For the first three tracks of Warbringer's third album Worlds Torn Asunder, it sounds like the band are doubling down on the modernized thrash brutality of their previous album, 2009's excellent Waking Into Nightmares. The slight prog flourish of that album is gone—largely due to the absence of that album's drummer Nic Ritter, whose replacement Carlos Cruz doesn't imitate Ritter's tech-death flair—but the band continue their commitment to punch-you-in-the-face riffing, high tempos, labyrinthine structures and a high-impact metallic guitar sound, all played with the energetic spirit of mid-80s thrash. Though those first three songs are very good, especially Shattered Like Glass, their lack of a new direction seems to signal that Worlds Torn Asunder will be a disappointingly redundant effort. Then something strange happens: track four, Future Ages Gone, opens with an atmospheric riff that builds in intensity before yielding a dark, heavy, fast song that emphasizes melody in a way that only select tracks on the first two albums did (if you're a fan, think At The Crack Of Doom meets the louder parts of Nightmare Anatomy). It's a sudden and notable change in direction, and the most surprising part is that the album more or less sustains the new sound for its duration. The band remain committed to thrash tempos and contemporary brutality, but they accomplish it with a new focus on tonality, harmony, dynamics and atmosphere. The compositions don't touch black metal (the usual source of inspiration for brutal atmosphere), but manage to find a route to that genre's candlelit mood within the confines of Warbringer's established thrash sound. The result is a sound that qualifies as an innovation while remaining in the path of what's recognizably Warbringer, and it may be the group's best album yet.

Frontman John Kevill remains one of the heroes of this generation of American metal. He brings every ounce of his absolutely frenzied onstage presence to the studio, and it shows in the intensity of his voice here. His vocals have gotten steadily more disciplined since the band's 2007 debut War Without End, manifesting here in a controlled and consistent vocal tone, but his delivery is still wild, emotional, and downright terrifying in its best moments. Clean screaming doesn't get more brutal than Kevill's—his high pitches and blood-vomiting rasp wipe the floor with the monotone shouting that passes for brutal vocals in more mundane bands like Hatebreed. Guitarists John Laux and Adam Carroll remain more interested in riffs than solos, but the composition of those riffs has gotten so nuanced and confident by now that the songs already have definite character even without mindbending leads (it should be noted that there's nothing wrong with the solos—they just tend to be short and conventional). That compositional confidence extends beyond brutality; the moody intro to Echoes From The Void and the acoustic-guitars-and-piano instrumental Behind the Veil of Night are both spirited and memorable executions of conventions that are often rote and perfunctory on this kind of record, and both vaguely recall the folk-tinged meditations of post-metal outfits like Pelican and woodsy American black metal bands like Falls of Rauros or Wolves in the Throne Room. New drummer Carlos Cruz, as mentioned, doesn't have the note-heavy frantic fills of his predecessor, but he does possess a pummeling dynamic sensibility that perfectly suits the color of the record. Every member of the band comes together here to accomplish a new sensibility while staying true to what the band has established; what more is there to ask from a third album?