1. Dualmind – 02:55
2. Every Storm – 02:57
3. Plague – 03:14
4. The Fallen – 05:49
5. Wheel of Life – 03:55
6. Flames of Truth – 03:00
7. Deathronement – 02:57
8. Wolfpack – 03:31
9. Icaros – 03:34
10. Mercenary’s Fate – 03:11
11. The Passenger – 04:27
Year of release: 2019
Self-released
https://www.warbell.pl
Recently, somehow far better than writing reviews I do conducting and
editing interviews. I even know why this is so. On the metal scene,
especially the Polish one, simply nothing interesting has been going on
for a long time. Of course, new bands grow up like mushrooms after the
rain, but either they are completely bland seasonal creations, or ones
whose desperate search for the golden mean can only born countless
collections of recombined cacophonies, or eventually those whose members
adopt the tactic of attracting attention with a shocking image, at the
same time presenting creativity even more hopeless than the
representatives of the previous two groups.
Many times on this site I reviewed records done by the bands, which I
described as the proverbial „light in the tunnel”. They were usually pop
rock bands or, in extreme cases, hard rock bands, impressing me with
the ability to balance the proportions between hit tunes and guitar
authenticity. Less than a year and a half ago, in my life, I would not
have thought that I would be able to completely honestly present in a
positive light some young native band performing extreme metal. Well,
how can such young sound adepts of hellish roars impress you? Another
inept attempts to keep an steady pace with blasts without using a click?
Millions of times guitar players’ „who faster, who more dense” duels?
Or maybe deadly to the diaphragm (if only the vocalists of all these
„hordes” could use it properly) sinister… what? Grunts? Cries? I don’t
even know what to call these sounds, anyway growling is definitely not.
And suddenly, exactly in November 2017, I came through, and more
precisely a few songs from it appeared in my suggestions on YouTube, the
album „Havoc” of the Jelenia Góra-based formation callaed Warbell. I
checked out their stuff and found it quite bearable. Raw and aggressive,
but legible guitars. Bass playing its separate lines in many places,
not just the raises. Drums may not be like Paul Mazurkiewicz’s or
another Sandoval’s, but you can hear that the guy knows what he plays
and carefully prepared the arrangements of his parts before recording
them. However, my special attention was drawn to the vocals. It is true
that most of the words, as in death metal, could not be understood
immediately after the first hearing, and even after many next ones, with
more attention directed at the lyrical layer it was not possible to
understand the text without reading it line by line. Still, I thought,
„This voice stands out. You can hear that during the recording the guy
was focused equally on what to yell and on the appropriate articulation
of those screams.”
The natural consequence was the desire to search for some live
recordings in fairly decent quality to make sure that there are no
studio tricks anywhere. After googling the phrase „Warbell live”, the
first song on the list was the album’s title track from the Wałbrzych
Metal Mine festival. I clicked and experienced an immediate shock. On
the front of the stage, instead of a pale, bleak young man like Nathan
Explosion, I saw a beautiful red-haired girl like an angel. I was
already picking my jaw from the ground, but when she began to sing, with
the same deadly growl as in the studio recordings, my eyes bulged in
spite of myself, and my greasy hair stood on end. It is known that the
female element has its strong representation in the metal underworld.
What impressed me most about Karolina from Warbell was the thing that as
long as I listened to her vocals without knowing that the vocals are
performer by a girl, I would never think that. Even with Alissa
White-Gluz or recently sought-after Tatiana Shmailyuk at first glance
you can hear that we are dealing with a woman, not a man. A year later I
went to the band’s concert at the first Pol’and’Rock Festival (of
course, I mean the first edition of the Przystanek Woodstock under a new
name) and absorbed band’s set like a theatrical performance. These
days, the group’s second full-length album, „Plague”, is entering the
market.
