What if we told you that what you are about to hear was recorded over 10 years ago? That’s the story of long lost, but never forgotten Canadian raw crustcore marauders RAW WAR, disbanded sometime around 2013 with a full length album recorded, but never released. The wait is now over, and we’re proud to be able to unveil this deranged raw punk opera for the first time ever in full, right here:
Victoria, BC’s RAW WAR were formed sometime in the 00s as an off the rails raw hardcore onslaught worshipping the cult of bands like Anti-Cimex, Discharge, Zouo, and Doom. Chainsawing guitars, carpet-bombing d-beats, crusted Mohawks, booze-drenched rags, and terrorizing vocals all shrouded in apocalyptic noise-torn madness launched at full speed straight into the mushroom cloud. Influenced by squat-rotted British anarcho-d-beat, deranged Japanese noise-punk, and Swedish crustcore, RAW WAR soon arose to become a feral, bulldozing stage-decimation machine in and around BC’s underground punk and metal scenes, soon gaining considerable label attention and a dedicated cult following, before entering the studio to record an untitled full-length album and a 7″ EP tentatively to be named Raw Terror, both of which would never see the light if not a decade later. Marred by debauchery and lineup instability, the band called it quits around 2013 before the recorded tracks ever saw a release, and the members moved on to other projects, leaving the band’s short but unrivaled legacy buried in the sands of time.
Fast foward to 2024, Sentient Ruin, who knows by which obscure pathways, entered in contact with this defunct cult, gained access to the tracks, and will finally publish them all together as the Total Raw War 12″ posthumous debut full-length album. 17 tracks of absolute blown out raw crust madness. 35 minutes in which total filth and war-torn insanity sublimate into a bulldozing besiegement of absolute apocalyptic terror.
Total Raw War officially releases tomorrow February 9 2024 on 12″ vinyl and digital worldwide via Sentient Ruin, find it HERE or HERE.
