Style: black metal, doom metal
Label: Nuclear Blast
Year: 2003
Home: Germany
Members: Necros II ~ bass/guitar
Volker "Iron Lung" Frerich ~ vocals
Rolf Meyn ~ drums
Warhammer is a German tribute band to the short lived single album Swiss band Hellhammer, the precursor to Celtic Frost, except they aren't like other tribute bands in the fact that they don't play Hellhammer songs ... but, that's the only thing they don't do, as the lyrics, sound, feeling & even album art is all Hellhammer. This 'hits' compilation includes alternate versions & rehearsals of songs that cover their '97 demo tape through their first official release the next year up to their 4th release in 2002. I'll confess to not being familiar with Hellhammer or their music, but in the years of this compilation Warhammer was the dirge side of doom metal through slow riffs that are more at home with early Black Sabbath than modern guitar blistering black metal that verges on speed metal too often. Personally, I'll take this any day. As for the vocals, one of the more unique features of the band, they sound like someone in the middle of gagging & throwing up or something out of the pit of a dark Catholic tomb in the Middle Ages. The production quality varies on a few tracks, but on one hand perfectly matches the raw darkness of the music. Like a lot of black/death metal, such as Nunslaughter or Burzum, you won't find the music cluttered with a lot of fancy guitar solos. This is music meant to pull out the inner demon through hypnotic straight-forward riffs ... not the inner dancer through fancy power metal finger tapping. This is beastly & dirty by being unflashy & not trying too hard. Metallica only wish they were this dark but they try too hard. Albeit, if you like Metallica's Kill 'Em All, outside of the singing, then you'll probably like this ... but that was while Metallica wasn't trying too hard.
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