By Kelley Simms
FORGING AHEAD: WARBRINGER
Photo by: Alex Solca
rest? What made you change your mind?
John Kevill: Well, it has been an uphill bat-
tle the entire time the band has existed. At
that time it just felt hopeless. I realized
though that this was the most special thing
in my life and the way I can probably be
the happiest with what I do. And a lot of
people still clearly cared. It put a fire in
me, honestly. I wanted to make Woe to the
Vanquished. I had the title and art and some
of the songs in mind for a good couple of
years before we recorded it.
Mosh: Did the new blood in the band play
a factor in coming up with this material?
John Kevill: The songwriting was mainly
done by the old blood, which is myself,
Carlos Cruz, and Adam Carroll. The new
talents of Chase Becker and Jessie Sanchez
definitely added a lot of flair to a bunch of
instrumental lines on the record, and some
totally killer shredding.
Warbringer
C
alifornia
thrash
machine,
Warbringer is back with a crushing
fifth album, Woe to the Vanquished.
It’s the band’s first album to feature gui-
tarist Chase Becker and bassist Jessie
Sanchez after the departure of several
members in 2014 that almost put the band
out of commission. The album also marks
the return of guitarist Adam Carroll, who
last played on 2011's Worlds Torn Asunder.
Thankfully, the five-headed war beast is
back with, arguably, their strongest album
to date. Vanquished?
John Kevill: It was. Empires had a lot of
experiments in many directions. We really
wanted to say, "Hey, we aren't just a god-
damn retro band!" on that record. But for
Woe to the Vanquished we really wanted to
zero in on ourselves and what makes us a
distinct and a unique band, and one of
those things is that we want to be just
utterly merciless. That gave this record a
much darker and more extreme vibe and
made it probably the most cohesive record
we have.
Mosh: Coming off the last album, 2013’s
IV: Empires Collapse, was it a conscious
effort to change things up with Woe to the Mosh: With three-fifths of the band leav-
ing after IV: Empires Collapse, were you
thinking about putting Warbringer to
34 illinoisentertainer.com september 2017
Mosh: Your enthusiasm for history is well
known and you’re working on your bache-
lors degree to become a history professor.
Professor Kevill has a nice ring to it!
John Kevill: I’m currently working on a
bachelor's. I still have a ways to go in that
department, but it is definitely a passion of
mine. I read a lot of historical stuff in my
free time. I like to view it from a kind of
storyteller's angle.
Mosh: Does your knowledge of history
help you in lyrical inspirations for s