German thrashers Warfield created a bit of buzz for themselves with their 2018 debut Wrecking Command, borrowing extensively from famous forefathers like Sodom and Kreator and infusing the speed with traces of black metal fury. It was a spirited and venomous slab of reckless haste with enough modern-day appeal to escape the sucking vortex of niche re-thrash. After 4-plus years, we get With the Old Breed and Warfield are older, wiser, and a bit less rough and raw. They still sound like a motley mash-up of Sodom and Kreator with a toe in the blackened bog, but they’ve refined and slightly polished their sound. Will this take away some of their angry vitality and uncouth charm?
Before you think With the Old Breed is lacking in rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth intensity, meet opener “Melting Mass.” It’s an ugly, greasy, Sodom-esque thrasher with corpse scum under its fingernails, and Johannes Clemens’ delivery sits at the crossroads of Tom Angelripper and Kreator’s Mille. He sounds plenty pissed off and savage and the riffs by Matthias Clemens are appropriately nasty and jagged. At points, it sounds like Johannes is yelling about cake and amputation, and Lord knows we’ve all been there. It’s a no-nonsense thrash bomb, and it elevates the blood temperature as it should. “Soul Conqueror” reminds me a lot of Grip Inc. with Mille taking over vocals, and “Tie the Rope” leans into the blackened thrash influence extra hard for a rancid piece of speed excess with bits of Witchery in its DNA. It will make you want to bite your neighbors and savor the community flavor. The band’s overall commitment to excess and overdrive keeps the songs in that speed sweet spot, and the guitar work is high-level and gripping.
Later on, “Fragmentation” has a central riff that sounds a whole lot like the one from the classic Sisters of Mercy tune “Vision Thing,” and I can’t unhear it, but the crazed vocals and gang shouts keep things moving regardless. Warfield go for the big, epic tune on “GASP,” blending traditional thrash tropes with black metal, doom, and mild symphonic elements, and for the most part, it alchemy works, but there are segments that drag noticeably, and at 7 minutes, it ends feeling too long for its own good. A few songs hit as fairly generic too, like “Inhibition Atrophy” and “Dogs for Defense.” They aren’t bad, just sort of run-of-the-mill thrash fare. The 42-plus minute length is reasonable, but the placement of “GASP” in the penultimate spot makes it hard to properly appreciate it as thrash fatigue is already beginning to set in. What you end up with is a respectable thrash album with some raging highs, while the lows are manageable.
For a 3-piece, Warfield throw a lot of loud shrapnel around. Matthias Clemens’ fretboard gymnastics pervade every inch of the runtime, assaulting you from all sides with riffs, solos, and MOAR riffs. He’s like a fusion reactor of string abuse. He keeps the runaway train on the tracks, and a lot of his riffs stick to the brainpan like tar. Johannes Clemens is a fine thrash vocalist and can vary his delivery enough to avoid sounding one-note or tedious. He moves from a classic thrash bark to a blackened rasp on a dime, and at times he sounds like he’s having a complete psychotic break. Dominik Marx is an inhuman freak machine on the kit, filling all the dead space with thunder and war. He’s all over his toms and snares at all times, and you can’t miss what he’s doing in the back line because he’s morbidly a beast!
Warfield are the spiritual successor to what the Big Three of Germanic thrash created in the 80s, and they have a sound that’s different enough to stand out from the thrash pack. If the writing were more consistent, this would be a thrash lover’s fever dream. It’s got all the right parts and just needs a slight tune-up. The good stuff is very turbulent and volatile, and that’s half the battle. The other half is brutal wiolence. Well worth an abrasive loudblast.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: NA | Format Reviewed: Fucking Stream
Label: Napalm
Websites: warfieldthrash.com | warfieldthrash.bandcamp.com | instagram.com/warfield.thrash
Releases Worldwide: April 4th, 2025
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