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As I mentioned in my review of Ancient Scriptures, while that one is good, Warlust kind of leaves it in the dust. Immediately the better production is noticeable and it really helps blast those energetic songs out of the speakers. The songwriting has improved, the band sounds tighter, and I don't know if I'm imagining things, but it really sounds like they pay homage to their multiple influences with short passages that make you go, "hey, this sounds like..." Sometimes I think I'm in War and Pain-era Voïvod, sometimes I think Exodus is about to pop in for a visit and the title track has that 80s Razor vibe that just kills. Cool stuff.

Black Mass have put together a nicely varied album with Warlust and it's simply a fun, headbang-inducing listen. I could have done without "Interlude" and the spoken passages that I found really break the mood, but they're such a tiny portion of the album that they're relatively easy to overlook. The band have certainly set the bar higher for themselves.