Hi all, Vaughan here with an important announcement. Founding member and lead guitarist Elias Salmela has made the decision to leave Grave Forsaken after 14 years. We are very sad to see Elias go but we respect his reasons for leaving the band. This decision has been a while in the making and I’ve had many conversations with Elias about it. 

Elias has been a vital member of Grave Forsaken throughout the history of the band and we want to acknowledge his huge contribution. We wouldn’t be the band we are without him. When Grave Forsaken formed Elias was the driving force behind much of what we did. From a personal point of view, Elias has been my best friend and musical partner for many years. He has helped shape me as songwriter and a musician and I appreciate that greatly. 

We wish Elias all the best for the future and we will remain in close contact. Thanks Elias for all the years of service to the metal mission and God bless the next chapter of your life.

Work is continuing on the album. Today I've been listening to some playbacks to get an idea where each of the songs are at. We have a few more vocal parts to record, plus guitar solos but everything else seems to be there. I'm enjoying what I'm hearing and looking forward to finishing the album.

Hi everyone, Vaughan here. It's been a while since I checked in with an update on the site. The gig on August 4th went very well and we had a great playing together again. When we got together we weren't sure if it would be a one off gig or not. The good news is we had such a great time that we're all keen to do more in the future, so you haven't seen the last of the original lineup! It was also great playing with The Underdogs, Dying Degree and Tumultum. I'm sure we'll do more gigs with those bands in the future!

Given our reunion, the solo project I undertook last year has morphed into a Grave Forsaken effort now. The original idea behind my solo album was to get a recording that had a similar feel to early Grave Forsaken material, so I got the original band members to perform on the album. I also used a lot of the same equipment we used in the early days to get a similar sound. The template was "Harder To Hate" from "Beside The River Of Blood". That song was recorded very quickly and simply in my backroom just before the album was sent to pressing. As things panned out we ended up getting the original band back together, which was certainly helped by the fun we were having recording the solo album. It makes sense that the album will now be a Grave Forsaken project. We still need to record guitar solos and some backing vocals but it is slowly but surely coming together. Musically this album is more reflective of our early material. Those who have followed our albums will know we progressed from raw beginnings to a fairly direct thrash sound. This album deviates from that progression and sounds like a mix between "Beside The River Of Blood" and "Destined For Ascension", with some influences from "This Day Forth". It's only natural given it's the same people playing the music. The production is also a lot more raw than our recent albums. Having said all that, I'm confident our long time supporters will enjoy this album, it's just a little different to what you might expect!

Anyway I better get back to it...

God Bless and Rock On!

Vaughan

We will be playing out first gig in four years this August. I decided to use the occasion of my 40th birthday to put on a show at Swan Basement in North Fremantle. The date Saturday August 4th and doors open at 8pm. Entry is $5 and we will be joined by local bands The Underdogs, Dying Degree and Tumultum. It should be a great night, so if you're a Perth local, feel free to head down and check out the show!

Hi all, Vaughan here with a major Grave Forsaken update. We are very pleased to let you know that Tim Steadman, our original drummer, has returned to the Grave Forsaken lineup! Tim left the band in 2008 but we have stayed in touch in the intervening years. With the recently announced departure of Luke and Joshua, circumstances made Tim's return a logical possibility. I was over the moon when Tim accepted the offer to return. Tim was a key member of the band when we started, co-writing many of our early songs and performing on on our first 3 albums. He was the one who came up with the band name, as well as our first two album titles. The four of us were a strong team, and it is great to have that team back together.

We have had a few rehearsals with Tim and the vibe has been great. We are looking forward to getting out there and playing live again in the near future. We are rehearsing songs from all our albums, not just the ones Tim played on, so our future setlists will cover the entire history of the band. As well as that, there will be brand new material written and performed. We can't wait to continue to metal mission with the original lineup. Welcome back Tim!

God Bless and Rock On!

Vaughan

Hi everyone, Vaughan here with some important Grave Forsaken news. After 7 years, Luke Gallagher is leaving the band. Luke joined the band in 2011 as our live drummer and did a great job over a number of years. As well as live drumming, Luke played lead and rhythm guitar on our last two studio albums. Luke has made an enormous contribution to the band, writing a large proportion of the music during his time in the band. Luke is leaving due to his commitment to other music projects. I can’t thank Luke enough for his years with the band. It has been a true blessing, and the music we recorded with him is testament to that. 

During Luke’s time with the band, we enlisted his brother Joshua to produce and play drums on the last two albums. Joshua has recently moved to Canada to further pursue his music career, meaning he will also no longer be involved with band. Joshua was the driving force behind our last two albums and we simply couldn’t have done those albums without his influence and attention to detail. We will really miss working with him. I worked closely with Joshua on those albums and I really enjoyed the recording process. 

The two albums we recorded with Luke and Joshua were “The Fight Goes On” and “It Has Begun”. Both albums were well-received by our supporters and we were very happy with how they came out. The band will have to readjust now that Luke and Joshua aren’t involved, they made an enormous contribution. Thanks so much fellas!

Hi everyone, Vaughan here. I've been relatively quiet for the last few months but I have been plugging away on my current album project. Elias has started tracking his guitar parts and he has now recorded four songs. Tim and I have been trying to co-ordinate a time for him to come in and record his vocal parts. Long term supporters of Grave Forsaken will recall that Tim used to perform vocals on quite a few of our early songs. It will be great to have his voice on this album. Matt will also be contributing some vocal parts to the album a bit later on.

Production wise, this album is more in the style of our original EP, "Plugged Into The System" and "Fundamental Principles". All three of those releases were recorded with a very basic home studio setup. I really enjoy that simple approach to recording and this project will reflect that. Musically it reminds me of our first three albums with a bit of the rock vibe of "Plugged Into The System" and "Fundamental Principles" thrown in. For example Songs like  "One True Way", "I Think It's Time", "The Ruskin Arms" and "Calm In The Storm" would fit right into "Plugged Into The System". Other tracks like "Win The Day" and "Warriors Of The Cross" have more of a thrash vibe that fits with our heavier material. I think it's a good mix of everything I've done over the years.

I'll keep you updated as work progresses on the album.

Hi all, I've been steadily plugging away on the album I'm currently working on. Tonight I've been editing the track "One True Way". I have my guitar, Matt's bass and Tim's drums recorded so far. I'm going to focus in on finishing this track before continuing with the others nine tracks.

Hi all. Today will be my last daily update before taking a pause during December and January. I will still be posting during that time, just not every day. I have really an effort to post each day for many months now, I find it is very motivating and it helps to keep projects rolling. Tomorrow I'm planning to work on my solo project and I expect to make some decent progress. Elias has heard the material now so I will arrange a dedicated recording session with him, maybe even this weekend.

Thanks for following these daily updates. I'll post again soon!

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan 

Looking forward to catching up with Luke tonight. It's always good to have a chat about music, Star Wars and life! It's been a busy week so far so I haven't had much of a chance to work on my project for a couple of days. Hopefully I'll get a chance over the remainder of the week to get some more done.

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan