Bulletbelt

Roaring out of the South Pacific, New Zealand’s Bulletbelt unleash their biggest sound yet with Warlords, an absolute monster of a metal album.

The fourth album from the Wellington-based metal band, Warlords features drummer Steve Francis (the only remaining founding member) with a new singer, Paul Roberts, a relatively new guitarist, Josh O’Brien, and long-time bandmate Tim Mekalick on bass. They are leaving nothing on the stage this time around, that’s for sure. The album is an all-out attack. All of the elements fall into place and these guys sound like they have been playing together forever. I don’t want to lean to heavily on comparisons to other bands, but I will say I got a Black Dahlia Murder feel from elements in this album, and that not a bad headspace to start listening in.

The album is like a slumbering beast you accidentally kicked while stumbling along, and it wakes up in a rage. The quiet intro piece gives way to “Impaler,” a full-on spike in your midsection. Fast, hard metal, heavy on the riffs and hooks, and presenting the commanding vocals at the center of the swirling musical assault is what you get throughout the set. Every song has its own measure and unique aspect – from the killer bass lines in “Blade On The Fire” to the cascading lead work in “Mutilate and Destroy” to the final ferocious notes of the closer, “Warlord,” this album is the standard the band should be measured against. It is an achievement the metal community should recognize, and it is music I will listen to again and again. Recommended.