WARBRINGER

JOHN KEVILL

During the last decade Warbringer from Ventura, California has been one of the most successful new additions to the thrash metal scene. Warbringer gets constant comparisons with Slayer and there are definitely worse bands to be compared to. After the initial success with their self-released EP "One by one, the wicked fall" from 2006 the band got signed by Century Media Records and has since then released four albums on the label.

War Without End from 2008, Waking Into Nightmares In 2009, Worlds Torn Asunder in 2011 and IV: Empires Collapse in 2013. Over the years they have worked with Gary Holt from Exodus and Metal Blade's main producer Bill Metoyer. I have spoken with Warbringer's vocalist John Kevill.

Warbringer

We can begin with a small presentation of Warbringer...

We formed in 2004, and we play some really savage thrash metal! We bring the speed and aggression as hard as possible.

How did you get in contact with Century Media?

They found us! We were playing some shows, around the time of our first demo we were approached by them. By the next demo, we had a record deal.

You celebrate ten years as a band this year. Are you going to do anything special to celebrate it?

Make new music! The best form of celebration.

You originally named the band Onslaught but later changed it to Warbringer. Have you listened to UK thrashers Onslaught since then?

Yes of course. I hate how this follows us as we had that name for about a week, never recorded or performed under it. We've done some shows and tours with Onslaught, the UK thrash band, very cool guys!

You worked with legendary producer Bill Metoyer (Slayer, D.R.I., Lääz Rockit, Flotsam and Jetsam and more) How was that?

Awesome! It was our first record and we were pretty green at professional recording, but he gave us a great start and was awesome to work it. His dog is Satan though.

You have also worked with Gary Holt (Exodus) as a producer. How was it to work with such a legend?

Gary's a hell of a guy! We worked long days and did that whole record in under 2 weeks, but Gary always made time to have some beers with us when the day was done.

How does it feel to get lumped in with the whole thrash revival-movement all the time?

Often this is used to try to somehow discredit the actual music we made, I guess on the grounds that it is part of an established musical genre? We aren't trying to revive anything, we are just trying to write damn good aggressive metal songs. There's a lot of our music that is based on oldschool thrash, and a lot that isn't. It's much easier to analyze the qualities of music by actually talking about the music, rather than just choosing the easiest point of comparison.

You opened for Exodus early in your career. How was that?

Fucking awesome, we raged extremely hard. I think we cracked those guys up by being such a shitshow on the road.

You have recorded a bunch of music videos and your Combat Shock-video is getting close to a million views on youtube. Are you surprised by that?

It's awesome! Great to know so many people have gotten to see, and hopefully enjoy our music.

Your latest album IV: Empires Collapse was released few months ago. How has it been received by the media and fans?

Overall a very good reaction! It's definitely a different kind of record for us, but the reaction has been really strong. I've heard a fair amount of "At first I didn't like it as much, but then I listened to it a few more times and now I think it's your best record." Which I really like to hear.

What bands had the biggest influence Warbringer's sound?

There's a lot of different ones, some stuff from totally left field that influences a certain musical part here or there, but I would say the main building blocks of our sound comes from the heavier end of thrash metal. Kreator, Slayer, Exodus, Demolition Hammer, Sacrifice, etc. Also some early death metal.

War WIthout End

What's the highlight of your career?

There have been many. For me, any time there is a show where the crowd just loves it and goes crazy is what makes me happiest, and I am glad to say there has been many.

What's your plans for the near future?

Reconstruct the band, hopefully we can be playing again by early next year. Shit kinda fell apart recently. Empires Collapse.

Have you got any funny story to tell, if anything weird has happened while touring or so?

Every day is goddamn ridiculous. Day after day, year after year, All I can hear is the drinking of the beers!

Any last words for our readers?

Thanks for reading, check out the records, hope you all enjoy the music! Rock!

/Ruthless

(04-05-2014)