It's hard to believe that this is the same WARFARE that released the magnificent "Pure Filth" LP back in 1984. I had been warned beforehand that this album had nothing in common (musically) to their older material, but I wasn't expecting THIS much of a departure. Old WARFARE could best be described as a "punkier" version of Venom (who's members often collaborated with WARFARE on various EPs), but none of that old energy remains present here. Out of the 10 tracks on this CD, only "Baron Frankenstein" has any sort of similarity to their old sound (albeit in a MUCH watered down and weakened form), and a couple of other songs *do* show promise (with Evo using his venomous vocal style of old), but these are quickly ruined by the use of saxophone (WTF?!?!?!) and VERY cheesy keyboards. The material on this CD can best be described as a "poor mans Christian Death"...it seems that WARFARE have decided to throw away their punk/metal roots, and instead have chosen to embrace a post-punk/early gothic rock direction, which (IMHO) they fail at miserably. I suppose I should also mention that this is a "concept" album, in which WARFARE pay homage to Hammer Horror (for the youngsters among you, Hammer Films was a British film studio which produced some of the finest in classic horror cinema), and hence the lyrical content of this album is based around those films (not that this makes much of a difference). Ohhh...towards the end of the last track, there's a spoken bit in which it's proclaimed that WARFARE will "return" (given the mediocrity of this album, I take that as a threat), and some sort of popicock along the lines of "alternative metal for the metal alternatives" (calling this "metal", alternative or not, is complete bullshit). Even with an open mind and a grain of salt, this album is (mostly) garbage, and should be avoided by one and all...hopefully some label will soon re-release the *worthwhile* WARFARE material, and this CD can be buried along with "A Cold Lake" and "Load"...

© 1999 chorazaim