{"id":69208,"date":"2018-05-25T00:00:20","date_gmt":"2018-05-25T00:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=69208"},"modified":"2018-05-25T17:37:31","modified_gmt":"2018-05-25T17:37:31","slug":"ep-review-thunderwar-wolfpack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/ep-review-thunderwar-wolfpack\/","title":{"rendered":"THUNDERWAR – Wolfpack EP (2018) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

THUNDERWAR
Wolfpack EP<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nLifeforce (2018)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

After their impressive 2016 debut full-length outing Black Storm<\/em>, Poland\u2019s Thunderwar have returned for what I\u2019d hoped would be another album. But us salivating fans are just too greedy, and so we get treated to somewhat of a teaser with Wolfpack<\/em>, featuring five tracks, one of which is an impressive cover of Darkthrone<\/a>\u2019s \u2018The Winds They Called The Dungeon Shaker\u2019.<\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019ve touted these guys before as one of the next-best things, but for some reason extreme metal fans still seem late in coming to the party, which is probably down to the over-saturated scene whereby hordes of bands are vying for attention.<\/p>\n

Thunderwar let the music do the talking, rumbling from the caverns with the opening title track. And \u2018Wolfpack\u2019 is a prime example as to why I love these guys so much, crossing styles so effortlessly as we get treated to a mesh of black metal strands, traditional metal grooves, punky, riotous shouts and then a death metal aesthetic, particularly with Kamil \u201cMadness\u201d Mandes\u2019 dehydrated vocal style which bridges the gap between Netherland\u2019s tech-deathsters Pestilence and Floridian masters Obituary.<\/p>\n

While so many bands are keen to ape the past, Thunderwar somehow create their own refreshing style, remaining catchy, heavy and above all brooding and ominous by injecting the racier passages with sudden moodier segments before resorting to a black \/ thrash outburst.<\/p>\n

The progression from the 2013 EP The Birth Of Thunder<\/em> is there for all to see as \u2018Woodland Spirit\u2019 begins with stark chords and then a killer chug based around the stabbing drums. This is probably my favourite track the EP has to offer; a sinister-sounding wedge of dark metal with rumbling bass, sprawling chugging guitars, but flecks on nice melody too. The leads of Witold Ustapiuk supply the infectious thread as Maciej \u201cOlszak\u201d Olszewski\u2019s riffs gurgle nicely, before an explosion occurs and all join forces to create a cascading Dissection-styled tirade.<\/p>\n

Influences are numerous but only fleeting as they worm their way through \u2018Circle Of Runes\u2019 and \u2018Thunderer\u2019 in exquisite, melodic death metal fashion, with occasional veers into sharper, barbaric black metal flare ups. Throughout all four original cuts, however, the riffs remain snappy, the vocals choppy and the mood dank in spite of the fizzing melodies.<\/p>\n

The Darkthrone cover is certainly more than adequate, but I\u2019d have preferred another new Thunderwar track. However, when all is said and done, Thunderwar have successfully crafted another nifty slab of thrashing death blackness, the sort of relevant sound which is not overly heavy or sick, but somehow just right. Now, get to work on that second album!<\/p>\n

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

THUNDERWARWolfpack EP Lifeforce (2018)Rating: 8\/10 After their impressive 2016 debut full-length outing Black Storm, Poland\u2019s Thunderwar have returned for what I\u2019d hoped would be another album. But us salivating fans are just too greedy, and so we get treated to somewhat of a teaser with Wolfpack, featuring five tracks, one of which is an impressive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,3980],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-thunderwar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69208","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=69208"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69210,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69208\/revisions\/69210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}