Hail of Bullets - III: The Rommel Chronicles (2013)

I've been comfortable for years claiming that Hail of Bullets provides my favorite Asphyx material, because it so ramps up the tension and potential of that seminal death metal entity while also offering the same enormous clusterfuck production which the members' primary act also has capitalized on with their recent releases. That said, this Dutch act plays with such a simplistic, strength-minded sensibility that there is constantly the threat of them burning themselves out, writing a set of riffs too complacent or plain in structure that they can fail to achieve, and I do think to an extent this has happened with the third full-length III: The Rommel Chronicles, only not so much that I didn't still pump the fuck out of this thing on a number of occasions.

No, riff for riff, this is not the equal of either of its predecessors, nor does it start off particularly promising with "Swoop of the Falcon", but there is enough meat on its bones that retro death metal pundits the world over should find some common ground being tread. Van Drunen's vocals have lost nothing with age, but I would not say that his performance here is among his more memorable...that award still belongs to his old Pestilence material, on which he pretty much created every pattern he'd later re-arrange. I am surprised that his voice has held up this long, he's got such a bloodiness in there which seems like it would have cracked a million times over in 30 years, yet the ugliness persists, the desperation and hostility which is almost like Lemmy Kilminster gargling gunpowder while chomping on an unlit cigar...always about to explode! Rhythm guitars maintain that corpulent fleshiness of the other albums, only a few tunes like "To the Last Breath of Man and Beast" contained groove riffs so unfuckably exhausted that part of The Rommel Chronicles feels more like an obligation than an advancement further along enemy lines...

Many of those grooves unfortunately also remind me of stuff you'd hear on an average Six Feet Under disc, not that it's such a bad thing with Van Drunen taking the helm in place of Barnes, but stuff like "DAK" could have used an added sheen of atmosphere or complexity to help raise the roof. Like a lot of acts these years, Hail of Bullets seem to be increasingly relying on the momentum of their production values alone to mask rehashed ideas, and if that's going to be the case they might have just ended with the excellent sophomore album. On the other hand, lyrically I found this fascinating, since Rommel is one of my favorite historical military figures and perhaps the most competent of the Axis strategists, and when listened to in one lump sum in my car, the disc fucking crushed me on a number of occasions that I still consider it a solid success, even though it really lacks the surprise value of the others, and the riffs are a few tiers lesser in quality. It'd be nice now for the Dutchmen to take leave for awhile, come up with some new ideas and perhaps even attempt to dial up the complexity of what they write rather than just do the same shit time in and time out, which is also symptomatic of Asphyx. Just because you can write the same, progressively redundant riffs and stay 'loyal' to a sound does not mean that you should pursue the course indefinitely...Rommel is strong, but like the figure himself, not invincible.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10] (on to the next duel)

http://www.hailofbullets.com/cms/

Hail of Bullets - On Divine Winds (2010)

I'm a massive Martin van Drunen fan here, in particular his early work on the first two Pestilence records, which I consider perfection, so naturally I've been crossing my fingers for ages that he'll keep turning up on records. There's just something about his voice I find exemplary, a bloodied and battered edge through which one can truly feel the torture, something I simply don't experience through so many of the generic guttural throats out adorning death metal albums. Thus, the Hail of Bullets debut ...Of Frost and War was a godsend of hammering, straightforward war death which basically filled in the void that might earlier have been filled if van Drunen had wound up fronting Bolt Thrower longer than he did.

On Divine Winds picks up right where that leaves off, of course, which is to say it achieves a similar and suitable level of excellence. The lyrics continue to explore WWII, but they move into the Pacific theater of operations, and the music once again manages to carefully teeter on the brink of absurd, effective simplicity and superb songwriting. A balance of subtle melodic sadness and powerful, crushing force riffs make it almost impossible not to feel 'moved' here, and though some cite the wide vistas of the band's assault as underwhelming, I really don't see how any self respecting fan of Bolt Thrower, Asphyx, Grave or other old school bruisers could not come away feeling impressed here, because these Dutchmen know exactly what buttons to press to shove a tank barrel straight up the listener's arse. There is absolutely nothing technical about what Hail of Bullets write, and the album is insufferably primitive, yet it lands more powerful blows than about 90% of the wanking, progressive necronauts dotting up the landscape.

A glorious symphonic intro "The Eve of Battle" heralds "Operation Z", business as usual for the veteran generals, low and punching old school guitar rhythms so thick that even the single note rhythms feel almost chord-like, arching but morose melodies informing us that we are still clearly in the war zone, and very little good will come of our futures. "The Mukden Incident" functions off the colossal grooves of its verse, and "Strategy of Attrition" is faster and choppy like something Entombed might have written in their transition from barbaric Swedish death to rock & roll. "Full Scale War" teases a slower, graceful death/doom glaze not unlike a few of the earlier Asphyx albums, before returning to the field of battle, and ditto for "On Choral Shores", one of the most powerful juggernauts on the album. "Kamikaze", "Tokyo Napalm Holocaust" and "To Bear the Unbearable" are all likewise delicious, as least as delicious as an artillery shell being forced down your gullet with unswerving velocity and certainty.

