WARFARE

I must admit to being a huge fan of Warfare back in the 80s and through their Hammer Horror phase, which saw them release two albums (well, one was a re-recording of the first with extra tracks) so it is with relish that I listen once more to this band from Shildon, England. The bulk of the songs on this compilation are from their first two albums, 1984’s ‘Pure Filth’ and 1985’s ‘Metal Anarchy’ and these tracks have the ability to still sound as raw and full-on punkish metal as the day they were committed to vinyl. Like fellow Geordies, Venom, Warfare followed no rules and crossed punk with metal to come up with a strange hybrid music we now comfortably know as thrash. The bands I’ve always associated with Warfare are all luminaries in their own right – Motorhead, Tank, The Damned and the aforementioned Venom, and if you haven’t got any Warfare in your collection you could do far worse than add this to your regular listening. ‘Burn Down The Kings Road’, of which there are two versions on this compilation, a studio and a live version, is a bona fide classic and certainly was always one of their anthems. I think it would be fair to say this isn’t a comprehensive look at Warfare but more a look at where they came from – a noisy place filled with ‘Mad Max’ fashions and a full-on punk metal apocalyptic sound. This is fun and, whatever you think of metal, surely that is the point.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Southworld

Album

THE NEW AGE OF TOTAL WARFARE

Review by Paul Sims

RUNNING TIME:

48:31

RELEASE DATE:

2nd May 2011

TRACK LISTING

1) Warning; 2) New Age of Total Warfare
3) Dance of the Dead
4) Living for the Last Days
5) Death Charge; 6) Disgrace
7) Elite Forces; 8) Military Shadows
9) Blown to Bits; 10) Metal Anarchy
11) Burn Down the Kings Road
12) Death Charge (Live); 13) Elite Forces (Live)
14) Burn Down the Kings Road (Live)
15) Blown to Bits (Live)
16) No Fun

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

UK

"...these tracks have the ability to still sound as raw and full-on punkish metal as the day they were committed to vinyl."