Def-Con-One’s Warface is a hardcore thrash effort that doesn’t seem too bent on lulling or assuaging the audience. While Hatebreed and bands of similar ilk seem to take the mantle for being the face of said genre, there is a growing underground that, to my ears, was once deemed ‘crossover’ ala D.R.I. or Cryptic Slaughter; granted, the sound has changed more than a hair in spots, but the overall elements are still violently the same.

I’m not going to sit here and say that Warface is one of the most brilliant albums ever forged in the HC movement; too many bands share a sound too comparative to be original. At this stage of the game it’s who does it well and who just does it. Def-Con-One (DCO) handles the reins decently, adding some serious groove to the music that a band like Cavalera Conspiracy might not necessarily espouse. Whereas the latter is more volatile and musically invasive, DCO provides a sort of structured volatility that definitely seems more interested in finding a melody amidst all of the aggression, which is a strong positive.

There is some serious drumming to be had here, with Antton Lant providing a very potent thundering underneath the surface. Vocally, I will say that there is little in diversity as the pattern follows a seemingly strict blueprint, but it’s not annoying or intrusive. The main focus of DCO is to entertain you with a tempestuous and angry sound that is, on the whole, entertaining and interesting, if not widely original. I’m usually not a fan of clean-to-scream vocals, dismissing them as phoned-in or too ‘core, but in a track like “Blood” it works to a slight advantage by way of not overdoing the delivery or over-emphasizing the point. While I’m not a big fan of this type of heavy metal per se, I do occasionally enjoy it when a band creates some brutal and punishing riffs powerful enough to pull me from an otherwise numbing trance of boredom.

By the same token, there are songs here that aren’t as consuming as others. I won’t necessarily call them filler, but definitive patterned tracks that don’t do much to deviate from the formula in areas. In fact, I can lay claim the album has much of this going on, but, as I said earlier, some of it works and some of it doesn’t. For the most part DCO makes it work to a slightly larger degree. There are songs like “Bullets” and “In Death” that are pretty intense and provide a good outlet for aggressive emotions; this would be a good album to work out with, that’s for sure. I can also see this working well in the live setting, and for that the band gets some accolades.

Warface is a screaming testament to the inner self to rise up and batter, senselessly or not, that which serves to denigrate or stultify. It’s a brutal record that hits like a glass window over a sleeping skull, even if it’s a bit formulaic and predictable in certain spots. You’ll still come away entertained and a little less angry.

TRACK LISTING

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*Comments:

1.  Never Look Back
2.  March of the Dead
3.  Warface
4.  Hold On
5.  Blood
6.  Steeped in Pain
7.  10 Bullets
8.  Feeling Cold
9.  My Halo
10.  Hit List
11.  In Death
12.  Give Me Strength

Total playing time:  52:40

Release Date: June 19, 2012
Label: Scarlet Records

DEF-CON-ONE - Warface

Reviewer: Chris

May 23, 2012