Live Video Review: WARBRINGER Remain Violent by Dave Wolff

WARBRINGER

Remain Violent

Performed live at The Forge, Joliet, Illinois USA September 20, 2017

Filmed by Frank “Artemorbid” Garcia

Warbringer is accompanying Dark Tranquillity on their Septermber/October North American tour and samples of a recent Illinois appearance are uploaded at Frank Garcia’s Youtube channel. Garcia filmed a song from Warbringer, Dark Tranquillity and Withering Soul at a Joliet club called The Forge last September 20 (the Canadian band Striker is said to be sharing the bill, but there is no video of theirs if they took part in this show). Garcia is still consistently posting fan’s eye views of visiting bands playing in his home state, and there are many more recent clips to peruse at his channel. My first impression of Warbringer when they started playing Remain Violent, a selection from their latest full length CD Woe To The Vanquished, was that they must be Slayer fans. The opening strains with their drum accents and lead passages called Hell Awaits to mind, and to a certain point those impressions carried throughout. I heard some elements of old Exodus and D.R.I. too but fortunately the similarities don’t’ dominate their musicianship too much. They bring enough of them in to incite their audience to get into the spirit of things, and the strongest tactility they display is the common eagerness and devotion to thrash metal that bands with the most longevity exposed at their hungriest. Mind you, this one song is my first exposure to Warbringer and it would be best to listen to their new album in its entirety before forming an opinion. For fans of old school thrash it’s a suitable introduction to this band since their capacity of compelling the listener to become enthusiastic about what they’re hearing is quite palpable. Remain Violent is reportedly about Trump America, again a sensitive topic Americans are firmly divided on. But as we know thrash bands have long chosen their positions about such topics, something that was inspired by punk and hardcore when the first crossover bands appeared around 1985 and ’86. Garcia captures the band’s live essence to where you feel you’re present for their set. All this has generated an interest in hearing the song as it was recorded in the studio as well as the rest of the album. -Dave Wolff