Warbringer – Wrath and Ruin Review

By Steel Druhm

Warbringer are one of the few re-thrash acts of the aughts to have genuine staying power, starting life in 2008 and still going some 17 years on. As with any modern thrash act, however, their output has been somewhat inconsistent. Albums like IV: Empires Collapse and 2020s Weapons of Tomorrow were enjoyable slabs of speed; other albums had issues that held them back to one degree or another. In truth, though I highly rated Weapons of Tomorrow when it dropped, I don’t go back to it all that much, and it didn’t even end up on my Top Ten(ish) for 2020. Overrating may have happened, but it’s a fun thrash platter nonetheless. I hoped for more of the same on 7th album, Wrath and Ruin. With the same lineup in place, the band keeps things fast and loud but take a number of chances, stretching their wings to tackle a few epic and more proggy styles along the way. Whether that’s what you want in a thrash album is a matter of personal taste, so let me tell you about mine.

Things open with one of these newfangled epic cuts, “The Sword and the Cross,” and it’s an interesting blend of their classic thrash sound and something approaching trve metal with blackened elements tossed in the cauldron for added might and mayhem. It’s aggressive and angry with some high flying guitar pyrotecnics giving it an elevated sense of scope and grandeur. John Kevill chews on the scenery throughout, delivering a commanding vocal performance full of macho machismo, and though the song runs a touch long at 6 minutes, it’s a mostly successful experiment. “Through a Glass, Darkly” takes the epic experiment even further, going for straight-up Primordial worship and somehow makes it work for them. This one sounds like a lost track from To the Nameless Dead, and that’s a compliment I didn’t expect to be offering up here. The standout moment, however, comes on the adventurous “Cage of Air,” where Warbringer attempts to wedge Opethian vibes into their thrash template. Over the song’s nearly 7 minutes, the band marries thrash and black elements and plays with varying moods and textures in a way you wouldn’t necessarily expect from a bunch of unwashed thrash fiends. It’s quite a revelation that it comes out as interesting as it does.

Oddly enough, it’s the straight-up thrashers that let the band down this time. Both “A Better World” and “Neuromancer” feel underwhelming and cut-and-paste. They aren’t terrible tracks, but they don’t really engage my attention in a meaningful way. “The Jackhammer” is a bit better with fun little vinettes and some satisfying riffs, but it too is less that essential. Of the thrash selections, “Strike from the Sky” is the clear standout, offering an adrenaline-soaked rip ride full of nasty riffs and screaming vocals. Things wind out with “The Last of My Kind,” which tries to marry their thrash foundation with the newly ambitious writing, and it works up to a point before being bogged down by too much added padding and losing the plot. The overall package delivered on Wrath and Ruin is an inconsistent and erratic one. It sounds like a band trying to redefine themselves and break through into a new sound, and they’re only partially successful at getting there. At 40 minutes, the album isn’t too long, but the presence of multiple 6-plus minute tracks with varying degrees of bloat makes the whole feel fatter than it is.

Guitarists Adam Carroll and Chase Becker push themselves to meet the expanded scope of the material, and they do a solid job. They deliver some compelling moments on cuts like Through a Glass, Darkly” and “Cage of Air” and show themselves to be quite versatile. However, their thrash riffs and harmonies feel a bit underbaked this time out. John Kevill also does his best to push his vocals into new places to meet the moment of the bigger, broader material. Though he’s a somewhat limited vocalist, he does enough to sell the bigger set pieces, even approximating Primordial’s A.A. Nemtheanga at times. Warbringer always had talent and ability, but the writing here is too inconsistent and going in too many directions to fully gel and click.

Perhaps this is Warbringer’s transition into a new style of sorts, and if so, it’s not entirely unsuccessful. There are some interesting moments here and a few solid tracks to sink your teeth into. It just doesn’t come together as a cohesive whole for me, and I don’t see this as an album I’ll be returning to much in the future when I need a dose of speed and “Fuck You” attitude. You can’t win all the wars you bring, though.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: NA | Format Reviewed: Fucking Stream
Label: Napalm
Websites: warbringermusic.com | warbringer.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/warbringermusic
Releases Worldwide: March 14th, 2025

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