Band:	Warpath
Album:	Disharmonic Revelations
Style:	Thrash metal
Release date:	March 2022

01. The Last One
02. Disharmonic Revelations
03. Parasite
04. A Part Of My Identity
05. Visions And Reality
06. Scars
07. Egos Aspire
08. MMXX
09. Resurrection
10. Decisions Fall
11. Digitized World
12. The Unpredictable Past
13. Innocence Lost [bonus]
14. MMXX [alternative version] [bonus]

A faint war drum rumbles away.

German thrash unit Warpath have long been on the, er, Warpath for over three decades now; while never the most illustrious name in the genre, they have shown a persistence that saw the band reborn after a lengthy hiatus. What has long been evident about the band is that they rarely produce much above a passable level of quality. Fun? Yes. Something you’ll be desperate to relisten to? Not so much. Continuing this pattern is the band’s seventh album, 2022’s Disharmonic Revelations; not so much an epiphany, but more of a blink-and-you'll-miss-it affair.

The first time I heard Warpath was when I was on a Teutonic thrash binge. German thrash was as reliable as German manufacturing, I thought; a country that has produced not only the big four of Teutonic thrash, but Holy Moses, Vendetta and Exumer et al. So when I stumbled across Warpath I thought I had found yet another hidden gem. Alas, instead of a gem, I had picked up a lump of coal from a band that, despite several attempts, doesn’t deliver at the same quality as their brethren.

So what made me come back and give the band another go? Well, beyond curiosity, the band does produce some moments that will get your pulses racing, with “Parasite” perhaps being the catchiest track here, with its chorus rising above the rest of the track, with its “die, die” refrain catching your attention with immediacy. “Decisions Fall” is a close second, with its machine gun drums propelling the band forward while they lay down some good guitar work; while “Visions and Reality” does have an interesting groove to it, the band don’t take the song much beyond that, but it does provide respite from the rest of the album.

While the band are capable at what they do, with Rieck’s drumming being the strongest component in this five-piece, they don’t put their evident talent to great use; stymying themselves with middle-of-the-road songs like “MMXX” and “Resurrection”, alongside a cluttered production. The production on Disharmonic Revelations seems eager to live up to its name, with everything squashed together and thrown at a wall, trying to break it down with brute force rather than with much precision or focus. As a result, you are audibly overwhelmed, with each element in competition for your attention rather than structured in a way that balances everything for your benefit.

The biggest problem with Disharmonic Revelations is that the band seem to lack a clear vision of what they want to be. Take “Scars” as an example: the track is a somewhat decent up-tempo track, but all momentum is stalled by the band’s insistence on adding pseudo-groove metal sections; like a bike hitting a large puddle of mud, you can’t help but come to a complete stop and fall into the mud with an undignified slump. The following track “Egos Aspire” sees the band roll around in said mud, rather than attempt to pick themselves out of it, with a sludgy track that has a catchy guitar riff buried in a track that goes nowhere fast.

Warpath continue to show glimpses of promise here and there on Disharmonic Revelations. While they are too few and far between for me to recommend them to anyone, they do enough to keep you listening from start to finish, though you won’t be in a hurry to return to the album anytime soon.