Review Summary: Warbringer’s debut album has its flaws but is endearing enough to still be enjoyable
It’s already amusing to look back on the late 2000s thrash revival just a decade after its peak. Musical quality aside, it’s ironic how a movement based on 80s thrash nostalgia, a time when most participants were either still wearing diapers or swimming in their fathers’ testicles, is now in itself nostalgic. An endless stream of Vio-Lence wannabes decked out in jean jackets and hi-tops spread their music across the widest reaches of MySpace hoping to get noticed, but even the lucky ones snatched up by Earache and Century Media seemed to slink back into their corners after an album or two once everybody got the fun out of their system.
With the possible exception of Havok, no band from the movement kept their head above water quite like Warbringer. They never got huge by any means, but they seemed to be supporting every major underground tour for a good stretch of time and their headlining turnouts remain solid to this day. 2008’s War Without End isn’t as strong as what Warbringer would follow it up with, but it shows a young thrash band eager to become the hardy veterans that could get to that level. At the very least, it was enough to get them on the road.
War Without End’s influences are incredibly transparent, but it doesn’t drawl from the same pool as Warbringer’s peers. There’s certainly some Exodus and Testament on here but there are far more cues being taken from the more extreme sounds of Kreator and Demolition Hammer. A few songs also sneak in some outlier metal inspiration with “At the Crack of Doom” bordering on black metal and “Born of the Ruins” getting things going with a good old fashioned classic metal scream courtesy of Helstar’s James Rivera.
Much of the band’s uniqueness in the scene is unambiguously attributed to vocalist John Kevill. In contrast to the Baloff meets Zetro bastard children running amok at the time, Kevill’s high pitched shriek channels more Petrozza with helpings of hardcore punk. It’s beyond conventional thrash and maybe a little much yelling for death metal, but it sure as hell didn’t deserve the metalcore tags that he got at the time.
But like most young bands cutting a debut album, the sloppy musicianship on here may be its most enduring legacy. Some of the performances are a little rough, the drums are specifically stilted, but the main concerns lie in the production job. The trebly sound almost entirely pushes the bass out of the mix and only enhances the Line 6-friendly guitar tone, resulting in an overall processed sound. The more organic tone and improved playing on subsequent efforts are likely acknowledgements of this album’s unbalance.
That said, there are some standout numbers on here. “Shoot to Kill” sets itself up as an obvious live crowd pleaser and succeeds thanks to its accessible structure, catchy chorus, and the most mosh-friendly breakdown since “Indians.” Songs like “Systematic Genocide” and “Instruments of Torture” also manage to be fun blasts though there are moments where it’s hard to tell if individual tracks run too long or if the whole album just blurs together stylistically.
Overall, Warbringer’s debut album has its flaws but is endearing enough to still be enjoyable. It has the derivative tendencies of others in the thrash revival but its more varied influences results in a more unique effort in comparison. The band’s energy is likely nothing compared to their gigs at the time, but there’s enough here to see their potential. Waking Into Nightmares and Worlds Torn Asunder are safer recommendations, but this may be worth a listen as a late 2000s snapshot.
Highlights:
“Systematic Genocide”
“At the Crack of Doom”
“Instruments of Torture”
“Shoot to Kill”
“Born of the Ruins”
Originally published at http://indymetalvault.com
