Warbringer - Woe To The Vanquished review
Band: | Warbringer |
Album: | Woe To The Vanquished |
Style: | Thrash metal |
Release date: | March 31, 2017 |
A review by: | nikarg |
01. Silhouettes
02. Woe To The Vanquished
03. Remain Violent
04. Shellfire
05. Descending Blade
06. Spectral Asylum
07. Divinity Of Flesh
08. When The Guns Fell Silent
Warbringer, one of the most prominent representatives of the last decade's thrash resurgence, is back with a new album, four long years after the more experimental and definitely underrated IV: Empires Collapse. The band's latest output, Woe To The Vanquished, doesn't sound much like its predecessor, being more straightforward and risk-free.
Confession time: Warbringer never really clicked with me, mainly because I don't consider them to be much superior to the hundreds of thrash revivalist bands out there and secondly due to my distaste for John Kevill's vocals. The latter is no surprise since there is basically only a handful of thrash vocalists I like listening to. However, Warbringer have had talented musicians over the years and all their albums feature at least three or four memorable songs.
It is fairly obvious from the beginning of Woe To The Vanquished and the very enjoyable single "Silhouettes" that the band has returned to the song structure and style of their first three releases, so all you traditional thrashers can rejoice. However, this also means that the rock n' roll licks and the mind-blowing solos that we were lucky to hear in IV: Empires Collapse are missing. Too bad, if you ask me.
Taking into account that Woe To The Vanquished is another typical, Bay Area thrash-influenced Warbringer album, there is not a lot to analyse. If I have to point out something different and a little exciting, it must be the blackened riffing heard in the title track and in "Divinity Of Flesh". "Remain Violent" is the track that stands out, featuring everything thrash is about: catchy riffs, lyrics about violence and oppression by the authorities, backing vocals on the chorus adding to the fun attitude and a very uplifting and groovy drumming style. The album's closer is also a nice surprise, being a progressive and epic thrash effort, which takes up a quarter of the album's duration. The remaining songs fail to be characterized as noteworthy or outstanding.
Another less than impressive trait of this album is the production, which is extremely loud, often turning the music into a sound salad and undermining the listening experience, especially if you are wearing headphones. As a result, even though the band members play their instruments exceptionally well, the production fails to highlight this. And to top it all off, the vocals are excessively brought to the fore, rendering them even more annoying (at least to me) than they actually are.
In a few words, this album will likely leave Warbringer fans more than satisfied, being a return to their more familiar sound. As far as songwriting quality is concerned, Woe To The Vanquished is not at the same level as the band's first three full-lengths, but it does not fall too much behind either. If you are fond of Mr. Kevill's voice, you can add anything from 0.1 to 1 point to my final rating depending on the level of your fondness.
Rating breakdown
Performance: | 8 |
Songwriting: | 7 |
Originality: | 6 |
Production: | 6 |
| Written on 05.07.2017 by Only way to feel the noise is when it's good and loud! |
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