Warbringer - Woe To The Vanquished: Album Review

Warbringer’s grand return.

I wish I could say that I was itching to listen to this LP from the second I was aware of its existence, but that really isn’t the case. At one point or another, Warbringer was my modern thrash obsession. Having introduced me to the new thrash scene, and reigniting my love for thrash, Warbringer was my goto for heavy hitting thrash for years. Then Havok happened, then Lich King and so on, and I gradually forgot about Warbringer, not even realizing that the band was on a hiatus for years. Skip ahead to 2017, and Warbringer has returned to bring us a new batch of songs with a new lineup. Let’s dive right in.

Warbringer’s brand of thrash metal has always been focused on speed and intensity. Their major efforts, Total War and Worlds Torn Asunder feel very reminiscent of that early Slayer era of thrash metal, when every band tried their hardest to out speed and out angry everyone else. That sound is very much present on Woe To The Vanquished. The riffs on this LP focus very much on the overall speed and chaos of the explosive sound of the band. It’s certainly a far cry from the more complex and catchy sound of bands like Havok or Evile, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t falling for it. Maybe I have been listening to so much complex music lately that I needed something more streamlined, but Woe To The Vanquished certainly scratched that itch.  

Every inch of this band feels revived. The production is very solid with each instrument mixed very discretely. I appreciate this cleaner production, though it does result in the more chaotic moments on the album sounding more messy and unfocused than intended. The drums pound with a ferocious energy, the guitars and bass absolutely shred, and John Kevill’s harsh, guttural shouts are just as snarly and mean as they have always been. So with a production and sound this great, why do I not remember a single track off this album?

On a track by track basis I was enjoying myself with Woe To The Vanquished, yet as I sit down to write this, I can’t bring myself to describe this album as anything more than generic. The riffs are fast, but Warbringer has done faster. The solos are loud and impressive, but Warbringer has been louder and been more impressive. The only thing that keeps this album from being a waste of time is the album’s length and Warbringer’s more experimental edge.

The album sits at just over 40 minutes with most of its songs not reaching over 4 minutes. Most would call that underdeveloped, but I found it to be of satisfactory length. I’ve railed against this before, but many modern thrash tracks end up feeling incredibly bloated and boring as the band tries desperately to act more progressive and complex than they actually are. Keeping this album short means Warbringer sticks to their strength: concise and intense speed. On the other hand, the closer “When The Guns Fell Silent” completely ruins the flow of the album as it stretches on for what feels like 8 minutes longer than it should have. The track “Spectral Asylum” meanwhile tries to be a bit more complex and dynamic than the rest of the album by being much slower and downright brooding, but it’s carried by a very bland marching riff that has been overdone in modern thrash for ages.

Woe To The Vanquished is an album marred by problems that modern thrash has been trying to fix for ages, but tries its best to stick to what made Warbringer so enjoyable in the first place. I suppose if you have waited for ages for another Warbringer album, you’ll enjoy it, but at this point it feels like the entire scene has outgrown Warbringer.

6/10