“Warsong hail from Zaragoza, Spain and in 2011 the band released the excellent nine-track album Ancient Times. With this followup five-track EP, the band manages to maintain the momentum that the long player gave birth to and deliver some more quality garage/rock ‘n’ roll-influenced punk rock that takes its cues from a wide variety of bands including the Adolescents and the Wipers (which might seem obvious with a Greg Sage-penned cover featured on the release). Vocalist Carlos manages to channel a sense of Cliff Hanger (The Freeze) in his delivery despite having the obvious inflection from not singing in one’s native language.
“Feel The Darkness” (not the Poison Idea track) manages to mix the Adolescents, the Crowd and Agent Orange into a sound that really takes some beating and which really does have a great early ’80s SoCal punk feel to it. Despite those specific band comparisons there is still that hint of garage punk within the music and it’s an exemplary mix of different genres of punk.
“Winter Sun” opens with a great intro and the guitar leads throughout add to the melody rather than taking over with any invasive high pitched tone. The title track, again, features a strong intro with guitars and bass creating a minute of anticipation before the vocals come in to help bring this high point to the fore. It’s hard to keep saying the same thing but Warsong certainly excel at introductions and “Surrounded” is no exception with a Freeze-like quality. There are times in this song when the guitars momentarily drop out and it helps generate a looseness that makes me think of a guitar cutting out during a live performance only to almost immediately kick back in. That kind of thing is what sticks in my musical memory-I’m sure we all have moments like that when something happens in a song and you look forward to it whenever playing that record-and I’ll no doubt listen to this with a longing for those drop outs in the future.
With an atmospheric cover of the Wipers’ “Window Shop For Love” that is more polished, albeit only slightly, than the original bringing the EP to a close, Warsong have clearly displayed an ability to write songs that hit home with an edgy, anthemic and melodic purpose as well as showing them as having the facility to choose wisely in seeking a song to cover. There is a warm tone to the five tracks that presumably comes from the production here and this is what I like to hear from punk with a garage feel to it as it seems to strengthen the sound. Basically, this is 18-and-a-half minutes of high quality punk rock that is based around some solid musicianship.
You can listen to the EP on Warsong’s own Bandcamp page, as well as finding a link there to download Ancient Times for free.”
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