{"id":104599,"date":"2025-03-14T00:00:38","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T00:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=104599"},"modified":"2025-03-19T11:29:59","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T11:29:59","slug":"album-review-warbringer-wrath-and-ruin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-warbringer-wrath-and-ruin\/","title":{"rendered":"WARBRINGER – Wrath And Ruin (2025) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

WARBRINGER
Wrath And Ruin<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nNapalm (2025)<\/span>
Rating: 5.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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US metallers Warbringer, who originally formed back in 2004 (rather bizarrely as Onslaught) were one of the best thrash acts to emerge during the resurgence of the genre. Wrath And Ruin<\/em> is the seventh full-length album from the quintet and as expected it\u2019s another bombardment that\u2019ll send audiences reeling.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no questioning the consistency of these Californians, but like a lot of bands who emerged around the turn of the millennium they just haven\u2019t been able to step up to the major league. With Wrath And Ruin<\/em> there\u2019s still that passion and vigour, although at times some of the edge is taken off by forays into traditional and progressive metal.<\/p>\n

I guess with any band this far on in their career there will be experimentation and, dare I say it, a lack of hunger which was exhibited during the early albums. However, the diehard fans will still be treated to some aggressive compositions, namely the aptly named \u2018The Jackhammer\u2019, and \u2018Strike From The Sky\u2019. But to be honest, I\u2019m glad for the more varied songs such as \u2018Cage Of Air\u2019 with its Opeth nuances because much of the pacier stuff is just generic.<\/p>\n

I can most certainly get swept up by the savagery of it all as vocalist John Kevill spits out routine chops, but the band is more effective on the steadier, brooding \u2018Through A Glass, Darkly\u2019 and the almost power metal infused \u2018The Last Of My Kind\u2019, but on the whole the album just grates. Opener \u2018The Sword And The Cross\u2019 is clean cut but hefty, especially the slamming percussion, although \u2018A Better World\u2019 and \u2018Neuromancer\u2019 are just dull and underwhelming.<\/p>\n

Strangely, Wrath And Ruin<\/em> feels far longer than the 40 minute runtime and after several spins I\u2019m not crying out for more. No longer do these guys bring war, instead they are huffing and puffing at the pipes of peace.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WARBRINGERWrath And Ruin Napalm (2025)Rating: 5.5\/10 US metallers Warbringer, who originally formed back in 2004 (rather bizarrely as Onslaught) were one of the best thrash acts to emerge during the resurgence of the genre. Wrath And Ruin is the seventh full-length album from the quintet and as expected it\u2019s another bombardment that\u2019ll send audiences reeling. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,811],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-warbringer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104599"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104600,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104599\/revisions\/104600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}