Doomed Confessionary: Justin Coleman (Krigsgrav)
Photo credits: Gabe Alvarez
Krigsgrav is an atmospheric blackened doom band from Dallas, Texas, blending bleak melody, crushing riffs, and post-metal sensibilities. Krigsgrav channel the haunting beauty of nature, personal loss, and existential dread into expansive, emotionally driven compositions. If you’re into bands like Agalloch, Panopticon, or early Katatonia, Krigsgrav hits that same introspective, immersive vein.
Krigsgrav are about to release their new full-length album »Stormcaller« on September 19th, 2025 through Willowtip Records.
Founded in 2004, the quartet currently consists of Justin Coleman (guitar, harsh vocals), David Sikora (drums, clean vocals), Wes Radvansky (bass) and Cody Daniels (guitar).
Can you please say a few words about your band?
I play guitar/vocals in the band Krigsgrav. We are a 4 piece from Texas and play a mix of black/doom/death metal. The band formed in 2004, and we are releasing our 8th album, »Stormcaller«, out September 19th, 2025 on Willowtip Records. We think it is our best album yet and hope everyone checks it out and agrees!
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
I wouldn’t say it’s a big challenge but just getting our music to new listeners who may have never heard what we do. While streaming services and sites like Bandcamp make our music/merchandise available, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle of so many metal bands putting out great material.
What can you be most proud of so far?
We are most proud of having been a band for over 20 years at this point and of what we have achieved with this latest album, »Stormcaller«. We’ve continually pushed ourselves every release to up our game and I think we are at the peak of what we do right now.
What was your biggest regret?
I think the biggest regret is possibly not being able to play live very often. Unfortunately, we all have very busy personal lives, so it makes playing live a bit difficult to coordinate sometimes.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
The best tour thus far was the east coast tour back in 2015, I think. It has been the bands only tour, but it created some bonds that maintain to this day.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
At this point I wouldn’t say there are too many surprises to mention…
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Gehenna’s »First Spell« and »Seen Through The Veils Of Darkness (Second Spell)«, Austere’s »The Stillness Of Dissolution«, Bloodletter’s »Leave The Light Behind« and …And Ocean’s »The Regeneration Itinerary«.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
I read an interview with Andrew from My Dying Bride a while back. I’m paraphrasing, but he said something along the lines of “he only plays guitar for My Dying Bride”, meaning that he uses the guitar as a creative tool. While I do enjoy practicing guitar for technique, I think it is equally important to allow yourself to create for the song/album instead of playing to impress other musicians. This lends itself to what I believe is the best creative output, at least for us. We always try to write for the song, never for the part or to impress for the sake of technical prowess.
What are your guilty pleasures?
I wouldn’t say it’s guilty, but I like a lot of synthwave artists, like Midnight Danger, Dav Dralleon and other things like The Birthday Massacre to change up the usual metal listening.
Can you say something more about the current music scene in Dallas / Texas?
I can’t really speak to this, as I do think we fit into a regional scene. I think we fit in with other like-minded artists, such as Mother Of Graves, The Mosaic Window, Bloodletter with how we approach our music, but regionally I can’t really speak to the music scene in Texas. There are plenty of good Texas bands doing great things such as Necrofier, Sparrows, Wyrm Chasm, Urbain, Wulfskol, so go check them out!
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
Nothing planned yet, but we usually play a few shows with every album release, so keep a lookout!
What are your plans for the future as a band?
To keep doing what we’ve been doing, writing, demoing and creating new music so we can continue to keep pushing ourselves and writing the best music we can. Our goal is to keep doing this, and there are no plans to stop anytime soon.
How can people best support your band?
Go grab a copy of the album from our Bandcamp: krigsgrav.bandcamp.com.
Any bit of support this way really helps, and if nothing else, just sharing the music and showing support on social media and word of mouth goes a long way, so thanks in advance!
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Thank you for sticking with Krigsgrav all these years and for the continual support, we do truly appreciate everyone who has and continues to support what we do and we hope you love the new record.
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well