Krush The Enemy

Warbeast are a Texas-based thrash band featuring members of underground bands Gammacide and Demonseed and fronted by the former vocalist of '80s thrash titans Rigor Mortis. Their songs have a strong '80s flavor, speeding by in a blur of staccato riffs, chanted vocals with a guttural tone and over the top delivery somewhere between Lair of the Minotaur's Steven Rathbone and GWAR's Oderus Urungus, and machine gun drumming. Songs like "Unleashed" (which cops a lyric from the Geto Boys song "Mind of a Lunatic," of all sources) and "Self Will Run Riot" provide all the headbanging riffage and squealing, Kerry King-esque solos any old-school thrash fan could want. Some songs aren't quite as seamlessly constructed as they could be, stopping and starting again in an attempt to build drama that ultimately saps the overall energy level. But others, like the album's penultimate track, "Stalker," go back even further than thrash, stylistically speaking, adopting a power metal-ish style reminiscent of Accept. In the final analysis, this is a fierce metal record highly recommended to fans of second- or third-tier, regionally successful old-school thrash acts like Defiance, Hallows Eve, and Rigor Mortis.