Ragehammer - War Hawks

RAGEHAMMER - War Hawks (MYTHRONE - demo CD 2012)

Polish Impaled Nazarene? Yeah, it definitely seems to me that Ragehammer must be heavily influenced by the Finnish cult and I can hear it not only in the simple, straight forward, sometimes almost punkish riffs, but also in the vocals of Heretik Hellstörm, who screams his guts out like a possessed maniac (but surprisingly at few occasions – in “Prophet of Genocide” and “The Wolfpack” – he tries to sing with clean voice, what sounds really cool!). He sounds like he’s been trying to repeat dear old Mika Luttinen’s lunatic and utterly mad screams, which is not bad choice. Of corpse I’m not gonna accuse Ragehammer for copying Impaled Nazarene, but just wanted to point the first impression, which they made on me, when I started to listen to their demo and it was that they really remind me the Finns (hey, just listen to “Hate Command” and what do you think?). Besides, on top of all that one can find some traces of some recent Darkthrone albums, plus a bit of Nifelheim or even Absu (why not?), so anything that can have any signs of pure, old styled and archaic metal – be it black, thrash or heavy metal - as well as a bit of punk rock and stuff like that. Oh, sorry, but have I mentioned Venom?

Obviously one can think that Ragehammer may not be anything interesting, but I dare to say think twice, before you say something like that as really this debut demo – “War Hawks” – is more than enjoyable. It is actually really killer stuff! I myself am pretty surprised how much I like the music of this band and how well it has been played (and recorded). But what else can I say, if every sound from “War Hawks” is filled with hatred, aggression, ferocity, energy (which I always want to have in metal!), passion (same!) and finally there’s such a cool vibe and atmosphere… and again, how nicely aggressive and sharp are those riffs, they really will make you bang your head while you listen to it. And this is what metal is all about, dear friends! Vicious, violent and uncompromising music, full of sulphur and evil atmosphere, with absolutely possessed vocals and bulldozing guitar riffs that crush right from the first second… But I like the fact that along with those vicious songs Ragehammer composed also such a killer track like “Prophet of Genocide”, which is slower, reminding me actually a bit of Bathory (riffs only, definitely not the vocals!) and some Australian bands, except of the “chorus” part, which has been sang with the clean voice (sounding a bit like good old Hades?!) and it gets quite epic then. But it is a great song, definitely my favourite one! Fuck, whatever… “War Hawks” is definitely a very good demo and I must say that I’m really glad that I spent this fortune (which was an equivalent of 2 sterling pounds hehe) on something like this, especially as the demo is limited to 200 copies and is very nicely released in digisleeve. Arrgghhh, keep an eye on this band!

Standout tracks: “Prophet of Genocide”, “Hate Command”

Final rate: 85/100