Review Summary: Quite possibly the strongest album Warbringer has ever put out
Warbringer’s signature thrash style has always had an extreme undercurrent to it, but those elements have never felt as potent as they do on the band’s seventh album. Elements from bands like Death, Bolt Thrower, and Immortal among others can be felt throughout as the riffs are tinged with a death metal-rooted intricacy while the dips into more blackened atmospheres feel more pronounced. Parallels could be made to Testament’s death-thrash excursions through the late nineties and it might even give a little extra weight to the Demolition Hammer influence they’ve championed from their inception.
The results may be the most diverse of songs they’ve put forth since 2012’s IV: Empires Collapse with more cohesion in comparison. The opening “The Sword And The Cross” and “Through A Glass, Darkly” do well to carry the more epic flavors that the last couple albums brought forth with the latter’s weary march lathered in black metal coldness. “Neuromancer” makes its more hardcore leanings work incredibly well as its bludgeoning grind transitions well into a fast solo section while “The Jackhammer” and “Strike From The Sky” exert some of the most intense speeds.
It also helps that the musicianship is some of their most precise to date bolstered by what may be their best production job since 2010’s Waking Into Nightmares. The guitars particularly benefit from a meatier tone that brings out the bass in bubbling fashion while the drums put in plenty of blasts and blazing patterns. The shrieking vocals remain the band’s major constant; for how long the band has gone, I’m impressed by how well they’ve held up. The harsher surroundings may allow them to fit in even better than usual with occasional dips into lows and highs along with a noticeably more mature demeanor.
Speaking of which, the expected lyrical themes of violence, war, and social commentary are among the most gripping under the Warbringer banner. “A Better World” and “Cage of Air” both stand out for invoking tech-induced social isolation but each goes about it differently, the former sounding like a panic attack in musical form with frenzied riffs and frantic shouts about the all-too-relatable feeling of being on a relentless hamster wheel while the latter conveys the systemic decay that causes such positions through a variety of moods. Perhaps it’s my millennial perspective talking but they strike a more genuine nerve than most of the ‘phone bad’ boomer bull*** exuded by so many others that approach these themes.
As somebody who has been following Warbringer from the beginning, it’s especially satisfying to note that Wrath And Ruin could very well be the strongest album they’ve ever put out. Their resilience and adaptability have always made them one of the more fun bands to root for in the retro thrash movement, even if they’ve outgrown the movement for pretty much those exact reasons, and it’s great to see how much their experience and prowess has tempered their songwriting skills. We’re all getting older but war, war never changes.
