TORCHBEARER - Warnaments

TORCHBEARER
Warnaments
Candlelight USA
9/10




Torchbearer made a distinctive impression with their debut, the black metal-leaning “Yersinia Pestis.” While cuts like “Sown Are The Seeds Of Death” and “Bearer Of The Torch” hinted at death metal underpinnings, this Swedish outfit’s major thrust was in delivering slightly above average black metal. For the most part, the ideas explored by Torchbearer gave an impression as being underdeveloped and a touch too self-involved to make a quantifiable impact on the extreme underground music scene.

A year and a half can make a big difference in a band’s direction. On the unbridled and barbaric “Warnaments,” this Pär Johansson (Satariel)-led quintent offers up a barrage of blasting melodic death that’s replete with blistering guitar acrobatics and deathly growling. When “Dark Clouds Gathering” kicks in with an overpowering fury, one thing is patently clear. Torchbearer has improved a great deal. Collectively, they cover a lot of ground in one song, without ever sounding unnatural or disjointed. The musical thoughts expressed on this album are highly articulate and judging from the experience of the band members themselves – other projects include Unmoored, Incapacity and Scar Symmetry, to name a few, it was just a matter of time before Torchbearer delivered a monolith. Henrik Schönström delivers some real highlights as well, with fleet-footed double bass beats and rolls and an impressive blasting ability. His performance runs neck and neck with the competent shredding and riff bludgeonry of guitarists Patrik Gardberg and Christian Älvestam as being the most exciting element of this group’s music.

“Burial Waters, Deepsome Graves” fades in with a soft piano melody which evolves into a highly memorable chug, then a chaotic, mid-tempo death metal pounding. Tracks like these are emphasized by great production, a quality that makes the group’s intensity all the more defined. As the classically-enhanced interlude “The Stale Drownings” gives way to the unstoppably chaotic, yet intensely melodic “Battlespawn,” listeners will revel in this records sonic multiplicity. Setting an ambience is key and Torchbearer manages to cover a lot of ground over the course of this record.

The final verdict is that “Warnaments” is both articulate enough to bear weight with technical-minded fans, memorable enough to entice repeated listens and definitely heavy enough to bang even the most stubborn of heads. Keeping this in mind, “Warnaments” is certainly one of the surprises of melodic death metal for the year and a very strong outing that is worth your time.


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