On Divine Winds captures enough of a range in its pacing and performance that it never hinges on dull, though many listeners might now be feeling the weight of all the old school death metal that has clearly become a trend, and is bordering on a nuisance. The band realizes they can't simply look to the past, and thus there is a level of melodic integration here which transforms the sorrow stricken, heavy as balls subject material into something slightly more multi-dimensional than your average Bolt Thrower clone. I dare say that they are one of the 'catchiest' death metal bands out there, at least among the newer crop, and the collective experience of the band's constituents has once more ensured a primal, impartial glimpse into the oppression of warfare and the menace and far-from-obsolete majesty of death fucking metal.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.25/10]

http://www.hailofbullets.com/

Hail of Bullets - Warsaw Rising EP (2009)

Hot on the heels of their excellent debut album last year, Dutch death blitzkrieg Hail of Bullets return with a teaser EP. Anyone enjoyed the grounded hybrid of Pestilence and Bolt Thrower that was ...Of Frost and War should rest assured that no changes have been made, the band is still pure death war metal with World War lyrical themes.

The EP begins with what we've really been anticipating, two new tracks. "Warsaw Rising" and "Liberators" both crush, simple and primal, often familiar grinders dripping in Van Drunen's superbly sick and hostile vocals. Both would have fit well on ...Of Frost and War. The band has also seen fit to include an interesting choice of cover song, Twisted Sister's "Destroyer". While the song isn't all that to begin with, it has been transformed to fit into the Hail of Bullets canon, and you may enjoy this version even if you couldn't care less about the original. The final three tracks are live cuts recorded at the Party San Open Air in Germany. "Red Wolfs of Stalin", "Nachthexen" and "The Crucial Offensive" sound solid enough in their live setting.

Warsaw Rising is pretty much a bone being thrown out to fans. If you truly enjoyed their debut, then this is probably worth your money and time. I'm not always high on the EP format (except for demos), but I did enjoy the new tracks, and it seems the band will be staying their course for future material.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.hailofbullets.com/

Hail of Bullets - Of Frost and War (2008)

2008 was a year sadly lacking in Bolt Thrower. So why not a Dutch super-band, featuring the vocals of former Pestilence/Asphyx frontman Martin van Drunen (who actually handled frontman duties for Bolt Thrower for a few years), who successfully celebrate the brand of simplistic, groove laden yet brutal death metal that those UK war machines created so many years ago?

Well, the debut from Hail of Bullets is that and more. Take the influence of the aforementioned, some Celtic Frost, Massacre and Death, refine it with a modern, crushing production, and then proceed to elephant up, trampling everything in the room. This is Hail of Bullets. This is war. It doesn't end with van Drunen though, the rest of the Bullets have quite a resume of their own. Guitars and bass come courtesy of Paul Baayens, Stephan Gebedi, and Theo van Eekelen of Dutch veterans Thanatos. Drummer Ed Warby hails from bands and projects as varied as Gorefest, Demiurg, Ayreon, Elegy, and After Forever.

The 12 tracks here represent one of the most monumental and excellent death metal releases of this year or any other. Simple yet extremely powerful production, crisp and crushing. Conceptually it loosely follows the German-Soviet conflicts of the 1940s, and it fucking sounds like it. The orchestration of "Before the Storm (Barbarossa)" sets the stage for the raging "Ordered Eastward", recalling a more grinding version of Bolt Thrower with van Drunen doing his best post-Pestilence work. I feel this sort of album is perfectly catered to an old schooler like myself, and every damn track is fantastic. The slow drawl of "General Winter" breaks into some firm death metal pacing. "Red Wolves of Stalin" moves with a D-beat rhythm, completely crushing everything else of that entire genre that I've heard in years. "Insanity Commands" is almost doom-like in its delivery until the inevitable Bolt Thrower beatdown not-so-hidden within.

This is just sick. One of my favorite death metal vocalists of all time, rekindling his earlier fire and fronting a worthy band (I wasn't personally into his Asphyx stuff). The delivery is crude and barbaric. It doesn't need complexity. It's fucking war, in touch with both its roots and the production values of a top tier modern metal album. An essential for anyone who is not a pussy. Don't be a pussy. Listen to Bolt Thrower. And listen to Hail of Bullets.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10] (autumn at the Eastern Front)

http://www.hailofbullets.com/