Wolfpack Unleashed – מחתרת הת'ראש

An interview with Wolfpack Unleashed's Wolfgang "Wops" Koch
Austria's Wolfpack Unleashed have recently released their first formal album – Anthems Of Resistance, one of the year's best surprises for me. An aggressive yet melodic piece of thrash that takes some Bay-Area influences and infuses them with more aggressive, even death metal touches. I spoke with Wops, the band's guitarist and main writer about the new album, the controversial cover artwork, and he set the record straight about any misconceptions people may have about the band and its image.

Hey guys! I'd like to start with the band's current activities, what is the band doing now?

We´re now waiting how the album is doing, both in reviews and sales-wise, so we know if Napalm will pull the option and want another WPU album. Also, we're looking for a good tour with a suitable headliner.

What kind of memorable shows did you do since your new album was released?

None, we just did a release-show in our home-town, that's all till now.

Onward to Anthems Of Resistance, I understand most of the tracks came from the self-released The Art Of Resistance, what was done different with them here, and what else was added?

They're re-recorded and have a better sound. Also, there's a new track “Disgrace Erased” on it. So it's basically the same album, just way better sounding.

What is the meaning of the title, and how does that relate to what I understand is a concept story behind it?

Basically, it´s a statement to resist again modern trends, or people wanting to tell you what you have to feel, think or what you should think is “good, trendy, modern” or even “cool”. We don´t give a shit about any images, about what is trendy and what “does sell” well, so we named the Demo and Album “resistance”. Also, our first band name was Wolfpack 05. “05” was the name of an anti-Nazi resistance group in Austria during WW II.

The music in the album is definitely classic thrash, what bands do you think influenced your music most, and how far does the Metallica influence go?

Well, the Metallica influence was there when I learned to play guitars, cuz mostly I played Metallica songs, being a real fan of them. Nowadays, I think we´re not influenced by any bands any more, we just make the music we like the most. And since I love classic Thrash bands such as Metallica, Testament and Megadeth, I also wanna compose classic Thrash, with a few changes, and without stealing any riffs or melodies from them. We're no rip-off band and no tribute-band to any of the old Bay Area Kings.

Being an Austrian band, one would expect your musical direction to be into such German greats as Kreator or Destruction, but your music leans more towards Bay Area Thrash, what is your take on the differences between the two genres, and why did you lean more towards the latter?

German Thrash is more aggressive, but US Thrash is just more clever, more melodic, multi-facetted and technically better, that´s why we prefer US Thrash.

You guys also incorporate elements of death metal into the music, with growls and such, how heavy are you willing to make your music? Will you also cross into death metal when you feel it's needed?

Yes, but our riffs and drums will always have a certain system, we wanna be heavy, but not noisy or write riffs that are simply irritating or “as-ugly-as-possible-“sounding. If I have a cool Deathriff or we think that Blastbeats will sound cool, we´ll use it. There will be some Blasts on our new songs, but not too much, cuz you can't headbang to a blastbeat 😉

A bit about the band's name and concept, a lot of people may easily mistake you for a racist or pro-Nazi band because of the name and some of the imagery you use. First, why name yourselves after the Nazi U-Boats?

My first name is Wolfgang, that´s why the band is called Wolfpack, it has nothing to do with any Nazi Uboats. There are Swedish, Native American and other bands called Wolfpack, that all use it in the REAL meaning of the actual word: a pack of wolves, or more wolves being together. And also, it was mainly the Anglo-Americans who called the German Uboats “Wolfpack”, this term is totally unknown in Austria/Germany. Even my girlfried´s highschool-team (in the US) is called Wolfpack, so there are a lot of Wolfpacks all around the earth, none except one dealing with submarines.

Why is there what appears as a German world war-area solider on the cover of "The Art Of Resistance"?

I quote this from our website, as it explains the cover well:
A: The cover artwork of "Anthems Of Resistance" shows what WPU stands for. You see a man, half crippled, alone in a vast landscape, probably scarred and unable to breath normally from confrontations that happened before. The question is how did he look before – probably just another uniformed conformist without his own opinion, brainwashed by media and modern trends. Now this guy has refused to go with the masses, developed his own opinion, removed his old badge from the uniform and replaced it with a WPU-badge, to show to anybody, that he is not a controlled puppet anymore.

Standing true to his own emotions, beliefs and taste is getting harder and harder in this world controlled by multinational cooperations and dependent media, trying to sell people bullshit as "new trend" and "lifestyle", therefore manipulating weak people´s opinions. And this guy´s own strenght has cost him much on the outside (his hand, maybe his skin, sight, etc.), but mentally he kept strong. In short – he, just like WPU, gives a shit about trends, prefabricated and uneducated opinions and brainwashing. And as you can see in the background, there are more people just like him.

On the demo "The Art Of Resistance", you see him, back at the point where he finds himself in uniform like millions of others, but still all alone.

