At War - Infidel (Heavy Artillery Records)
It begins with a faint wheeze, then grows into this wobbling sound of eerie feedback before the percussion hammers down and At War are on their way to drive a knife through someone’s cranium. With album opener Assasins, the band re-establishes its place in thrash metal; not exactly as legends but as respectable practitioners who had a go during the genre’s inception. Having lain dormant for so long, the terrible threesome return with no small thanks to their new home Heavy Artillery Records, which is becoming the first word in moulding American heavy metal into its ideal form: tr00 and f*cken’ old-school.
Once Assasins is done recounting a day on the job for a hired killer, more anthemic fare takes centre stage with Semper Fi, which celebrates that venerable U.S. institution, the Marine Corps. Fighting men are given royal treatment by At War, whose members share a fascination for history of the violent sort. Try RAF, Want You Dead, and Deceit, all three being songs that either recount past glory or shed light on the terrible spectacle that’s modern conflict. Oh, and don’t forget the self-named anthem they included here, where singer bassist Paul Arnold repeatedly grunts “At War” on the chorus. If you think this is gnarly, just expose your ears to Shawn Helsel’s soloing, which belongs to the Hanneman/King school of shrill distortion. Judging by how he mangles the climax of each song with his axework, it would probably be a good idea for him to adopt the stage name Shawn Hell-saw.
Keeping to their old-school selves—the production values here are a total throwback—the gruff spirit of the NWOBHM comes alive for RAF and 80s cheese gets its time of day on the sadistic album closer, Rapechase.
A no-frills exhibition of atrocity music, At War do violence to heavy metal’s ultimate genre in the tradition of your favourite Sodom and early Slayer. These grizzled veterans have let slip a devastating thrash war machine, albeit one that's rather creaky.
At War's Infidel is out now on Heavy Artillery Records.
