Review of Battalion - Winter Campaign

Synopsis:

The long lost Belgian cousin of Bolt Thrower, Jungle Rot and Grave....

Review:

I enjoy signing up blindly for bands I’ve never heard of, as its always such a challenge. You never know if you get some wretched third rate metalcore demo or something like Oath to Vanquish or this rather burly Belgian death metal affair.

Much like fellow Belgians Welkin and the more recognized bands in the synopsis, Battalion play chunky, mid paced old school death metal, and if you could not guess from the moniker, artwork and album title, war is the name of the game and both elements are conveyed very well.

Of course, this is rather rudimentary death metal, not nearly as technical as Decapitated or Spawn of Possession, so don’t go into this expecting to be blown away by complexity, but more beaten by brute force. The typical war metal, air aid sirens and bombers sound FX of “Spitfire” open the floodgate for 12 tracks of well done, chugging, groovy death metal, that personally, is how think death sounds when done right. A thick production accentuates the grooves and lets the blast beats breath, while deep simple growls of Ruben Luts just do their job in workmanlike fashion.

None of the tracks are going to blow you away, but they are all enjoyable and a few like the superb groove of “Warfiend”, the tank like rumble of “Monolith (Peenemunde)" and “Ghost of War”, the raging “Defcon 696", the menacing “The Swarm “Locust Invasion” and the hefty "Death at the Helm" all deliver the death metal goods with some nice Netherlands chug mixed with Stockholm buzz and bite.

Don’t expect anything groundbreaking from Winter Campaign, but if you enjoyed Jungle Rot’s Warzone, this should give you just as much no frills, death metal entertainment.

Release Details

Battalion

Winter Campaign

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