Review by Stephen Pedicino
Thrash outfit Grief of War are one of few Japanese bands I’ve had the pleasure of exploring in my years. The only others have been Sigh and X-Japan. Hailing from the heart of Tokyo, Grief of War are the delegates for their nation’s thrash metal scene…Imagine Slayer writing the soundtrack for “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon”…Okay, that’s not accurate at all, but I tried.
The first track is “Crack of Doom” and it’s stamped with the standardized seal of Bay Area Thrash Metal. The opening riff cuts like a katana. You’ll instantly notice the samurai spirit of this quartet along with Tom Araya-ish vocals; very aggressive yet controlled. This substantial opener is followed by the modest “Disorder.” Aside from some adroit soloing at the break, the core of the song sounds like it was written in ten minutes. The Beatles could pull that off, but metal is a different terrain. The zesty “Captured Soul Eternity” ultimately proves to be a lower quality replication of “Crack of Doom.” At this point, I wondered if Grief of War had enough up their sleeve to make Worship interesting.
Thankfully, the middle of the album is strong. In the swift 2:50 of “Revolt,” guitarists Ken Sato and Hiroyuki Inoue will slay your ears with their axe-slashing. Inarguably, the two possess musicianship and a high potential to succeed in the future. “Built My Brain” is well-written and mature, leaning more towards power metal. My favorite track, “Worship,” delivers at every juncture. A simple yet pugnacious rhythm between the guitar and double bass lead into an epic arpeggio that launches this thrasher into orbit. From there, they don’t marginalize their creativity. It’s the dominant track of the album, which explains why it was shot for a video. The last stretch of the album bears no real surprises. “Into the Void” is tenacious and adorned with some sick solo work, and the last couple of tracks have a more melodic edge. If you’ve enjoyed the ride this far, you shouldn’t have much to complain about.
The production is a bit stale for 2009. The power of the instruments could be strengthened, and a slight vocal effect makes vocalist Manabu Hirose sound less coherent than he already is. He doesn’t sound like a drunken slob, but it is highly apparent that English is his second language. Worship would be more deadly with a better production. With that and a more varied rhythm structure, I can see good things to come for Grief of War.
Worship hits hard, but after a while the punches lose their effect. Its decent music for workouts, but don’t aim to find something profoundly treasurable. This is homogenous thrash metal with little embellishment. Much of the album is filled with top string ripping and drum patterns that sound as if they were programmed with a flick of the wrist. For this I must dock points, especially because I can tell the band is capable of more. There are creative moments; they could just stand to be more plentiful. Instead of emulating the glory days of Western thrash, Grief of War may stand to benefit from branching their sound to other dimensions.