Impelliteri: War Machine | A Heavy Metal War Machine
(2024 – Frontiers Records)
I’ll be honest, I had my serious doubts about this new Impelliteri album. The last works hadn’t really made an impact on me, especially “The Nature Of The Beast”, where the poor sound and the uninspired compositions went against what we already knew about the band of the exalted guitarist. With “Venom” they recovered some of the lost ground, and now, with a renewed line-up, but always keeping the Chris Impelliteri/Rob Rock tandem plus the contribution of a drumhead animal like Paul Bostaph (ex Slayer, Testament, Exodus and now working with Kerry King), the result is much more than interesting. The combo is completed with the historic James Pulli on bass.
In 11 tracks, Impelliteri offers us in “War Machine”, one of his most aggressive works of all his discography, and in this we suppose that it has a lot to do with the drummer, more accustomed to the beating of Thrash Metal than to the vicissitudes of the more traditional Heavy Metal. Indeed, the double bass drum passages are a constant in the sound and composition of these new songs. A lot of thrashing, and the voice of the battle-hardened Rob Rock, who also brings a lot of grit and different vocal nuances, perhaps different from the ones we already know him, but adapting to a work that is more inclined towards a much more precise and aggressive style.
Of course, there is the guitar of the great Chris Impelliteri, a “guitar hero” that I never knew why he was never postulated to be among the greats of the instrument, being that he has all the attributes to be considered among the first places of the most technical and capable guitarists of Metal. As always, his sound is a trademark, imprinting each song with his characteristic speed and versatility.
For starters, no song exceeds 5 minutes, averaging between 3 and 4 minutes each track, more than enough time for the band to deploy its full arsenal in each theme, stick and to the bag as they say. The album opens with the title track, to give way to the song chosen as the cut and video clip of this production, “Out Of My Mind (Heavy Metal)”, a powerful song that extols the power of Heavy Metal (impossible not to feel identified). This way, the band follows hard-hitting compositions like “Superkingdom” and “Wrathchild” (no, it’s not an Iron Maiden cover), with a frenetic rhythm and combative riffs that combine with the excellent guitar solos that only a guy like Chris Impelliteri can give them. “What Lies Beneath” would not sound off the hook in an album like ‘Crunch’ while ‘Hell On Earth’ is perhaps the weakest in an album that is really worth what it weighs, being another of the diffusion themes of this work.
“Power Grab” is another of the diffusion tracks, for which a diffusion videoclip was also shot. Here Rob Rock works with a tonality in his voice, different from the one we already know, showing an incredible versatility. In fact, when listening to this work in its entirety, one can notice a change in the tonality of the sound towards more serious notes, requiring, of course, a radical change not only in the instruments but also in the voices. That is the general line that frames “War Machine”.
But this new Impelliteri album does not end there. Out there we also have “Beware The Hunter” and the fast “Light It Up”, a powerful track very characteristic of the band. “Gone Insane”, possibly one of the best tracks on the album, with a dark intro and a feisty riff, with a catchy chorus and that invites you to raise your fist in the air. Impeccable. The album closes with another vulgar demonstration of power in “Just Another Day”.
The curious thing about “War Machine” is that this time no instrumental piece was included, something characteristic of the band considering that Chris Impelliteri is an excellent guitar player, but for some reason, this time they chose to include 11 songs with vocals in their entirety, resulting in an album that has the justice and precision that the band had been lacking. Perhaps the biggest sin is how repetitive each song is, as there is no different piece or a different tempo. Everything goes in the same direction.
As for the lyrics, they revolve around personal or social and political issues. Although Impelliteri are considered to be part of the White Metal world, their songs are far from spiritual themes, at least in this case. The cover is colorful and of good quality, as well as the inner envelope, which of course includes the lyrics and photos of the band members, including the classic smile of Rob Rock (he must be one of the friendliest guys in the Metal world).
The album was recorded at NRG studios and mixed at Hansen studios. The final result of the mix really surprised us, since as we have already mentioned, Impelliteri sounds much more aggressive than in previous works, with a more serious tonality that gives it a much more combative air.
Beyond the good that “War Machine” may seem to us, from there to speak of a classic, we will see. There are no songs that can be considered as candidates to be classics. This album, in general terms, is a real firecracker of great quality but lacks perhaps “that” song that can elevate it to the podium, although of course, the 11 songs included maintain the same essence. Anyway, it is to be applauded that Impelliteri is leaning more towards the riffs and bases. In that, I think that Paul Bostaph clearly had a lot to do with the sonic change, and it really suited the band well.
Excellent decision the edition of this album, not only on compact disc, but also on vinyl, so I recommend you to click on https://impelliteri.net or https://www.frontiers.it for more information.
