‘Punishing, dark, political, metallic crust that completely devastates!’ forewarns the press release, although in truth, the cover art more than does the job of conveying the iconographic nightmares of the twentieth century in a single image. Well, they do say a picture speaks a thousand words, and with ‘Iconic Nightmare’, Wartorn tackle the darker side of imagaic connotations head on.
Granted, the politics are partially lost in the execution, buried as they are in a whirlwind of guitars and growled and howled unintelligibly, but there’s no mistaking the fact Wartorn are fucking angry. Coming on with a sludgy guitar tone straight off a Fudge Tunnel album, and paired with ferocious drumming, there’s real classic 90s grindcore feel to many of the tracks here.
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But when the lyrics are audible… yeah, Wartorn leave no doubt as to what they’re about. We’re talking about the politics of disaffection, nihilism, of rage.
‘Iconic Nightmare’ distils ire into compact and tightly-structured blasts of unbridled ferocity – although they still manage to squeeze in a tripwire-taut guitar solo on ‘Unfinished Blueprint’. Elsewhere, ‘No Sanctuary, No Salvation’ is a full-on overloading guitar churn, and from beginning to end, ‘Iconic Nightmare’ burns like a guitar-driven sonic inferno. Blistering.
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