Hailing from the Netherlands with their brand of OSDM Warmaster released last year a mighty strong album with all the characteristics that the typical old school fan enjoy such as riffs, great lyrics, and of course the ability to listen to the album again and again without getting tedious or boring. One thing that is actually kind of interesting is that Hail of Bullets also released their album which can be compared to this one. Lyrics are based on the same topic, they also play OSDM, and both bands from the Netherlands. However HoB is a band formed by superstars of the Dutch scene, while Warmaster is not. Most people will beat their money on HoB, but that would be wrong. HoB album is tedious, boring, and with a horrible production, being that the worse aspect of the album. These guys managed to release a fresh slab of death metal, that while it sounds very old school, is not a clone or anything like that. The music could be categorized as 'groovy', don't get me wrong it has nothing to do with brutal death or any of that, it has a really especial feeling that most people will enjoy. The riffs are amazing and pretty damn thrashy from time to time. The riffs are also extremely catchy and so are the solos, which are not complex, but rather simple to keep the music simple. One thing that really caught my attention is how they repeat the same riffs throughout the songs and they never get boring, kind of like being fired at, and I guess that's what these guys were trying to prove. The drumming is pretty simple, how it should be with OSDM, blast beats are nowhere to be found, which is something good. The only thing about the drumming is that the sound is kind of flat, almost no bass coming from the drum bass. The vocalist is extremely good, it keeps everything very interesting and his growls are very different in comparison to other famous vocalist, something between a raspy and deep growl, again the vocalist or vocalists are very good at what they do. The production overall of the album is very simple, nothing modern sounding, which is good for the instrument and like I said before the only downside of the production is the sound of the drums, other than that it's a great album that will be appreciated by most metalheads, especially the ones that are familiar with the old scene. I can only hope that these guys release a new album in the incoming two years, and don't rush it. I rather have quality over quantity.
Warmaster - First War
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