hail of bullets warsaw rising

Released: 21 July 2009 Label: Metal Blade

When Hail Of Bullets released their debut album ...of Frost and War last year they detonated through the death metal scene like a Grand Slam bomb through a U-boat pen boasting, as they do, a line-up consisting of past and present members of bands as noted as Pestilence, Asphyx, Gorefest, Thanatos and Houwitser.

Most death metal fans I know, including myself, loved ...of Frost and War with its mix of huge old-school riffs and great songwriting topped off with Martin van Drunen’s unmistakable screech, the lyrical concept about the war on the Eastern Front in WW2 and Dan Swanö’s unbelievably harsh production making it a masterclass in how to do old school death metal without sounding like a mere parody. Which makes it all the more disappointing to report that the lead track of this six-song EP Warsaw Rising is a bit flat, not that it’s a bad song by any means, in fact it’s a very solid death metal song, it just doesn’t have anything to really make it stand out from the crowd.

Fortunately things pick up with second song Liberators which has a crunching main riff, some interesting changes and melodies and with van Drunen shouting “Bombs away!” just as the pace of the music begins to pick up the band display that slight tongue-in-cheek edge that was prevalent in many old school bands that is missed greatly in the often sour-faced and joyless world of ‘modern’ death metal. The remaining ‘new’ studio track is a truly savage reworking of Twisted Sister’s Destroyer which ends up being a surprisingly groovy, headbang worthy slice of death metal and not the over the top Six Feet Under-esque comedy version it so easily could have been.

The final three tracks on this EP are live versions of songs from last year’s debut album and, if anything, they actually sound better than their recorded versions with the band playing as tightly as you’d expect and van Drunen proving that his voice is as powerful and full of bile as ever.

With just two genuinely new songs, a cover version and three live songs this EP is only really for the die-hards but it’s certainly a decent stop-gap release to tide us over until the release of the band’s second full-length – and if the songs are more in the vein of Liberators then so much the better.

by Neil Woodfin