Wastelander-Wardrive

Planet Metal
2008

The press release on this album reads like the introduction for some bad 1980's post apocalyptic film. The pictures of the band members show them posed with bullet belts, cheap beer and lots of metal albums from the past. The music indeed reflects their love of mid-80's thrash and even a touch of some old hardcore as well. It's immediately apparent that this band grew up on a diet of Venom, Hellhammer, early Celtic Frost, English Dogs, Bathory and VoiVod. Even the production has that same underdone sound of Metal Blade and Combat records releases done between 1984 and 1987. The sound here is low and heavy with lots chugging riffs and a vocal style similar to Tom G. Warrior. They waste little time and just plow through their fairly short songs. I grew up on a lot of these same bands so I took to this album quickly despite the lack of originality. It's comes across like a blast from the past where I remember listening to these new bands so that seemed so heavy back then. It was more about power and aggression than style and perfect production values. Wastelander have tapped into that mentality and more importantly they connected with that bone-crunching sound. This is simple and has been done, but they rip into the material like they mean it and that ferocity comes across in their music. So put on your favorite faded black thrash band shirt, sit back and take in the dirty, raw sounds of Wastelander.

www.myspace.com/thewastelander