Warbringer’s sixth studio album is around the corner. It comes three years after Woe to the Vanquished, which marked a career high point for the Californian thrashers by some way. Can Warbringer do it again and go one step further? Weapons of Tomorrow sees Warbringer go to uncharted progressive waters, with longer, more epic songs. Even some of the shorter songs seem to fit a lot in. Does the ambitiousness pay off?
The first three songs are fairly standard Warbringer tracks. ‘Firepower Kills’ is a classic thrash album opener, with razor-sharp picking, a BPM that sends your neck snapping off, and an iconic scream of ‘FIREPOWER KILLS!’ at the start of the tune. ‘The Black Hand Reaches Out’ has more of a groove to it. It’s catchy, doesn’t try and over-complicate matters and has an awesome lead guitar section towards the end. I can see it becoming a fan favourite, especially live. ‘Crushed Beneath The Tracks’ is another groovy chug, but with some impressive double-bass footwork and shifting tempo changes to keep it interesting.
‘Defiance of Fate’ is the epic centrepiece of the album. It’s got traces of Metallica’s Fade to Black or Welcome Home (Sanitarium), with its clean verse/heavy chorus structure. The harsh, hellish vocals don’t entirely suit the melodic guitar passages on this track. An attempt at softening the vocals slightly, perhaps even in a melodic sense, wouldn’t have gone amiss at all. Nevertheless, the song progresses nicely, into a brilliant, swung section that gets the heads nodding along. There’s some great twin-guitar leads reminiscent of Maiden towards the end to go beneath strong, defiant lyrics. It’s a good effort at writing a classic, timeless epic, but I can’t help but feel like they could have done a bit more with it developmentally. It’s no ‘When the Guns Fell Silent’ (from Woe to the Vanquished).
‘Unraveling’ comes straight after, seeing Warbringer go into more ‘Reign in Blood’ territory, with relentless thrashing and stop-start rhythms. Curiously, they bring the tempo right down midway through to introduce a new riff. It barely develops for the entire second half of the song, except for when they (finally) allow the drums to properly groove over the top, with a few subtle harmonies. I’m not entirely sure what effect they were going for. The longer ‘Heart of Darkness’ has a brilliant Burton-esque bass intro, before a furious blackened assault takes over. It’s a really strong blackened thrasher, with excellent bass work throughout. Overall, it’s a nice, dark, progressive number, although some section changes feel a little disjointed. Regardless, it’s one of the more memorable tracks on the album.
Towards the end, ‘Notre Dame’ has a nice neoclassical intro before it kicks in with its groovy intensity, with a cool blackened undertone proving that Warbringer are more than just straight up old-school thrash worship. John Kevill’s use of evil laughter sounds particularly manic and chilling as they switch up from section to section, showing off their neoclassical, blackened and thrash chops nicely. ‘Glorious End’ is a fitting epilogue for the album, with tasteful melodies and spoken word narrations that give a strong, sombre atmosphere. Incidentially, this song conjures up the strongest imagery of soldiers at war for me personally. Of the three longer songs on the album, this is the strongest and most consistent by some way.
It’s good to see Warbringer try their way into new terrain. The results just don’t always entirely pay off. Some of the compositional structures seem a little messy, as if a new section or a key change has been shoehorned in for the sake of it. Three of Warbringer’s longest ever songs are present, and the delivery is mixed. With that said, it’s far from a bad album. Throughout Weapons of Tomorrow the guitar solos are brilliant, keeping melodic sensibilities while not being afraid to shred blisteringly. Chase Bryant’s bass work is also given moments to shine, and he does a stellar job on his debut Warbringer album. The drumming is as precise as always, and John’s voice is in fine form. Not one for the casual or new listener, but a respectable effort nonetheless.
Weapons of Tomorrow is out on Napalm Records on April 24th – click here for more
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