Warbringer

War Without End

[4/5]

The thrash revival is in full–well, “swing” isn’t the word for music this head-down and full-speed, but it’s going strong, with bands across the globe cranking out the palm-muted riffs their forefathers played at the dawn of the ’80s. Los Angeles’ Warbringer aren’t as explicitly retro as Fueled By Fire, Merciless Death or Municipal Waste, though the cartoon tank on their album cover would make an awesome patch on the back of someone’s denim jacket. While their music has the lightning speed and mechanistic repetition of the best Exodus or Nuclear Assault cuts from back in the day (guitarists Adam Carroll and John Laux, with Laux’s brother Andy on bass, really tear it up), vocalist John Kevill owes as much to Sick Of It All’s Lou Koller as to James Hetfield or Chuck Billy. This is an ass-kicking record that will totally kick your ass. (CENTURY MEDIA) Phil Freeman