The image on the new album also shares some very clear motifs from the SS officers' insignia, what does that represent?

It has no SS insignia at all. As you can see, the insignia on the cap was removed, now he wears a “W” , having ripped off the old symbol, replacing it with a WPU badge. Also, the orders on his chest are British 

Why does your website adopt a very distinct military theme?

Simply because it fits well to the cover. We won't put any roses or elves on our website, if there's the masked guy on the cover…

Your FAQ states you're anti-religious fanaticism, what is your exact stance on that, and does that sit in with your military themes and image?

We state nowhere that we are pro-war, every song is an anti-war song, where we criticize it, and the way people behave when in a war-like situation. The cover resembles of a soldier, yes, but I explained the whole thing above.

Austria was the target of world-wide criticism when it chose an ex-Nazi officer, Kurt Waldheim for president. What do you think that says about Austria's views of it's past and history, and what do you personally think about that part in its history?

Waldheim in fact was in the Wehrmacht, the regular German army, not in the Waffen-SS or SS. I know why he joined the NSDAP, because he saw the benefits for his studying career and could leave the military service often in order to study. All that he was accused of never was proven, so I think putting him on the watchlist was a mistake. 20 Million Germans/Austrians served in the Whermacht back then, and you can´t call everyone a Nazi. There have been atrocities, there have been Nazis in the Wehrmacht, but the majority were normal people, just trying to survive.

My grandfathers were in the Wehrmacht too (or Air Force), they were farmer boys that had never seen any Russian/Polish/Jew in their whole life, were drafted into the army, and just cared for their own life and that of their comrades. None of them has ever committed a war crime or been part of the NSDAP, I got to know them as the kindest persons on earth. A Nazi doesn´t behave like that.

AS for the whole time back then: it was a horrible time that left a black mark on Austria forever and noone would ever want that back. Also, I´m pretty sure that the Nazis would have forbidden our music, and me and Günther would be killed already by them for not being 100% Aryan or healthy. Our families have suffered a lot and the image of Austria and Germany was ruined completely for decades.

And don´t worry, EVERY nation has his dark spots in his history, just most people know about German/Austrian ones – I don´t condemn a Russian for letting our guys starve to Death in their prison camps, or an Englishmen for putting the Dutch into concentration camps during the South-African war. Or a Turk mass murdering Armenians in the 20ies.

Some info about the history of the band, you're quite a young band, where did you guys play before that?

I had a Thrashband with Daniel, the drummer. Günther was in a Christian Deathmetalband and a Coverband. Karl is a total newbie  Daniel has been in several bands the last 10 years, ranging from Death to Pop even.

How did you land the contract with Napalm Records?

I knew the guys from the label, and offered them WPU. We were refused, so we released the demo by ourselves, and got excellent reviews. With all the reviews in hand, we gave WPU again to Napalm – now we got signed fast.

Most of Napalm's bands lean more towards folk and Goth metal, do feel the label knows how to interact with a thrash band such as yours?

Actually, most Napalm bands in the beginning were Black / Folk/Paganmetal, like the big ones (Summoning, Falkenback, etc.), the Gothics came later. I think it doesn´t matter which label releases Thrash, cause there isn´t a real Thrashlabel. Don´t forget Blast had no Thrashband at all until they signed Exodus, and Roadrunner didn´t have any Thrashers in the 90ies, except “nu-Thrash”. So yeah, Napalm is doing an OK job, we get very good support for a band that new and small as we are.

Thrash has been making a comeback in the last few years, do you foresee a further growing for the genre, or do you think it might implode, the way it did in the early 90's?

No, Thrash will never come back as big as in the 80ies. Its just no trend-music anymore, and the real young kids may be more attracted by images the Blackmetallers use. Although a lot of record companies are trying to make Thrash a trend again, it will never be as successful as back in the day, and most new Thrash bands will be dead in 3 years from now.

As I mentioned the Metallica influences in your music, what do you think about the current re-incarnation of the band, and what do you hope from their forthcoming new release?

I do not expect anything from their new release. St.Anger was utter shit, so was Load and reload and all the rip-off compilations they released after the Black Album. Really, I think Metallica is done. They've been the best band of the world in the 80ies, and they will never come back there. Back then, for St.Anger, they promised “heavier, back to Justice” already, and all we got was a noisy demo recording with crappy songs that nobody would have bought if it didn´t say “Metallica” on the cover.

The only old Thrashbands that still do great is Exodus, and hopefully testament, “Te Gathering” is the best Thrash Album since the 80ies, and I´m sure they'll come up with a killer record.

That's it, any messages for the Israeli thrash fans in here?

Yeah, check out our homepage and inform yourself about WPU before condemning the band because of any image. Live up to your own beliefs, and don´t support people who want to think for you, who try to convince you of any extreme beliefs and who want you to hate others. If anybody might know and understand WPU best, it might be the Israeli youth.