Album Review: Revolution by Warkings (Napalm Records)

European Power metal warriors, Warkings, have released their third full length titled Revolution. The new album was released on the 20th of August this year via Napalm Records and is a typical energetic jaunt through tales of battles and legend.

Warkings hail from Germany, Switzerland and Austria and have been delivering the power metal goodness since 2018 when they released their debut album Reborn. The 4 piece are fully costumed and go under the banners of The Viking on bass (Chris Rodens), The Spartan is on drums (Steffen Theurer), The Crusade is on guitars (Markus Pohl) and on vocals it’s The Tribune (Georg Neuhauser). Some big names there, I’m especially a fan of Georg Neuhauser who is lead vocalist in Serenity.

So we head off to battle with Revolution and it’s 10 tracks and circa 41 minutes of high octane metal. Getting us out of the gates at hyper speed is We Are the Fire and it’s not a Trivium cover. A nice chuggy riff kicks things off before we dive into speedy lead lines and clean but punchy vocals. The verse is super quick and catchy and the chorus is simple and memorable. I love the little slow down section that gives us our crowd chanting section before we head into insane soling territory. Typical, yes, but when it’s good, who cares and this is good.

Sparta, Pt II comes next and starts us off with a more folkish melody before the electrics join in with the foot tapping melody. The verses are slower, with softly sung vocals and music that builds and builds with each line. Its a bit different to the standard power metal structure. There is a bit of groove to the choruses which are again very simple shouts of “This is Sparta” in a rough voice but hey, it works and definitely gets your head moving and foot tapping.

Fight gives us another slower lead in before a crunch of guitars kicks things off alongside repeated shouts of Fight!. The riff is excellent and the vocals pack a punch with the powerful cleans being backed by gruff shouts of Fight. It’s a cracking song, with a supremely catchy chorus a nice drum and bass rhythm and speedy sections perfect for working out your neck muscles.

The best track so far though comes next with Spartacus (feat. The Lost Lord) who adds harsh vocals to the whole track. It makes for a much heavier number and another little bit of unexpected variety. The pace lifts, the aggression hits and the mix of clean and harsh vocals is both mighty and glorious. I love this track, what a cracking song. The riffs in the verse hits hard with pounding drum blasts before the lead melody and cleans join in and create pleasure for your ears. The solo rips too moving through different phases while the drums blast away at hyper speed behind the guitars. Banger!

Kill for the King keeps the pace and energy up with some more chunky riffage and speedy drums. The vocals are solid though they lack a little fire in the verses. The chorus makes up for it though with plenty of power on show and of course there is another fiery solo. I particularly like the little orchestral slow down that succeeds the solo and am really impressed with the constant different ideas on offer taking this away from being too standard.

Deus Lo Volt and Ave Roma follow. The former having a real stomping groove to it that had me headbanging as soon as it started. Additional choirs fill the song out nicely too and there is yet another cracker of a chorus and solo. The latter drops the stomp and goes for balls to the wall speed and enthusiasm. The quick picking sounds awesome and the drums really stand out as does the once again cracking solo.

Another firm favourite follows now with the song Ragnar. A clean female vocal verse starts us off with a folkish style before a crunchy rhythm kicks off with chanted vocals. The verses are mid tempo and well sung with a pre chorus that flows nicely. That leads back into the simple chorus which is just shouts of “Hail Ragnar, son of Odin”. Simple but definitely effective. The steadier rhythm adds a little bit of a darker feel to the song which I really like. The ending portion of the song is divine too with a slow down, chug added, shouts of Ragnar and then a wicked solo. Good metal.

We reach the ending section of the journey with the penultimate track, By the Blade. There is a fuller sound to the guitars at first with a slow steady tempo. That doesn’t last long, soon switching to a romping intro full of blazing melody and furious drumming. The verse calms a little but only to allow the chorus to have full effect. So we head on to the final battleground with the song Where Dreams Die.

Warkings didn’t quite leave the best to last. That accolade probably goes to Spartacus but it isn’t far off. The Mediterranean intro fades out into another stomping rhythm that just instantly gets you moving. It adds a layer of higher melody before fading to nothing but a gentle drum beat and melodic guitar. As the verse progresses it builds back up beautifully until the crescendo of the chorus gets the hairs on your arms standing up on end. An instrumental section with a prominent bass gets the head banging again before we of course get a sublime solo to close us out.

As power metal goes, Revolution is up there with the great ones. Warkings bring a ton of variety too making sure they aren’t just lumped in with the “another power metal album” label. If anything, they ignore the standard. For example, there is no true ballad on this album and the final song is not 6 hours long. The tempos in songs switch regularly, the additional rough vocals, sparingly used orchestral backing and effects. Whatever the genre labels, see and hear this for what it is, energetic and creative heavy metal full of punchy riffs and blazing leads with a singer who just oozes class.

It’s catchy, fun, heavy enough to head bang happily along to with songs that are layered and exciting making it easily one of the best power metal albums released so far this year.

Revolution is out now on all the usual streaming platforms.

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