Album Review: Warbrain - 'Void of Confusion'

Melbourne based outfit Warbrain are a collection of artists from a number of prominent bands in the Australian hardcore scene (Carpathian, Iron Mind, and Hopeless) looking to expand their musical endeavors from their current and previous projects. July 2013 sees the release of the group's debut album, 'Void of Confusion,' a strong blend of '80s/'90s thrash metal, hardcore, and punk.

From the moment you listen, it's easy to see the band are like a well-oiled machine. The crunching guitars, incredibly heavy, yet precise drumming, and the powerful, yet sludgy tone of the bass all blend together to create a really strong frame for the vocals, which put a very strong emphasis on the lyrics of the album. That said, in doing so, the music at times becomes a little bit monotonous, with some songs feeling as if they're just going for that little too long, and a lot of the tracks just sounding very similar to one another. It also places a very strong standard for the frontman Lloyd Carroll to, in a sense, 'carry' the band, which doesn't seem to happen, with the vocals at times feeling like they're just a tad too weak.

There's something of an imbalance in the quality of the tracks as well, with the stronger tracks skewed more towards the later half of the album. That's not to say that there's nothing good at the start, but you find that the further into the album you get, it seems to be, for the most part, consistently getting better. There is a small level of diversity shown in some of the more stripped back pieces ('Origins', 'Void Of...,' 'Evil Eyes'). Of particular note, is the timing/texture change in 'Evil Eyes', which while only lasting for a short while, seems to give the song a whole new dimension.

'Void of Confusion' is a decent release. It doesn't push boundaries in any major way, but for what it is, it's fairly well done, and for all of it's cons, there's more than enough pros to make up for it. Fans of previous work of the artists involved shouldn't have much difficulty at all getting into this release.

1. Forced
2. Deceit
3. Opressor
4. Hunted
5. Absolute Power
6. Evil Eyes
7. Void Of...
8. Confusion
9. Consumed
10. Origins
11. Empty
12. Scarred