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Wolves at War's End is the second album from Hammerlord, a thrash band from freaking Kansas City. This is my first exposure to this band, and I expected this to be a lame metalcore album; just looking at the cover art and the band's name gave me more than enough suspicion. However, when I popped out it out, I was surprised how solid it is. Basically, this record is German thrash from an American point of view.

It's fast most of the time, up to a fault and that should be emphasized despite the humor displayed here. That's because you have songs dedicated to professional wrestling, like the appropriately named "Tombstone Piledriver" and to total mayhem like "Storm the Castle". They also use many sound bites from movies or otherwise in their songs. Do not let that deter you though, the music is the most important aspect here and in that sense, this band delivers. Like I stated before, they are fast, not the fastest people in the universe but sometimes they don't know how to use or control that pace. And when they do it, like in "The Anomaly Rue", they overdo it.

The musicianship is solid, not world class but when reviewing a young band like this, it is kind of expected. It adds to the underground charm as I wouldn't want a technically proficient band with piss-poor songwriting. This leads me to their singer. He has that raspy/hardcore style that is very common in modern thrash. I am not a big fan of this type of vocals but in this case I would say that they fit the music quite nicely. A Milo (from Germany's Deathrow) type of singing would have done wonders.

Overall, this is a quality piece of music. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of riffs and guitar solos here (even though they aren't anything special). This is not the best thrash album this year or anything like that but it shows the potential that the band has. Wolves at War's End is rough around the edges, but that is something most young bands have in common, especially when releasing an independent album. If you are a fan of bands like Exodus, Municipal Waste and Nuclear Assault then this record is right for you. I just hope that with some experience in the studio and label support they can make a great album, because if not then it will be a shame.