Review by Carl on June 23, 2021.

What is there still to be said about Germany's Warhammer that has not yet been stated long before? I always appreciated them for their unwavering old school approach, no matter of the ridicule that their truly hardcore dedication to Hellhammer and their music may have incited from some parts of the metal underground. Warhammer simply did their thing and told the rest to fuck off.

I don't think I have to explain the Warhammer sound to anyone who might be reading this. They loved Hellhammer. A lot. Perhaps even to the point of sexual arousal, I sometimes think. The raw sound, the jagged riffing, the gruff throaty vocals, the sometimes-sloppy execution, the aesthetics on their releases, it all has the name Hellhammer emanating from every orifice. The band admitted freely that that was their only goal, and they did their utmost best to copy their biggest inspiration, and in that they succeeded.

Much like their biggest inspiration, Warhammer serves up a good balance between primitive faster material and crushing doom metal numbers, managing to inject a certain amount of variation into their somewhat one-sided sound. If you hear them more often, you can actually hear some other influences seeping through all the worship/plagiarism. In the slow doomed out tracks they sometimes have me thinking of acts such as Saint Vitus and Winter. In the case of the latter perhaps not surprising, because Winter also had a sizeable Celtic Frost/Hellhammer edge to their material, but the guitar tone and sluggish tempo definitely give me this early Saint Vitus vibe. In their more up-tempo tracks, I sometimes hear some Discharge bubbling up to the surface, another act that dealt in stripped down acidic fury, comparable in attitude to Hellhammer, perhaps. A nice touch in between their own material on offer here, is the inclusion of a cover of the Slaughter classic 'Tales Of The Macabre', a band I once heard being described as a cross between early Slayer and, you guessed it, Hellhammer. As you have probably figured out by now, Warhammer worked around a concept, and they stuck to it doggedly.

As this is a compilation of demos and other recordings, the sound quality differs here and there, but for a collection of old material the sound quality never deteriorates into noisy mush. Sure, it sounds raw and unpolished, but come on, there is no way to imagine Warhammer with a production like that of a band like Suicide Silence or other rubbish like that, right? This is pure underground, old school, no frills death/black/doom metal, so what is there not to like about these guys? Original they ain't by a long shot, but boy, is this awesome!

This is an interesting compilation, but only for the Warhammer enthusiast, even if it was just for the Slaughter cover. To those just starting to explore the band, I'd say to start with their albums in chronological order. Or you could just go back further and just start with Hellhammer's "Apocalyptic Raids", of course.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by Carl on June 23, 2021.

What is there still to be said about Germany's Warhammer that has not yet been stated long before? I always appreciated them for their unwavering old school approach, no matter of the ridicule that their truly hardcore dedication to Hellhammer and their music may have incited from some parts of the metal underground. Warhammer simply did their thing and told the rest to fuck off.

I don't think I have to explain the Warhammer sound to anyone who might be reading this. They loved Hellhammer. A lot. Perhaps even to the point of sexual arousal, I sometimes think. The raw sound, the jagged riffing, the gruff throaty vocals, the sometimes-sloppy execution, the aesthetics on their releases, it all has the name Hellhammer emanating from every orifice. The band admitted freely that that was their only goal, and they did their utmost best to copy their biggest inspiration, and in that they succeeded.

Much like their biggest inspiration, Warhammer serves up a good balance between primitive faster material and crushing doom metal numbers, managing to inject a certain amount of variation into their somewhat one-sided sound. If you hear them more often, you can actually hear some other influences seeping through all the worship/plagiarism. In the slow doomed out tracks they sometimes have me thinking of acts such as Saint Vitus and Winter. In the case of the latter perhaps not surprising, because Winter also had a sizeable Celtic Frost/Hellhammer edge to their material, but the guitar tone and sluggish tempo definitely give me this early Saint Vitus vibe. In their more up-tempo tracks, I sometimes hear some Discharge bubbling up to the surface, another act that dealt in stripped down acidic fury, comparable in attitude to Hellhammer, perhaps. A nice touch in between their own material on offer here, is the inclusion of a cover of the Slaughter classic 'Tales Of The Macabre', a band I once heard being described as a cross between early Slayer and, you guessed it, Hellhammer. As you have probably figured out by now, Warhammer worked around a concept, and they stuck to it doggedly.

As this is a compilation of demos and other recordings, the sound quality differs here and there, but for a collection of old material the sound quality never deteriorates into noisy mush. Sure, it sounds raw and unpolished, but come on, there is no way to imagine Warhammer with a production like that of a band like Suicide Silence or other rubbish like that, right? This is pure underground, old school, no frills death/black/doom metal, so what is there not to like about these guys? Original they ain't by a long shot, but boy, is this awesome!

This is an interesting compilation, but only for the Warhammer enthusiast, even if it was just for the Slaughter cover. To those just starting to explore the band, I'd say to start with their albums in chronological order. Or you could just go back further and just start with Hellhammer's "Apocalyptic Raids", of course.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by JD on July 23, 2012.

A basic blind review is the toughest one to do. You have little info on the band and a CD in hand and this sinking feeling that you might just screw up the whole damned thing. The band known as Usurpress is one of those bands. I had nearly squat to go on, then I used my powers of research training and I found some info, yet the music discovered was pretty much an enigma.

Usurpress is a Swedish Crust/Death/Sludge Metal act that wields short bursts of metallic aggressions with a not-so-subtle undertone of punk added in. The resulting music is the blood spattered mutant of all of these styles that come at you with such viciousness... then the reality of how good they are comes up. I shake my head as I explain the answer to this very important question. It is not what this band might hope I write.

Each of the eight Usurpress songs are short, heavy and loud, but it dos not make it very good in the end. With very redundant and uninspired riffing to go along with a vocalist that sounds like the Cookie Monster getting a internal prostate exam with a power drill. To say that this is a let down is just one part of it. Add in the so drum machine like drumming and poor bass riffs and you get a album that I struggled eve to listen to once.

I looked for any redeeming qualities that I could find for quite a long time and the only one I see is that the album is thankfully over. Crust Metal my ass!! This is plain and simply crap Metal. I was hoping this band might be something of a treasure that would give me some pleasant surprises but it has turned out to be nothing but fools gold and foolish dreams. I think we need to suppress Usurpress, and hope they realize how bad they are and vanish from the face of the Earth. I hate being like this, but it is my truth.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship:3
Atmosphere: 2
Production: 1
Originality: 2
Overall: 3

Rating: 2.2 out of 10