ALBUM REVIEW: Warcrab – Damned In Endless Night

Here I review the new album from Death / Sludge Metal heavyweights from the UK, WARCRAB! Set for release in August via Transcending Obscurity Records.

1. Perpetua brings the album in with gorgeous clean guitar ambience, setting a sombre mood that is brilliantly tranquil, certainly an unexpected way to begin a sludgy Death Metal album. Gloriously soaring lead guitar melodies and warm rhythm work soon joins to grow the liveliness of the introduction beautifully. An incredibly pleasant start to the record for certain. Great stuff.
2. Halo of Flies drives out fiercely grooving guitar riffs and crashing drum assaults with a violent whiplash pace to immediately bring the headbangers forth for some tight material. An immensely catchy pace is soon lurched forth with eerie screams that only add more to the ferocious aggression which is coupled stunningly with dissonant guitar leads. The doomy textures of the song are crushing with a heavy blow coming from the riffs and fills that backs up the nasty vocals to make for a damn awesome onslaught with a tension that is most impressive. Some nice shred work makes an appearance too. Excellent.
3. In the Arms of Armageddon falls back in with Bolt Thrower style mid-tempo crawling instrumentals and gliding whammy bar dives that gives such an epic 90s feel to the song within seconds. Churning out guttural riff work with a menacing drum performance to intensify the blow, Warcrab drive out some hideously decimating grooves with a morbid vocal performance to add to the torturously brutal yet beautifully atmospheric track. A blistering inferno of all things intense and aggressive with the most notably old school soundscape being concocted with such a precision that you cannot help but be enticed by its charm. Fantastic.
4. Blood for the Blood God roars in with more obliterating guitar chords and cymbal hits that build an atmospherically foreboding mood that mutates into slow tempo doom riffing mastery and glacial lead work. Snarling with a passionate anguish, the vocals soon drop furthered disturbing imagery onto the grisly and bleak instruments. The catchiness of the song is impeccably enjoyable, certainly one to get everyone nodding along to in a live atmosphere (note: Warcrab are excellent live, so make sure to see them if you get a chance). A dark and melancholic track that builds to punchy assaults with a brilliance most macabre. Magnificent.
5. Abyssal Mausoleum grimly brings discordant cleaner guitars in with a discomforting and disorienting soundscape being conjured up, a true sense of dread falling upon us. A slow burning build is entered to the mix with crashing cymbals and drawn out chords that create a dragging effect, more uncomfortable than anything thus far. A hearty scream brings us into mournful guitars that have a noteworthy blackened vibe to the drawn out notes between the grooves. This track has a bite to it but also an intellectually well thought out song structure and writing style that is brooding with atmospheric disdain. The way it grows to convulsing grooves with a much more impactful energy is impressive and captivating with a mesmerising catatonic pace throughout. Astonishing.
6. Magnetic Fields Collapse drops thunderous bass and building guitars with a nice follow up in sludgy riff heaven. The decimating deadweight heaviness of the musicianship and snarls that follows is not only impressively catchy but demands headbanging once more. The early Doom Metal style influenced riffs add a nice Sabbath vibe amongst the hypnotic grooves and haunting brutality of the music. There punky jumping rhythm of the song keeps you hooked from start to end and is a nicely lively follow up to the more sorrowful bleakness of its predecessor. Marvellous, sludge-stomping mastery.
7. Kraken Arise kicks in with punchy drums before swinging guitar grooves take us into another fun and upbeat piece with monstrous vocals driving out tastefully over the brutish primitive guitar and drum barrage. This track is on the shorter side for the record but regardless manages to get in some epic blows and glorious hooks with its quickly built and enjoyable pace that is certainly a more fun track that I think every Metalhead would appreciate. Simplicity sometimes is the key, it pays off here for instance. Nicely done.
8. Unfurling Wings of Damnation does indeed unfurl with richly foreboding and melancholic guitars, a funeral march of drums chime in to add to the disheartenment of the bleak opening. The progression of the song is slow and monotonous but in a way that is not dull, simplistically plowing through miserable instrumentals and gruesomely tormented vocals filled with emotion. This song immediately feels a lot more serious than the other material, which adds to the credibility of the album and gives a nice new dimension and variety with its heart sinking depravity and atmospheric builds. Simple, slow and gorgeous with a crushing assault towards the unexpectedly upbeat ending.
9. Swords drags itself into fruition with thunderous bass that has an unshakable strength with its crunchy groove but is vastly grown when the roar of the guitars follow suit along with hammering drums. Richly bringing back the swamp-dwelling, drudging sludge that the band so wonderfully create and screaming demonic vocals, this song is immediately one of the nastiest on the album with a putrid blend of Death and Sludge Metal that is concocted in such a uniquely gruesome blend for your consuming delights. An anguishing yet fun piece of totally meaty extremity. A nice balance of groovy and bleak, this song showcases the bands abilities very well. Brilliant… SWORDS!
10. Damnati brings in the ending with almost indie sounding guitars that have a saddening feel to them, beautifully played and melancholic as hell, the album is bowing out in a sombre style. Hypnotically tranquil with such a beautiful yet simplistic sound that is amplified by soaring and gorgeously soulful lead guitar work and stripped-back drums, this finale is a track that really does do the album justice as a beautiful ending. Wonderful.

This album offers the most luxurious blend of raw and crushing old school Death Metal with rich sludgy grooves to make for an awesomely heavy and groove-laden experience throughout that will certainly appeal to 90s Death Metal fans but also fans of early 2000s groove material. Certainly a fun record to check out with plenty of diversity in the music! -8/10