Review: Warforged I: Voice

Style: death metal, progressive metal (harsh vocals)
Review by: Tyler
Recommended for fans of: Portal, old Opeth, Slice the Cake
Country: Illinois, United States
Release date: 10 May, 2022

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This review was originally published in the May 2019 issue of The Progressive Subway.]

I love when a band is a) really talented and b) can write a good song. You’d be surprised at how hard it is to come up with any combination of those two things. Hell, my band (editor’s note: The World Is Quiet Here) is still trying to nail down either one of these things. I: Voice is a showcase of what can happen when the right people smoosh a bunch of sounds together the right way, because this thing is a bee’s knees.

First off, buckle up. You’re gonna be here for a while, I: Voice is 75 minutes. And yes, that is a lot of minutes, but give it a chance. The whole album runs together as one piece of music pretty coherently, and it hardly ever feels like it is taking your time away from you. There is always something new just around the corner. The number of different textures and timbres that Warforged uses in order to push each song to their limit is pretty remarkable. Sections really take their time to flesh ideas out. For example, there is a two minute section in Cellar that builds on a galloping acoustic guitar them with flutes, vibraphone (I think), and electric guitar before kicking back into a solo that makes an impact in a way it wouldn’t without all of the build up. 

Every song is crafted in that same way, everything neatly in its place. You think with all of these ideas that things would seem busy or muddy. But the production is actually stellar. There is a great sense of depth and clarity that allows for every instrument to be heard. And speaking of, everyone on this album absolutely crushed their performances. I was floored at how technical was and how each part was played so well by the band, and the crazy number of other musicians. The list of guest artists on this album is about as long as the album itself, and each one killed is as much as the band did. Compliments to the chef on this one for sure. 

There isn’t a lot to nitpick on this one, just a lot of preferencial things that I found. Some of the solos and ideas did seem a little aimless at times, almost as if the band was trying to get a little too weird or jazzy for their own good (see minute 7 of Old Friend to get an idea of what I mean). The album as a whole could stand to be shorter, some of the interludes in the songs, really took their time to get going. That is not a bad thing, they do it very well, but 75 minutes is a lot to ask out of a debut full length. But go big or get outta town as they say.

This one rocked my world. I’d actually recommend listening to the album on the band’s YouTube page because they made a music video for it and that’s pretty incredible. Yeah, the whole thing. Shout out to the guy who put that thing together…turns out it was their vocalist. Leave some talent for the rest of us, guys! 

Recommended tracks: Cellar, Old Friend
You may also like: Hands of Despair, Abduction, The Antichrist Imperium, Dallian
Final verdict: 9/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page

Label: The Artisan Era – Bandcamp | YouTube | Facebook

Warforged is:
– Adrian Perez (vocals, keyboards)
– Jace Kiburz (guitars)
– Max Damske (guitars)
– Jason Nitts (drums)
– Alex Damske (bass)