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WARFIELD “With The Old Breed”
WARFIELD “With The Old Breed”
By Dr. Abner Mality
With the thrash revival in recent years, it’s kind of strange that there aren’t that many newer German bands to speak of. America has plenty and Canada is frankly exploding with them, but from the original home of European thrash, there are curiously few new bands. Until the arrival of WARFIELD, that is.
This speed-crazed trio hits just the right note. It’s got a violent and urgent edge that is necessary for real thrash...these dudes play like they really mean it. And they’ve studied their metal history well...they have echoes of classic Kraut-thrash like SODOM (especially with Johannes Clemens’ raspy, pissed off vocals, which are much in the Tom Angelripper vein), KREATOR and TANKARD, which you would expect, but there’s also dashes of ARTILLERY, ONSLAUGHT and mosh-worthy ANTHRAX riffage. It doesn’t sound like any one band in particular, but a carefully curated melange of the best thrash of the past.
Production is also top of the line...the guitars are loud but have a kind of shark-toothed, serrated feel to them which fits and the drums of Dominic Marx in particular sound fantastic. He beats the kit like it owes him money...just listen to the opening rolls of the title track or the thunderous ending barrage of “GASP”.When you mix real anger with the proper sound, you’ve won most of the battle. The only other piece of the puzzle is riffs and there are monsters here. The opening attack of the SODOM-like “Melting Mass” will get thrashers drooling right away and with “Appetitive Aggression” and “Soul Conqueror”, WARFIELD let you know that this is going to be the path they follow. It’s up to you to find your favorite riffage on the album...you’ll have a lot to pick from. The whole thing wraps up with a spirited cover of NUCLEAR ASSAULT’s “F #” (Wake Up).
Like most good thrash, this is not rocket science, but just a pure injection of the real thing. This hasn’t been cleaned up or over-thought. I hope WARFIELD don’t think they have to “mature” right out of the genre the way some bands do. Stick to your roots, young lads!
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