Battalion- Winter Campaign

Artist: Battalion
Album: Winter Campaign
Label: Shiver Records

This is another decent release on Shiver Records by the Belgium death metal band Battalion. Recorded back in 2004 at CCR Studios, Winter Campaign wasn't released until 2006 because of problems finding a decent label. It's a shame it took so long because Winter Campaign is a good straight forward death metal album about war and torture that is sure to please many fans of the mighty Bolt Thrower. With Ruben Luts handling the vocals, his scathing delivery fits in well with the subject matter presented here. The rhythm section is provided by Kristof Hectors on bass and Tom Van Oosterwijck on drums, while Pieter's downtuned guitar churns out riff after chunky riff of Grave influenced death metal. When Kristof joined the band in 2006, they recorded two new tracks for Winter Campaign titled "Torture Tactics" and "Death at the Helm" and put them on the end of the original recording. Even though the rest of the album is good, these two tracks show Battalion sounding heavier than before. This is worth picking up just to hear some good old death metal even though there isn't anything here that is extremely original or new. Battalion is working on a new album due out in April and I can't wait to hear if they've changed more since replacing founding member Tom Van Oosterwijck with Erwin Schellekens on the skins.