Album Review: Warkings – Armageddon (Napalm Records)

Power metal warriors Warkings unleash an apocalyptic soundtrack with their fifth album, ‘Armageddon’. Out July 4th, 2025, via Napalm Records.

Guess what? Warkings have created a bombastic and epic power metal record. No surprise, right? It’s what they do, and they do it so damn well. Yet that doesn’t mean they don’t have some tricks up their sleeves and the dark folk based, traditional instruments led, war chanting intro of To Lindisfarne sets one hell of a scene. It does evoke thoughts of Heilung, but not in a ‘rip off’ kind of way, especially as it is so short and it flows into the hyperactive power metal anthem that is the title track. Warkings have arrived, sounding larger and more infectious than ever.

The chorus is such a sing and shout along, but you’ll be hard pressed to find a track on this album that doesn’t have one like that. Genghis Khan is no different, and it’s a track that features Orden Ogan, a fellow (brilliant) power metal band and the first of several guests.

Likewise, even with its slower tempo, Kingdom Come has so much vibrancy. Dominated by chunky riffs, heavy drumbeats, and powerful symphonic layers. Then there is the sinister heart-racing wickedness of Circle of Witches, a track that is pre-empted by Morgana’s Incantation and features the intense vocals of Morgana le Fay. It’s a track to pit to, whereas Kings of Ragnarök is a track to bang your head to, hard. The latter is classic Warkings and classic fist-pumping power metal, and it gets really heavy at the end.

It’s the stuff that puts a smile on the face, and the continued brilliance of this record ensures it’s a broad one. Especially as the combo of Call to Arms (a short war chant) and Troops of Immortality gets the heart beating hard in the chest. Then Nightfall gives us epic vocals wrapped around a harmonised metal melody. Followed by the next guest, Dominum, who join Warkings on the punchy Hangmen’s Night. Before Varangoi and Here Comes the Rain wraps things up in super satisfying fashion. The latter of the two is such an epic.

Hold on though, there’s one more, and it will be familiar to those who heard folk metal band Subway to Sally’s Post Mortem album (released in December 2024). it’s Stahl auf Stahl and whereas the Subway to Sally version featured Warkings, on this one, the roles are reversed! It’s such a banger track too.

I don’t think there is anything groundbreaking here, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t utterly brilliant. Warkings are one of the best power metal bands right now and this album reflects that. It’s an exceptionally digestible head banger of a record that is filled with anthem after anthem, what more could anyone want?

Warkings – Armageddon Track Listing:

1. To Lindisfarne
2. Armageddon
3. Genghis Khan (feat. Orden Ogan)
4. Kingdom Come
5. Morgana’s Incantation
6. Circle of Witches
7. Kings of Ragnarök
8. Call to Arms
9. Troops of Immortality
10. Nightfall
11. Hangmen’s Night (feat. Dominum)
12. Varangoi
13. Here Comes the Rain
14. Stahl auf Stahl (feat. Subway to Sally)

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