Album review: Warpstormer – Warpstormer

Fast, fuzzy and utterly fanatical about all things sci-fi and Warhammer, you could sum up Warpstormer’s uncomplicated core appeal on the back of a postage stamp. Is it ‘stoner-punk’? ‘Speed-sludge’? ‘Thrash-doom’? Frankly, there’s no time to give a fuck as they pull up in their rumbling, hyperdriven spaceship and beckon you to jump aboard.

Born out of the stasis of lockdown the London collective may be, but having rapidly evolved into one of the most exciting bands on the British metal underground, this debut sees them chart course for infinity and beyond.

Deeper and denser than 2022 EP Here Comes Hell, these seven tracks feel like a voyage into the chill darkness of space, balancing their inherent swashbuckling attitude against an overwhelming existential dread. As epic intro Black Herald explodes into the rip-snorting Oracle, there’s fiery fight in the collision of riffs and roars, invoking the rampaging heft of Orange Goblin. But then hoplelessness bleeds in on Cursed, Cold, as sludgy as an astronaut’s blood tumbling off into the inky void. Mid-album pivot Beyonder feels like passing the point of no return: that eerie intro opening out into a seven-minute cosmic tumble that’s like getting swept away in an asteroid storm.

Creeping inexorably towards the event horizon, momentum remarkably continues to build and build. A Liar’s Crown hammers relentlessly, seething with with anger and resentment but still opening room for a few gorgeous six-string pyrotechnics. Fester refuses to succumb to the rot, instead upping the intensity again with churning atmospherics and breathless bludgeon.

And while monumental closer The Edge Of Time initially descends into outright doom, there’s a shot of adrenaline in the second half of its staggering 10-minute sprawl that only propels Warpstormer further and further into the outer reaches. Strap in and watch the galaxy burn.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: High On Fire, Orange Goblin, Green Lung

Warpstormer is released on November 29 via London Doom Collective