: Basically, thrash metal is the starting point of your sound, right?
Domen: Yes. Thrash, with some death metal mixed in. Mostly thanks to our drummer, who pushes death into our music.
Ožbej: Our drummer is brutal and aggressive, ha, ha, ha.

RockLine: When are Thraw putting out their studio debut?
Domen: A debut, oh, oh… First up is a demo, coming out in October, called “Injecting Hate”. It’ll be self-released.

RockLine: Is it original material? Any covers?
Domen: Yes. Mostly original material. For the previous one, our first demo, we wanted to add a cover of UFO’s Doctor Doctor, but then we changed our minds.

RockLine: Really? UFO? That sounds crazy.
Domen: We got wasted on it and recorded it anyway.

RockLine: What about the Slovenian metal scene in general, how does it look to you? Especially in the Carinthian corner of Slovenia?
Domen: It’s developing pretty diligently. Although a few years back it was pretty quiet, especially here in Carinthia. 10-15 years ago there were Funeral March, Xenophobia and Blind Hate in Carinthia. After them it went quiet. About five years ago Wartune came onto the scene and stirred things up a bit again. And then we showed up too, Thraw.

RockLine: Are there any gigs lined up for Thraw?
Domen: We’re short on them at the moment. We’ll play at Železobeton’s 20th anniversary, 05.09.2008, in Murska Sobota.

RockLine: Gregor Čulk (Interceptor, editor’s note) mentioned to me that Interceptor are inviting you on tour?
Domen: Yes. There was some talk about it, but we haven’t agreed on anything firm yet.

RockLine: And what about abroad? Does playing there appeal to you?
Domen: Sure, there’s interest. But until someone invites us, we probably won’t play outside Slovenia. We won’t be offering ourselves.

RockLine: Slovenia currently has a really nice handful of modern thrash/death metal acts that audiences abroad would gladly watch on stage. What do you think about that?
Domen: Not long ago some Japanese guy who owns a music shop contacted us asking if we’d send him our music. He found us through our official MySpace page. He obviously liked our music, because he asked us to send him some demo recordings.

RockLine: What musical influences does Thraw’s sound grow out of?
Domen: Everything.
Ožbej: Except Bon Jovi.

RockLine: Even beyond metal?
Domen: Yes. It’s true that the basic platform for our music is heavy metal, but we definitely don’t want to limit ourselves musically.

RockLine: Who brings the musical ideas to Thraw, say the guitar riffs themselves?
Domen: I do the music, and the lyrics come from Sandi (the singer, editor’s note.).

RockLine: And how does a Thraw song come together?
Domen: I write the music, the singer writes the lyrics. An arrangement takes shape. Then we get together and trim the parts we don’t like, or keep reshaping a song until we find some common ground. Until we realize we all like a particular song. That’s usually when the song is done.

RockLine: Do you plan to widen your genre range in the future, or will thrash stay the main starting point?

Domen: We’ll stay with thrash metal. What we do already gives us a hugely promising outlook for developing our music, and plenty of room to try out different musical tricks and work them into our musical template in an accessible way.

RockLine: That combination is really on point and trendy. There are lots of bands who can develop truly complex variations by merging thrash and death metal, Quo Vadis for example. Bands like that tend to pick up progressive labels in the end…
Domen: Yeah, yeah, but at our core we lean toward the punch of thrash metal. We only add death riffs occasionally and when needed, just to make your hair stand on end and get the adrenaline pumping through your blood.

RockLine: Guys, that’ll do it. I sincerely wish you all the success on your way, and thanks for your time.
Domen: Thanks to you too.

interview conducted and edited by: Aleš Podbrežnik

photos: Aleksander Smode & Aleš Podbrežnik