Review by Felix on January 22, 2022.

No sweet without sweat. Following strictly this guideline, Whipstriker publish constantly new songs without interruption. This is their second full-length after a large number of split albums. It provides coherent compositions which are mostly based on conservative song structures. It goes without saying that they do not offer something that has never been heard in the metal universe before. But the songs are concise while avoiding repetitiveness and they do not lack of energy and idealism. As a first conclusion, it can well be said that Whipstriker feel obviously comfortable in their black thrash metier. Nevertheless, they are also influenced by protagonists of the traditional metal sector without creating old-fashioned or lackluster songs. The opposite is the case. Once up to speed, Whipstriker are able to create really superb tunes. I may give you three examples.

The opener which is also the title track is - as it must be - among the highlights. It starts with a dirty riff without wasting time for a needless intro. The up-tempo verse and the pounding bridge lead to a slightly weaker chorus. All the same, this is a good start, not at least because of the wild guitar solo. The filthy 'We Came From The Wild Lands' follows a similar pattern. Once again, the main riff knows how to thrill the listener. But I would undoubtedly choose 'These Grey Days', if I could take just one song of the album with me to a deserted island. It is continuously driven by an incredible riff that amazingly combines aggressiveness and melody in a perfect manner. While these outstanding songs stick closely to the essence of black thrash metal, the other cuts offer a greater variability without surprising with totally unforeseen compositional techniques.

For example, Tony Iommi seems to appear briefly at the beginning of the ponderous 'Murder In VM Street' due to its Sabbath-like heavy riffing, while Lemmy supports the three Brazilians with the riff and the guitar line of 'Streetrap'. (By the way, do not be fooled by its confusing name, thankfully there is no shitty rap far and wide.) But it is no crime to be influenced by these living legends. Quite the contrary, I would like to recognize their sincere attachment to the old heroes. Those of you, who are familiar with the punk scene might also identify some influences of this stuff, not only in terms of the cover that looks like a leftover of a political polarizing hardcore gang. Independently, Whipstriker feel free to implement their own ideas. Perhaps some of them are strange like the instrumental part of 'Lucifer Set Me Free' which is characterized by an organ. But that as it may, they do their own thing and consequently avoid plagiarism. This is despite the fact that the vocals still sound a bit like the voice of Cronos. Taking all these aspects into account Whipstriker surely did not create an epochal output. They just released an above-average album - and I like it.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review by Tomek on July 15, 2016.

Times when melodic death metal ruled in my CD player are long gone, but every once in a while an album pops up that reminds me of those good old days. Poland's Warbell has some melodic elements that bring In Flames, Dark Tranquility and At The Gates to mind, but also has this harsh factor in their music that reminisces of Arch Enemy and Holy Moses way of doing things. The album was released at the end of 2015 without some huge promotion so if it flew under your radar - you may need to do some research. To me it is one of the stronger melodic death metal debuts I’ve heard in a while.

Full album consists of 15 songs and lasts around 56 minutes so if it comes to giving your money worth we are getting spoiled here. Did I mention that this is a debut album? It is their first full length record and Warbell is giving us a little bit of everything when it comes to melodic death metal. The songs are packed with energy and melody and all of them burst with liveliness. There are couple of instrumental pieces that somewhat cut in between the songs but with guitars putting out tons of melodic hooks and wonderful solos, tremendous drumming, very well positioned bass rumble and vocals by Karolina there is no chance for any monotony. Yes, you read that right, there is a female vocalist present in the band and the growling, roaring and rasps she puts out are quite stunning (also the reason I mentioned Holy Moses and Arch Enemy). There is a little bit of clean singing thrown in for a good measure but only to enhance parts of the song rather than lead vocals and also some spoken passages but very short and kept in the background. Most songs are kept short but all of them come with a strong and aggressive punch supported by remarkable melodies and for a debut album that lasts almost an hour Warbell managed to keep it exceedingly interesting all the way to the end.

Warbell brought many good songs with tons of passion for melodic metal with their album Havoc and if they continue in the same manner on their next one it will be an album to look out for. I would recommend to maybe keeping it a little shorter and not doing everything by themselves but on the other hand why try and fix something that ain't broken.

Rating: 8 out of 10