Label: Independent
Origin: Sarpsborg, Norway to Calgary, Canada
Bitterly cynical and violently enraged, Warlord is a one-two-punch of barbaric anger on the corpse of modern society. Combining classic black metal speed and aggression with penetratingly icy guitar tones and frozen shrieks, jack-of-all-arms Gautaz has unleashed his most focused and battle-ready Panzerwar arsenal yet.
Thrashing into superb-sonic oblivion, the initial moments of the titular opening track could be mistaken for a Slayer recording session with early 90’s garage equipment, until the vocals rip the garage door off. Gautaz specializes in growling the anguished cries of a fatally-impaled, frostbitten warrior seeking revenge. Quietly, the cavalry assembles, readying razor-sharp guitar tones laden with an entire regiment’s worth of distortion in preparation for the signal to attack. The guitar’s despondent hymns resonate across the album’s battlefield, with rumbling palm-muted bass artillery spewing smoke into the hypoxic air.
Warlord reigns during moments of guitar-driven resolution. Both “The Hammer Will Be Raised” and “May Our Ships Set Forth” discharge densely-packed riffs of blackened majesty. Rejecting nebulous background chords played at breakneck speed, these tracks maintain entwined leads that salivate with insatiable blood-thirst. Deliberately including the same stringed barrage as before, the music duels with Gautaz’s enraged wails for the most powerfully wielded instrument of destruction. “Clandestine Blessings of Thy Infernal Lord” hacks a mangled passage through a thorn-ridden forest, proclaiming praise to the “infernal lord” at every crimson puncture.
Gautaz reminds the listener of his Norse roots with “Óðinnblót” (Odin Blood). This track opens with a resounding, gritty cheer for “Alföðr” (All-Father) and descends into spoken word from “Rúnatáls-þáttr-Óðins” (Odin’s Rune Song). This work showcases the many parallelisms of Odin and Christ throughout the Middle Ages while Christianity and Norse Paganism co-existed, eventually spurring the vehement anti-Abrahamism sentiment upon which Scandanavian Black Metal is built. Reverberating with ancestral power, Gautaz unchains some his most vicious and prolonged shrieks throughout this homage to the old Norse God.
Eternal Heathen Wrath (4:20 - 8:09) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZDUf9A_RNw
Standout track “Eternal Heathen Wrath” is the most experimental concoction to emerge from Warlord‘s musical lab. Sinister notes echo through a wordless chamber, before effervescent distortion permeates the room in preparation for a fiery ignition. A down-stroke of percussion jump-starts the ceremony, and the track rolls at a moderate pace while Gautaz vents noxious growls. Intermittent cutting of all music except the initial notes of despair highlight the vocals, which linger sulfurically in the manner of the Ulver remix of “Sworn.” This cauldron of the mighty spirits of the past bubbles with mystical purpose, vaporizing the blood of lesser beings.
While previous entries into Panzerwar‘s armory were defined by blistering blast-beats, murky minor chords lurking in the background, and classic black metal vocals, Warlord pays attention to pace variation, showcases the guitar’s frigid clarity and chilling distortion, and loosens the purse strings on Gautaz’s vocals to create a deeply satisfying, disturbingly raw brew of misanthropic hatred.
FFO: Sargeist, Behexen, Darkthrone (Unholy Trinity), Dark Funeral