Unlike its predecessor, the new Warbell album does not start with an
instrumental introduction introducing the atmosphere of the whole. There
is not even a short, growing introduction here, typical for both death
metal and its melodic variants, between which this band moves. Karolina
and her mates immediately attack the listener with the first riffs of
„Dualmind” which, along with the accompanying, great music video,
promotes the whole. It is immediately obvious that the musicians do not
intend to take prisoners. I can’t wait to see the upcoming concerts in
autumn and shouting „Run! Run!” along with Karolina. In the second in
order, „Every Storm”, I like those moments when the guitars pause, and
redhead girl’s voice is left alone with the keyboard backdrop and thick
noise of crashes somewhere in the distance. Then comes the title number
full of tempo changes. Here, in addition to the keys, guitars also play a
significant part in creating a background climate. This is best heard
in the bridge after the first chorus, when in the right channel we hear
the long, thundering notes of the passage of one guitar, while the other
still rushes with the main riff. In the lyrical layer, the spoken parts
of the song do the right work to maximally emphasize the overtones of
the song, about the famous 14th-century pandemic plague, known in
history as „black death”. It just so happens that this year is exactly
the 666th anniversary of the cessation of this plague, which was
commemorated appropriately in the album’s booklet.
I mentioned that at the beginning of the album there is no growing intro
typical of melodic death metal heralding what will happen next.
However, the group did not give up this exertions completely. Fourth
track on the album, „The Fallen”, begins with just such an atmospheric
introduction. And then it is only better. We have unexpected tempo
changes and technical riffing again. In this song, the variety of vocal
parts is surprising. In addition to growls and spokes, we also have a
nice contrasting Karolina’s clear singing, whose presence makes me feel
the disbelief described above again, that such low, authentic-sounding
„masculine” growls can be emitted by a girl. In turn, in „Wheel of Life”
I like the instrumental layer the most, and exactly the moment when the
solo begins. At one point, all instruments play in unison in different
octaves, which in combination with a properly matched double kick gives a
real effect of a musical machine gun.
The three minutes long „Flames of Truth”, like „Dualmind”, immediately
starts with an aggressive threshing, but unlike that song, it doesn’t
slow down even for a moment. Blasts appear here, but in the right
quantities and in the right places. In turn, in „Deathronement” we hear
another, also unoverused standard when it comes to death metal drums,
i.e. a double kick and ride tandem seasoned with punching successive
bars on a snare drum. Most of the young drummers playing this type of
music just wanted to play as fast as possible. In the playing of
Warbell’s drummer, Rafał, you can hear that he is already fully
(literally and figuratively) cracked with his instrument and knows how
to arrange the barrels so that they do not give the listener a sore ear
and think about the album ending as soon as possible. Bassist Bloody
does not stand out with his artistry and gives his showcase at the
beginning of „Wolfpack”, to deftly give way to the huge wall of guitars.
„Icaros” is the best riff on the whole album, making great use of
downpicking technique. This track also marks the return of the
red-haired frontwoman’s pure singing. I associate „Mercenary’s Fate”
explicitly (but not intrusively) with the work of Parkway Drive. The
Warbell song can be safely put on the playlist between the best
achievements of Australian formation such as „Idols and Anchors” or
„Home Is for the Heartless”. „Plague” is crowned with a heavy roller
„The Passenger”, at the beginning of which the group added a nicely
blending part of the acoustic guitar.
The band did a great job on their second record. You don’t need to know
the band’s exact history (although I just got interested in the subject
and believe me, the path to this album wasn’t strewn with roses) to
observe the natural evolution of its sound and guess yourself how much
hard work was needed to make „Plague” so brilliant, how it is. What’s
more, the booklet details exactly which parts are recorded by whom, and
even more: the name of the former guitarist was written in the same font
size as the current lineup’s personal details. Many great artists who
parted in hostility, and even amicably, could not afford such a gesture
of recognition of the efforts of a former collaborator. Warbell – I’m
full of respect.
9/10
Patryk Pawelec
