Heavy Song of the Week is a feature on Heavy Consequence breaking down the top metal, punk, and hard rock tracks you need to hear every Friday. This week, No. 1 goes to Warbringer’s “A Better World.”
It’s been nearly five years since Warbringer unleashed Weapons of Tomorrow — arguably their finest record to date — continuing a trend of gradual improvement from album to album.
Rather than recycle ideas or retread old ground, the long-running thrash institution seems hellbent on outdoing itself with each subsequent LP. Therefore, the band’s follow-up Wrath and Ruin, out March 14th, comes with the built-in expectation that it will be somehow leaner, fiercer, and stronger than its predecessor.
That might be somewhat unfair considering how good Weapons of Tomorrow was, but the lead single from the new album, “A Better World,” tends to reinforce our initial inclinations: These guys just keep getting better.
The track is a compact riffer and a proper choice for a single with its four-minute, hit-and-run duration. There’s no room for gangly compositional flourishes or half-baked ideas; just pure thrash of the old-school vein, with a savvy use of variation and melody to keep things from sounding too same-y (the achilles heel of much thrash/speed metal).
Frontman John Kevill’s performance is particularly noteworthy, as are his well-chosen words, projecting a world-weariness and honesty that’s disarming and poignant against a backdrop of sheer musical aggression.
“When I was younger, I used to think the world would only get better during my life,” said Kevill of the song’s premise. “I know now that isn’t the case.”
Honorable Mentions:
Alien Weaponry – “Mau Moko”
It was a good week for thrash. New Zealanders Alien Weaponry just kicked off their tour supporting Kerry King, marking the occasion with the announcement of their new album, Te Rā. The band continues to proliferate top-notch technical thrash metal that’s informed by its native culture, and the album’s lead single “Mau Moko” — sung in the te reo Māori language — honors traditional Māori face tattooing while “delving into the costs of maintaining customs that are at-odds with dominant cultural norms,” in the band’s own words.
Architects – “Blackhole”
UK act Architects hit all the checkpoints on “Blackhole.” There’s the soaring melodies and tectonic breakdowns inherent to their style of metalcore, plus some delightful bouts of sped-up hardcore that harken back to classic Refused. And as you can see in the music video, the song makes an ideal soundtrack for the collapse of an oil platform (the outrageous Michael Bay-style special effects are a total win here).
Whitechapel – “Hymns in Dissonance”
“We attempted to write our heaviest album to date,” said Whitechapel guitarist Alex Wade of the band’s upcoming Hymns in Dissonance. “We wanted to put out something that was shockingly menacing and brutal.” An apt description, if the album’s title track is any indication. Beginning with a terrifying 30-second intro that sounds, quite literally, like a dissonant vocal hymn, the song becomes a manic flow of slam riffs and breakdowns that’s only slightly less unhinged than the vocal performance of Phil Bozeman. The guy sounds absolutely possessed.