ALBUM REVIEW: I: Voice – Warforged

Chicago’s WARFORGED have been carving a unique and memorable sound for themselves within the blackened death metal scene since their formation back in 2012. With a demo and an EP to their name already, their debut full length, I: Voice, comes close to four years since the release of their Two Demons single. But the wait has been worth it, because the band have used this time to craft a record that is not only intense and aggressive, but also jaw-droppingly technical, something which sets them apart from the blackened death metal pack significantly.

We’ve Been Here Before is a solid opener, easing the listener into the album with sombre piano sections before launching into a robust, crushing rhythmic track that carves a vicious path with polished, technical flourishes peppered throughout, making a dense wall of noise with lots of mild progressive elements thrown in for good measure. It makes the most of its time, cramming every moment with interesting and diverse music, proving to be an excellent opening gambit to start the album on. Beneath The Forest Floor sets a similarly intense and grating tone, with lots of great tech-death passages and acoustic motifs added to make for a varied and deep sound.

After the darkly sublime Cellar makes its presence known, throwing in some great cleaner guitar and keyboard moments, the listener gets treated to Nightfall Came: a brilliant track that features two notable guest spots from Danny Rodriguez of THROUGH THE EYES OF THE DEAD and Navene Koperweis of FLESHWROUGHT. This song makes use of far more subdued distortion and some incredibly powerful vocals, with the drums setting a punching and unrelenting meter that doesn’t lose any of its intensity throughout. The guitars, eclectic and intricate, are fantastic and add plenty of technical, progressive hooks to the sound, creating a dizzying whirlwind of world class musicianship and equally visceral, aggressive rhythms. It’s musical prowess and razor sharp delivery mark it out as one of the album stand out offerings. Voice is a far more measured, epic song, with relatively restrained guitars and drumming, which in the long run helps the track out no end. All of the elements in the music get plenty of room to breath, and more importantly, be noticed by the listener. It still possesses that vicious and jarring edge, but without having tonnes of virtuoso guitar solos, it helps to make the song stand as one of the more impressive on the album, enduring long in the memory.

After the burst of dissonant riffs and booming gutturals that is Eat Them While They Sleep, and the aggressive, discordant and deeply atmospheric Willow, we get to the sprawling, monolithic Old Friend which makes the most of its length to ensure there’s plenty of excellent music on display. Initially a more ambience and piano based piece, it gradually evolves into a song that is far more unique in its sound than the rest of the tracks, eschewing much of the metal trappings in favour of a more relaxed piece driven by impressive, almost jazz like drumming, upright bass and dancing pianos. As the song reaches its halfway mark, it begins to incorporate the more acerbic and punishing metal elements into the sound, but this only serves as a brief interlude before launching into a far more experimental motif that absolutely solidifies this song as one of the more impressive ones on the album. The harsher metal elements make one last appearance and bring this track to its conclusion, setting the listener up for The Color Of My Memory. This final track reverts to the more progressive, blackened death metal style that has defined this album, and although it is certainly impressive, with expert, intricate musicianship on all fronts and primal gutturals, it just can’t follow the eclectic and more experimental track that preceded it. As as result, this album closes the album on a good, but necessarily great, note.

I: Voice is an incredibly impressive and fierce sounding album from start to finish. WARFORGED do a great job of blending dense, crushing rhythmic sections with tight, intricate musicianship, something which is sure to endear them to fans of brutality and virtuosity in equal measure. The guest spots really work, and do a great job of adding something cool to the album without taking away from the excellent work of WARFORGED themselves. As far as debut albums go, you’d be hard pressed to find a record that has a sound so fully formed and brilliant, considering this is the largest and most ambitious album the band have released to date. With any luck, we won’t have to wait seven year until we hear another full length from these guys, because the music is so great on here that you’ll be eager to hear more.

Rating: 8/10

I:Voice is set for release May 10th via The Artisan Era.

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