Track By Tracks: War Grave - War Grave (2024)

1. War Graves (Music and lyrics: S. Layne):

This song is about a patriotic young man who is conscripted into the Army only to be killed early on in his deployment. As he goes from training to the battleground, he notes the manipulative psychological tactics of both sides and as he dies, his soul reflects on whether his and his friends' sacrifices were worth it. The idea for the lyrics stemmed from a lot of things at the time; the invasion of Ukraine, the desecration of war memorials by people claiming to be on the 'good' side, the general use of propaganda to get the general populace to do something they would not normally do. It's always been interesting to me that you can sign up for the government to train you to be a killer and be paid for it.

Stuart initially created a demo of the music at home; he wrote the guitar riffs, lead harmonies, and vocal melodies then he shared the demo with the band. Steve wrote and added drums to the demo, and then the song was brought into the rehearsal studio, where the middle and ending were restructured at Steve's suggestion, then each individual member wrote and provided their respective instrumentation (Charlie - bass, Trent - additional lead guitar). Roman also adapted some of the vocal melodies to suit his vocal style.

2. Enchained (Music and lyrics: S. Layne):

This song is about a person who suspects they have been murdered in a past life and recognizes the same evil nature in the society they live in today. The lyrics were written after thinking about if animals had names for the objects they see in daily life. This got me thinking about human exceptionalism, and then I added reincarnation into the equation. I started thinking that if someone was detained and murdered in a past life, would they be more alert to similar threats in their current life. As with War Graves, Stuart first composed and structured the music, lyrics, and vocal melodies, then added the lead guitar's natural harmonics after listening back to the demo. The demo was shown to the band, Steve wrote and added drums to the demo, then it was brought into the rehearsal studio and instrumentation was written and added by the respective band members. Roman again adapted the original vocal lines in some places to suit his vocal style and better utilize his vocal skills.

3. Witch (Music: T. Powell - Lyrics: R. Kantoch):

Witch is an interpretation of a relationship between a man and woman when the woman starts playing with her partner’s feelings to make him whatever she wants him to be and do only for her own interest, stripping him of everything and taking all he has including his soul.

Roman on writing the lyrics: The meaning behind the lyrics of 'Witch' is a story of my own experience with my previous relationship and the struggles within it, to the point where I had to choose to leave. This song describes what would happen if we were to stay together.

Trent initially composed and structured the music including lead guitar lines and shared the demo with the band. Steve added drums to the demo and suggested a structural change regarding the opening and closing riffs and the music was brought into the rehearsal studio. Roman wrote the lyrics and vocal melodies at his home recording studio and added them to the demo. Charlie and Stuart then wrote and added bass and an additional lead guitar part in the rehearsal studio respectively.

4. Revenge Is Near (Music: S. Layne - Lyrics: R. Kantoch):

This is literally about revenge, some bloke decides to leave all behind him and kill another guy who killed his family - or it’s not a literal story, with the background being more about feelings that everyone can have when they feel anger about other people who hurt your family or friends. These are more open lyrics and everyone can have their own interpretation of them.

Roman on writing the lyrics: 'Revenge' tells the story of a person (the Angel of Death) who seeks revenge on behalf of innocent people who have been murdered or subjected to a great deal of evil.

Stuart wrote and structured the music at home first, creating a demo which he then shared with the band. Steve wrote and added drums to the demo and the song was brought into the rehearsal studio. Roman wrote and added his lyrics and vocal melodies to the demo, Charlie wrote and added his bass in the rehearsal room and Trent wrote and added an additional lead guitar part. The original ending of the demo was changed and shortened in the rehearsal studio.

5. Price To Pay (Music: S. Layne - Lyrics: R. Kantoch):

This is basically about the angel of death who came to earth to revenge on all innocent people and make a judgment on earth this is also a paraphrase of Armageddon Roman on writing the lyrics: Price to Pay literally describes a broader context and the feelings of people who, for instance, find themselves amid war and don't understand why all the evil is happening to them and they seek revenge.

This was the first song that Stuart demoed when War Grave was formed as a band. As with the other songs on this list, Stuart wrote and structured the music including guitar harmonies at home first, creating a demo which he then shared with the band. Steve wrote and added drums to the demo and the song was brought into the rehearsal studio. A riff near the end was repeated at the suggestion of a previous band member.

Roman then wrote and added his vocals and lyrics to the demo, and an additional lead guitar part was added by Trent and bass was written and added by Charlie. An additional lead guitar harmony layer was added by Stuart upon recording the song, which was suggested by Steve.