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If anyone was ever qualified enough to don an ancient facemask, corpsepaint, and dress up as a soldier of The Praetorian Guard after a night (or two) on the lash, then it would be Georg Neuhauser. The well-traveled vocalist from Austrian symphonic power metallers Serenity has initials by the bucketload; M.Sc in Geography, M.Sc, and Ph.D. in History, Bachelors in Archeology. So who better than Neuhauser to front a band that uses Norse mythology, as well as tales of Rome, ancient Greece, and historical Scotland, as lyrical content. Can’t exactly imagine Dan Snow adopting a stage name (The Tribune) to front a power metal band made up to look like the Night King from Game of Thrones had gotten his way after all. Can you?
The Warkings are four ancient kings; The Tribune (vocals), The Crusader (guitars), The Spartan (drums), and The Viking (bass). Power metal is the peg to hang their garb upon, gloriously silly power metal, but, and here comes the money shot: it is great fun. Too many bands from the genre take themselves too seriously and tend to come across as humourless. No danger of that with Warkings though. Although the imagery and concept are to an extent; tongue-in-cheek, the music on display and the playing from all involved are of the highest standard. Especially the incredible guitar solos from The Crusader which never fall below anything other than dazzling.
With Neuhauser being an authority on all things History-related, he must have sat watching ‘Braveheart’ chuckling at the lack of historical accuracy. What ‘Braveheart’ lacked in accuracy, it made up for in entertainment value, and that’s what ‘Revenge’ is; great entertainment. Opening track ‘Freedom’ uses a key moment in Scottish history (Bannockburn 1314) as its beating heart and even goes as far as having the album’s narrator reciting the famous “warrior poets” outro from ‘Braveheart’. It’s stirring stuff, complete with the trademark ultra-clean vocals from Neuhauser, pounding drums, and guitar riffs with plenty of bite. I would like to add though that after 50+ years in Scotland, I’ve yet to come across a “warrior poet”. Plenty of pissed-up bar-room philosophers mind you.
From ancient Scotland to ancient Rome in the blink of an eye, and Warkings pay tribute to the biggest, baddest Gladiator of them all on ‘Maximus’. A fantastic old-school metal feel to the guitars throughout and an uber-catchy gang-vocal chorus which you will find yourself chanting for days to come. Cheesy, yes, but so, so good. ‘Warriors’ ramps it up with an intro played at breakneck speed and The Spartan sure earns his keep on this one. A heady mix of thrash metal pacing, death metal growls, and all the trimmings that you would expect from a power metal band. The drum work from The Spartan is also key to the standout moment on the album; ‘Odin’s Sons’. His tribal drumming builds steadily in pace until the rest of his cohorts crash in with a special guest, the incredible Queen of The Damned aka Melissa Bonny from Ad Infinitum. The mix of Bonny’s harsh vocals with the cleans from Neuhauser/The Tribune is incredible, and every time Bonny appears on whatever project she is part of (Warkings, Ad Infinitum, Feurschwanz) you are witnessing one of the rising stars in metal. Listen to the refrain; “Spill their blood, Sound the horns, We are Odin‘s sons – Odin‘s sons” and try to resist the urge to sing along with it – nope.
‘Banners High’ slows things down a notch or two and provides quite a surprise as it goes down more of a power ballad route. The type of track that a band would drop into a live set to provide some welcome respite from pummeling drums and relentless riffage, of which there is plenty of both on ‘Mirror, Mirror’. Nice change of pace on the latter just before the guitar solo comes in. ‘Azrael’ is another highlight on the album; middle-Eastern vibes running in the background during this tale of the Crusades, coupled with lashings of groove-metal riffage and strong call-and-response segments. ‘Battle of Marathon’ also provides the kind of choruses built for a reaction from a live audience, great Maiden-esque melodic guitars in places and again The Crusader takes center-stage with his knockout riffs and solos. Ending on the Rammstein-like ‘Warking’, ‘Revenge’ is the perfect disengage-brain album, the ideal album to act as a companion when you want to blot out the outside world.
Purchase “Revenge” here: https://smarturl.it/WarkingsRevenge
Review – Dave
