Label: Napalm Records
Release date: 7/31/2020
Production: Warkings
Album length: 39.47 min
Genre: Power Metal
Rating: 9.0/10
Warkings are yet another power metal sensation that’s been raising some serious eyebrows lately, racking up a nice haul of popularity among fans of power metal marching and kitsch in a relatively short time. No secret that Warkings took a good look at Sabaton, Powerwolf, Gloryhammer and Alestorm. Not for the style, though. That remains a fixed constant since, say, the second half of the eighties and the arrival of Helloween, Running Wild, Blind Guardian and Gamma Ray. That’s why, since the mid-nineties, power metal has been bouncing through a few years of recycling, higher and lower popularity. So what do Warkings have in common … say, with their Napalm Records labelmates Powerwolf? Warkings have likewise merged their music with a fantasy world of a book of mysteries and wonders, where four ancient kings play the starring roles. They’ve carried that over to the stage too. All this fantasy world, which of course goes hand in hand with the hymnic theater of power metal.
Warkings are, in fact, four fictional characters: the Roman gladiator Tribune, the savage Viking, the Martian Spartan and the noble crusader knight Crusader. Each wears their own getup, each has their own (cosmic) story. They’re Odin’s envoys, fighting evil! “Revenge” is the band’s second studio album and carries a concept that ties back to their debut, delivering the second part of the tale of the fearless foursome’s run-in with the devil himself, proclaimed Lord of the Abbys.
On “Revenge,” the evil demons sent into battle by Lord of the Abbys try to take revenge on the four main players behind the name Warkings. Crusader, Spartan, Tribune and Viking once again face a heap of wonders and mysteries from the fantasy world, fearlessly swinging their swords, spears and maces, with blood spraying around in streams, not to mention the severed heads of all sorts of ugly brutes and creatures of evil flying through the air as they stand in the way of heroism. After Lord Of the Abbys already had all four members of Warkings in his claws, they stole their souls back from him and escaped from hell … And that’s where the thrilling story of “Revenge” begins!
In short, a reheated cliché, but one that catches fire. And Warkings have gone about it all extremely skillfully, cunningly, in detail and with careful thought. The whole concept of theater and music has to guarantee in advance not only commercial survival but success too. How do you combine a fantasy concept with the punch of power metal while hitting a high level of constant, bombastically theatrical catchiness? First of all, you have to be a very good musician, and in Tribune’s case a singer too, so that “wise guys” like me don’t jump on your back with remarks about “coattail-riding.” Warkings have that quality. The songs are very skillfully structured. They stick to tried-and-true clichés that ignite, sure, but they deliver instant catchiness, convincing vocal expression, and they don’t skimp on polished mid-eight passages in which Crusader builds some very likable guitar solos. Compare Warkings to the bigger Powerwolf, and the latter don’t bother much with solos, which means Warkings could win over their fans with less songwriting effort too. But the key thing is that you absolutely have to import into your vocabulary some of that musical catchiness that hooks you right away. The best way to do that is to flirt with the pop rhetoric of the second half of the seventies and the early eighties. Take a peek at the hit perfection of someone like ABBA, which Sabaton figured out long ago too.
Warkings also have a dash of parodic, mischievous self-irony, which adds just the right amount of constant playful mockery and the thing that matters most to most fans of this kind of music. A first-class party, which of course reaches its emotional fulfillment when the audience meets the band at a live show.
“Revenge” follows its predecessor in every way and works masterfully at recycling already-sung clichés and repackaging the musical substance into a fresh, full-blooded, fiery and effective power metal read. The chorus melodies burrow right under your skin and practically compete with each other over which one will win the battle for your attention across the songs on “Revenge.”
The four kings of war and Odin’s subjects naturally defy all of the devil’s blatant temptations, fending off furious attacks of bestial rage driven by destructive blindness. No matter how heavy the blood toll, it’s heroism that always carries the day in the end. Creatures and freaks like the ones conjured up by the imagination of the underworld and sent after Warkings by the devil have no hope. “Revenge” is an achievement that delivers exactly what this band’s fans demand, seek out and want. Add up the running times of both Warkings albums, and given the band’s exponentially growing popularity, it’s now easy to fill a set of up to an hour and a half and head out on a first headline tour. Anyone who was at the October 2019 gig at Explosiv in Graz knew why Warkings stole the show from headliners Majesty. With songs this strong and this much theatrical flair, Warkings can now challenge even the bigger names that have been running the top of the global power metal scene for the past decade when it comes to show-stealing.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Freedom
2. Maximus
3. Warriors
4. Fight In The Shade
5. Odin’s Sons (ft. Queen Of The Damned)
6. Banners High
7. Mirror, Mirror
8. Azrael
9. Battle Of Marathon
10. Warking
Lineup:
The Tribune – vocals
The Crusader – guitar
The Spartan – drums
The Viking – bass
