### Warpath: Malevolent reprisal

#### 08/03/11 || Habakuk

10 million bands are called “Warpath”. The most well-known (I suppose) of them is the Carnivore clone band from the early nineties that spawned in Germany but never left much of an impact. One of the less common ones is this here crew from Ireland. A good opportunity to collect some random associations with said country – since there ain’t much first hand knowledge on my behalf:

Shamrock, green, broke, Dublin, red hair, errrr… Guinness? Hey, here’s a new one: Misery Index!

These guys here clearly draw most of their influences from across the Atlantic, with a sound influenced by the modern death crew including the ‘Index, Criminal Element, Dying Fetus (with a bit less wankery) and so forth. Actually, they added a Hatebreed cover to the end of their album as well, which is understandable in a way, but still probably the only direct hardcore influence you will find on this album. And it’s pretty redundant at that, as Warpath’s death metal sound doesn’t really add anything to the song’s hardcore base.

I wouldn’t go as far with the rest of the music here, though. Sure, this stuff has been heard before in one way or another – I mean, read the album title and tell me you haven’t seen this one before – but except for the ability to write a full-on smash hit, these guys pretty much nail what they’re trying to do. The production is modern (for better or for worse), the vocals are quite good and very similar to Jason Netherton’s in Misery Index, the instrumental delivery is obviously tight, and last but not least chunky riffing and sufficient slamming grooves are strewn throughout the songs to keep things in a state of chuggy bliss.

It pains me to admit, but I’m not going to pretend there is much else to write. If you are a fan of any of the bands mentioned above, finish up ye Guinness and check these guys out. Just don’t expect to find the new genre stalwarts. Solid stuff in the sense of the word and well-executed at that, but with room for improvement in the inspiration department.

- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Underground movement
- Website: Warpath MySpace
- Band
- Darren Keogh: vocals
- Eoin Dunne: guitars
- Joseph Merriman: guitars
- Eoin Broughal: bass, vocals
- Graham Dunne: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Malevolent reprisal
- 02. Bloodsoaked bayonet
- 03. Point blank execution
- 04. Enter my lair
- 05. Kill at all costs
- 06. The red mist
- 07. Extreme rendition
- 08. Unstoppable
- 09. Tear it down (Hatebreed cover)