Siege of Power is a super group formed by members of Autopsy (Chris Reifert on vocals) and Asphyx (Paul Baayens on guitars and Bob Bagchus on drums). The band released their debut album through Metal Blade Records and with a line-up consisting of famous musical artists, the expectations would normally rise high. The idea of creating this band was basically to experiment with different styles of metal genres, from different musical minds and their latest collaboration isn’t precisely about death metal. But at the same time the members share their musical outcome by shedding light on their musical background.
Warning Blast is a slow burning album and as matter of fact it’s a mixture of different metal genres. Siege of Power relies on building heavy crushing death doom tunes, as Paul Baayens manifests the guitar signatures which brings Asphyx and Hail of Bullets to mind. Chris Reifert is the showman of this project band who is known for his insane barks and sick guttural growls.
The album launches with Conquest of what? The song rumbles with overwhelming force, the heavy guitar electrified with heavy riffs and delivers a blow of surging power. The drums are being handled by Bob Bagchus and they are superior. The album begins with old school vibe as the band prefers to expose their past musical influences, from thrash and death metal. Warning Blast is a lengthy record featuring 18 tracks and two bonus songs with total running time of 46 minutes.
While it’s not necessary to go through all the tracks on this album, I thought of mentioning their most memorable songs. Bulldozing Skulls is a surprising song and brings some heavy doom riffs like Black Sabbath. The opening riff is distinguished by slow doom guitar and later on the song takes another approach towards thrash/crossover. Born into hate contains infectious riffs while the vocals of Chris Reifert are put down in his own style. The guitar section is mainly manipulated with a twist of death, thrash and doom metal, providing this album with a set of multi combinational styles.
The album will give you this rocking sensation from the rumbling grooves and heavy crushing riffs, listen to Born into Hate and Torture Lab and you will get that heavy buzz. Most of the tracks are straight forward and have different variation, Uglification which is the 6th track is stuffed with crossover/thrash metal and reminds me of S.O.D. and Carnivore. Some punk influences can be heard on Diatribe which is one minute short. Chris Reifert clearly sings here without any restrictions, his distinctive vocals sound pure and they are carried with gut wrenching growls.
The band spears through the nostalgic years of the early days of death/thrash metal where delivers another powerful track this time, and it’s one of their first tracks that was premiered. Mushroom Cloud Altar, is one of my favourite tracks on this lengthy album and it will strike you hard with a crowbar cracking skulls, this track is driven with evil riffs of Paul Baayens. The drums are hammered forcibly as the song shifts with the distinctive style of Asphyx. Siege of Power demonstrates an interesting cast from these musicians as they deliver a number of hits on this album.
Yet I somehow feel that there are some tracks that flow aimlessly without having a good impact. Bleeding for the Cause is outraged with aggressive riffs and grinding drums of Bolt Thrower. But again the implementation somehow struggles in making this song sound useful. Escalation “Till Extermination has this heavy metal vibe where the opening riff is clearly explosive and demonstrates high quality music. Siege of Power is composed of many parts and there are multiple areas arranged with elements of mixed genres. There are certain tracks which are purposeless and they sound pointless with random directions without having a sense of clear focus. Short Fuse is one of the examples here which lacks the fulfillment. Violence in the Air is filled with toxic riffs and, loud bass tone even though the track is a bit short but it’s delivered with extreme manner.
The Cold Room brings this album to epic closure as the members exert themselves to the maximum. Putting this track into a vigorous action, by finding the right twist of death and doom metal into one gigantic mother fucking track! Chris Reifert vocals shine here, while the solos overpass my expectations. Warning Blast may have some flaws due to the numerous tracks, but in general this is still a good album. Not because it features members of Asphyx and Autopsy, but because the real kick comes slow and deadly, and you can only feel it when you are left alone in the cold room.
Release Date : September 7th, 2018
Label: Metal Blade Records
Track listing :
1.Conquest for What?
2.For the Pain
3.Bulldozing Skulls
4.Born into Hate
5.Torture Lab
6.Uglification
7.Trapped and Blinded
8.Diatribe
9.Warning Blast
10.Mushroom Cloud Altar
11.Lost and Insane
12.Bleeding for the Cause
13.Escalation ’til Extermination
14.Privileged Prick
15.Short Fuse
16.Violence in the Air
17.It Will Never Happen
18.The Cold Room
19.Servant of Nothing (Bonus Track)
20.Mushroom Cloud Altar (Bonus Track)
