The demo of Canadian WARMACHINE had caused quite a stir three years ago and Ralf awarded it with 9 points, fully deservedly, if I may add. Now the 1994-founded band from Toronto has recorded its debut with “The Beginning Of The End“ and could win a whole load of quite well-known musicians as guests, among them MEGADETH bassist Dave Ellefson, ICED EARTH guitarist Ralph Santolla and HAREM SCAREM singer Harry Hess, plus EMERALD RAIN’s Murray Daigle as producer and once also guest vocalist.

So what is this “phenomenon” WARMACHINE? Well, the style that they have chosen for themselves is very traditional, pure Heavy Metal, which, though, never sounds old-fashioned, but without taking up any modern elements sounds up-to-date, as if their sound was something brand spanking new. So the quartet does not exactly explore new territories, so here the excellent song writing come into play, which lets potentially lacking originality completely step into the background!

Led by Joe DiTaranto’s excellent voice, which is a nice difference to many of his colleagues, the quartet delivers a very compact album, which keeps the tension up over the whole 44 minutes, not showing any weaknesses. Opener “Betrayed”, for example, is marked by quite heavy riffing, complemented by great melodies, culminating in a super catchy chorus, if that does not capture the genre fan right away, well, then you are not a fan, quite frankly!

We already know “Beginning Of The End“ from the demo, super melodic, followed by “Safe Haven“ with fat double-bass and heavy guitars, yet always putting enough emphasis on good and mature melodies. “Eternally” reminds me a lot of ICED EARTH, from the guitars at the beginning over the riffing to the vocal harmonies, without sounding like a copy, while “Taunted Souls” accelerates a lot, which the band also masters very well.

The production is up-to-date, but not modern, traditional, but not out-dated, the songs very good, but not, eh, they are just damn good, this is how modern tradition is supposed to sound, now they only need a deal and that should only be a question of time! (Online February 11, 2005)