I was genuinely excited for this, the debut album from now guitarist Steve Tucker, former Morbid Angel vocalist/bassist and recently Nader Sadek frontman. But now he has his own band under the moniker of Warfather and is aided by a few cronies such as drummer Diemos (Temple, Severe Torture) and Nick McMaster (Krallice, Nader Sadek, Castevet).

However, while the music is of course somewhat influenced by his time in both bands, one a living legend in death metal, Warfather will not replace Morbid Angel (unfortunately) or be deemed classic US death metal, as it’s more akin to the soulless, clicky US death that was saturating the scene in the late ’90s early ’00s such as Internecine, Pessimist, Blast Masters, Aurora Borealis, Diabolic, Unholy Ghost and such.

Tucker’s voice is the only real highlight of the album, and even with a few clumsy orchestral flourishes here and there (that reminded me of Agiel‘s early dabblings), the album is largely forgetful and sort of cements that some guys are great support guys but when suddenly in charge of creating their own material, they fall a bit flat. And flat is the word that keeps coming to mind as I listen to Orchestrating the Apocalypse. With a thin, again late ’90s/early ’00s tinny production, what should have been rousing, warmongering and possibly epic riffs are left flat and empty.

And it’s not just the production, the riffs themselves rarely rise above anything more than rehashed ’90s Floridian death metal and second rate Morbid Angel riffs. There’s ample serpentine blasts and a few twisty turny moments and some otherworldly solos, but none of it hits home. This is usually the point in the review where I add something positive by way of a song or two that were Ok, so I’ll go ahead and mention the tracks that have those aforementioned orchestral/atmospheric spurts like “My Queen Shall Not be Mourned”, “Waltz of the Solstice” and “The Shifting Poles”. But that’s about it, I’m afraid, and it’s less due to crushing, memorable riffs, as none of them seemed to rub of on Tucker in his new endeavor.

And it’s a shame considering we could use a Morbid Angel replacement right now, even more so considering Tucker was on three of the band’s albums, one of them regarded as a really good entry into the bands legacy (Gateways to Annihilation). But nothing that made either of his previous projects standout is present here, and that makes Warfather a real missed opportunity.

[Visit the band's website]

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