Whipstriker has only been active since 2008, but with the release of their third full length album, 2016's Only Filth Will Prevail, their legacy as the premier Brazilian metalpunk band is pretty much cemented. After a successful North American tour in 2015, the band returned to the studio and hammered out what is likely to be the catchiest chunk of filth released this year. Nonstop catchy as hell riffing and Lemmy-inspired thundering bass lines play the soundtrack to some form of dystopian nightmare full of booze, leather, spikes, Lucifer, and bar room brawls. In 2013 Whipstriker released Troopers of Mayhem, which is an album that remains on heavy rotation in my stereo and was one of favorite album of that year. Despite Whipstriker's consistent high quality over the years, I was still a tad skeptical that they would be able to top Troopers of Mayhem, but holy hell, they've accomplished that in spades, with an album that is both catchier and more aggressive. To the uninitiated, Whipstriker basically sounds like an amalgamation of the fastest bits of Mot?rhead mixed with Venom's vitriol and the primitive, chest thumping of Hellhammer; all played to the tune of raging, speeding, punked-up heavy metal. Just to drive home the point, Only Filth Will Prevails offers a cover of the legendary UK-based speed/heavy metal band Warfare; a band which has certainly influenced Whipstriker's sound. Only Filth Will Prevail offers nine tracks, at a minute or so shy of half an hour. Led by founder Victor Whipstriker, who plays bass and guitar and sings, this incarnation of Whipstriker is rounded out by Atomic Roar/Farscape member Witchcaptor providing lead guitars and Commando Nuclear/Cult of Horror drummer Hugo Golon. The riffs are high energy, speeding heavy metal with a dash of punkened simplicity, while the rhyhtm section thunders along merging from D-beat mayhem to rollicking heavy metal rhythms. Golon provides some pretty cool fills, yet he mostly seems to stick to the basics, which fits the band's style quite well. While the riffs are utterly fantastic, one of the highlights has to be Victor's gravelly barked growls, which, like the album title suggests, offer tales of filth and destruction. It would seem that Whipstriker is on fire at this point: when it comes to raging, speeding, filthy metal, this band are in a league of their own. Their live show is utterly phenomenal and they really are one of those bands able to transmit their raw energy onto a studio recording. Only Filth Will Prevail is likely to be one of the hallmarks that future albums in the style are held to; unfortunately for everyone else, there won't be much able to touch this. Victor Whipstriker and crew have struck gold with one of the filthiest and downright catchiest albums of the year.
