As I wrote on my recent EXODUS live report at The Pearl Room in Mokena, IL WARBRINGER was an excellent surprise that night. Their relentless live performance with great amounts of headbanging and crowd moshing took me to a short time travel in the mid 80s; when bands like EXODUS, with Paul Baloff (R.I.P. 31/01/02) on the vocals, SLAYER, KREATOR were establishing the genre Thrash Metal in the metalheads' consciousness.
Before getting deep into the album let me give you a short biography of WARBRINGER. The band was formed in the late 2004 and got their debut release in the form of an EP entitled One By One The Wicked Fall two years later. This recording was enough for Century Media to offer to the five piece act from Ventura, California a record deal. The brand new contract was sealed with the release of their debut full length album that comes with the cool and kind of vintage title War Without End. WARBRINGER lost absolutely no time and got on the road with EXODUS in their North American leg while are booked to do another one supporting NILE.
As you can see this band gained much publicity in a short time interval despite the fact that they don't belong to the current core trends that are dominating in the U.S. Indeed, Total War opens the album with some war sounds that are followed by a fast guitar solo that definitely brings to mind the early SLAYER and DESTRUCTION. The track continues with the trademark 80s Thrash pattern with screaming high pitched vocals (think of Mille in the first KREATOR albums) and a really solid rhythm section.  Things become more groovy in Systematic Genocide that comes with an excellent bass guitar sound and of course turns into a guitar driven Thrasher! The SLAYER influences are welcomed again in the fast Dread Command and in the even faster Hell On Earth that can bring tears in your eyes with all that memories.
Some clean guitar sounds open for At The Crack Of Doom followed by the high pitched distortion and John Kevill's matching screams singing cool lyrics like ...Satan claims his throne.... If you want to know whether this album deserves to be in your album collection just close your eyes and think; if you are getting images of violent moshing, bloody crowd surfing and necksnapping headbanging then stop reading and get this fucker!
I can still remember the very good impression that I got from the Beneath The Waves from that night at Mokena when John introduced this track by saying that it was about being attack (eaten is a more fitting word I think) by sharks. Another personal favourite is Shoot To Kill that apart from the classic Thrash atmosphere comes with excellent bridge-chorus lines and some catchy shredding guitar fills and leads.
I think I managed to give an idea of what's going on in WARBRINGER's debut full length album. I strongly recommend this release to everyone that is into genuine Thrash sound and has been bored with all these new sound and genres. I will also recommend the vinyl edition of this album that comes with a gatefold cover and a vivid red colour on the record itself. To prove my saying  you can watch below the video clip for the bone crushing Combat Shock.