Artist: Warhammer
Country: Germany
Label: Ván Records
Formats: LP / CD
Year: 2025
If you would have told me some twenty-five years ago that Warhammer would release their sixth full-length album in 2025 on a label like Ván Records, widely regarded as a quality label, I would have had a hard time believing you. Not that I didn’t like the band back then, but aside from a small clique of fans, Warhammer was generally looked down upon; a lame joke, not to be taken seriously. The band always did their utmost best to sound as much alike Hellhammer as they possibly could, but consequently, pretty much like their Brazilian brothers of Apokalyptic Raids, they were mainly disregarded by the masses.
‘Total Maniac’ might be the band’s sixth album, but it is the first since 2009’s ‘No Beast So Fierce…’, an album that was released on vinyl by High Roller Records but was released on CD independently. Three splits were released in the time begin, a split 10” with Coffins and split 7” EP’s with Apokalyptic Raids and Blackwhole in 2010, 2012 and 2013 respectively, but it is clear to say that things were awfully quiet around the band for the most part of the last fifteen years. But the attentive observer might have seen something slowly cooking in the kitchen of these Hellhammerian Germans. In 2023 the first three Warhammer albums were reissued on vinyl by The Devil’s Elixirs, a label that is almost exclusively distributed by Ván Records. And, surprising or not, those vinyl reissues had eager sales. So, you do the math.
Fifteen years of absence might be a long time, but if you dedicated yourself to just mimicking a band that had released only one 12” EP in 1984, time is basically futile. In that regard, you might have guessed it, ‘Total Maniac’ offers literally nothing new. Over the course of their existence, having started in the early 90’s, the band has refined and perfected their imitation act to commendable proportions. That nice Doom-laden guitar sound, only heard on Hellhammer’s only and Celtic Frost’s first 12” EP, is something that, although ancient, never really gets old. If you love it, you love it and as they say, old love won’t die. Personally I always appreciated the much rougher and slightly more brutal vocals of Warhammer’s Volker “Iron Lung” Frerich, who sadly passed away almost to the day exactly four years ago in 2021.
‘Total Maniac’ is therefore not only just a great return for the band, it is also the end of a chapter. If the band chooses to continue, they will sound at least slightly different without Frerich’s signature vocals, which are at least as defining of the Warhammer sound as the Hellhammer riffs. While we wait to see what the band will do in the coming time (years), this new album allows us to kick back for a while. One thing is for sure, at least it is many times better than watching Tom G. Warrior squander and rape his own legacy.
