They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, hell sometimes you can even carve a decent living out of it, which is exactly what Germany's Warhammer did with their Hellhammer inspired 'tribute' from the 1994-2002. Formed out of a deep rooted admiration for the legendary thrash/ black metal band in 1994 by bassist/ guitarist Frank "Necros II" Krynojewski and vocalist Volker "Iron Lung" Frerich, Warhammer's sole purpose was to keep the torch burning by replicating Hellhammer's raw and primitive sounding assault as much as possible.
Towards The Chapter Of Chaos, named after the band's first demo tape in 1997 has just now been re-issued and remastered on golden disc in a limited edition digipak format, along with the bands complete back catalogue by Metal Mind Productions out of Poland. This lavishly packaged album not only includes the original five song demo tape but also unreleased rehearsal & alternate versions.
My honest, initial reaction upon hearing that there was a band paying tribute to Hellhammer in this manner was what's the point? I mean as revered as Hellhammer has become with the passage of time, I've always thought they were overrated, and compared to the band they would eventually morph into, Celtic Frost, certainly nowhere near as influential or groundbreaking. That being said I have to admit that Warhammer certainly do the whole Hellhammer thing quite well, right down to their fanatical desire to nail down the raw guitar tone and guttural vocal's of Satanic Slaughter (aka Tom G. Warrior).
From the opening buzz saw thrash of "Warzones" Necros II and Iron Lung, along with drummer Meyn invoke the ghost of the mighty Hellhammer in a big way, so much so you'd almost swear you were listening to an unreleased track off the original Apocalyptic Raids EP. Volker does a more than credible job of mimicking Warrior's vocals, right down to the savage grunts and blood curdling screams on "The Void Inside The Darkness" and "The Warprayer". While some of the song titles are a tad on the cheesy ("Dawn of the Cadaver Ghoul" & "The Rise of The Living Dead" for example) the majority of Towards The Chapter Of Chaos does a pretty good job at capturing all of Hellhammer's savage and unbridled aggression. The rehearsal tracks are probably the most impressive of the bunch as "Tales of The Macabre", the aforementioned "Dawn of the Cadaver Ghoul", "Imposters For All Times" and "Curse of The Sabbath" sound even filthier and more unpolished than the rest of the material featured here.
In a year that saw Hellhamer finally release their complete recordings with Demon Entrails it might be a bit of a stretch to expect fans of the band to shell out the cash for any of the Warhammer re-issues, as they basically amount to nothing more than a credible, second rate version of the band, which isn't a bad thing actually. While it certainly isn't original, to their credit they did write their own material and didn't function solely as a tribute or cover band. Warhammer took Hellhammer's original template and while they didn't actually expand on it that much, they did run with it about as far as they could. Towards The Chapter Of Chaos if it appeals to you at all, is pretty much for completists only, and first timers will probably find that either their second or third albums Death Christ and The Doom Messiah is a better place to start.
Track Listing
1) Warzones
2) Predictions of Doom
3) The Tempter of Destruction
4) The Void Inside the Darkness
5) Tales of The Macabre
6) The Warprayer
7) The Rise of The Living Dead
8) The Thorn of Damnation
9) Dawn of the Cadaver Ghoul
10) Fall of the Iconoclast
11) Imposters for All Times
12) Curse of The Sabbath (Necrom's Evocation)
13) Shattered Memories (Bonus Track)
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