WARPATH sign deal with Testimony Records
Архив новостей | Русская версия
Testimony Records proudly announce that WARPATH have signed a multi-album deal with the label. We gladly welcome these renowned German thrash stalwarts to our roster! WARPATH will release their eighth full-length album via Testimony Records in early 2027.
WARPATH comment: "When we were looking for a new label, it was very important for us to sign with a company that was not only able to offer us a good contract but also convincing on a personal level", mastermind and frontman Dirk "Dicker" Weiß writes on behalf of his band. "We also needed a solid financial base, top-notch promotion, and guaranteed distribution of our albums. After talking with other bands and a long search, we have finally found all of this in Testimony Records. The label has built an excellent reputation in recent years. We are very much looking forward to releasing our next album with them!"
Testimony Records add: "We are thrilled to announce the signing of Warpath", label manager Thomas Strater states. "The German thrash metal veterans immediately transport many of us back to our teenage years in the late eighties and early nineties. Warpath should not be reduced to their successful past though. Next year, they will grab us by the throat with an updated sound and songwriting that is far from blind nostalgia, but expands their musical identity by crossing the German heritage with a passion for New York metal and hardcore sounds. This signing will not dilute this label's dedication to old school death metal but rather expands our mission on the musical edges. Thirty-five years after their inception, Warpath are more than ready to unleash their third wave of destruction!"
WARPATH were formed in the German harbour city of Hamburg in 1991. The founding line-up consisted of vocalist Dirk "Dicker" Weiß, guitarists Robert "Ozzy" Freese and Thomas Schröder aka Schrödey, Krid Bauspieß on drums, and bass player Thomas "Maurer" Günther. Their mission statement: making thrash metal great again in Germany.
WARPATH recorded their first five-track demo that same year, which scored the band a first record deal and made them label mates of HOLY MOSES. Their first album, "When War Begins… Truth Disappears", followed in 1992. It included guest performances by Cronos and Sabina Classen on a cover version of the VENOM classic 'Black Metal'.
The debut album also put WARPATH on the road for a first tour through the Benelux supporting HOLY MOSES. With a new record deal from the legendary Steamhammer label and new guitarist Jan "Jannick" Lamprecht, they recorded their second full-length "Massive" (1993). The title track scored the band airtime on German music channel VIVA TV and filled dance floors in rock and metal clubs.
Riding the rising wave, WARPATH quickly followed up with their third album, "Against Everyone", in 1994 and embarked on a tour with SODOM in German-speaking countries that spring and on an extensive European tour with GOREFEST and FORBIDDEN that autumn. While things seemed to be going just great, trouble was already brewing.
Internal disputes led to frontman Dicker being ousted from the band that he had co-founded. He was replaced by a vocalist who is known only as Arnie. With him, a new line-up recorded another album, "Kill Your Enemy" (1996). The band continued spiralling out of control. They got into trouble on the road with headliner THE EXPLOITED and had to leave mid-tour. Then tragedy struck and Arnie passed away, which ended this version of WARPATH.
Following a long break, a chance meeting of Dicker and Maurer at a festival led to a revival of WARPATH in 2014, featuring the classic line-up of 1993, with the addition of EROSION and RYKER'S guitarist Steve Römhild. The old chemistry was short-lived and this reunion lasted only for a few gigs before Krid, Maurer, and Steve left for good.
Dicker was determined to bring WARPATH back and gathered a new line-up. He succeeded and in 2017 the fifth album, "Bullets for a Desert Session", was released and the band began performing live again at prestigious festivals such as Bang Your Head!!! and Wacken Open Air, among many others as well as embarking on a short tour with DISBELIEF.
Album number six, "Filthy Bastard Culture", hit stores in 2019 and the band started sharing stages with such renowned acts as AT THE GATES, SODOM, ASPHYX, UNLEASHED, GRAVE, DESTRUCTION, TANKARD, and many more.
With Dirk Weiß firmly at the helm, a new line-up released the next album "Disharmonic Revelations" in 2023 and continued playing live. With guitarist Marco Steiner and bass player Sascha Schekanski joining in 2024, the band stabilised its line-up. Only the drum stool remains currently vacant and is filled by session musicians in the meantime.
Currently, WARPATH are preparing the release of their eighth full-length, which will see the light of day in early 2027 via the label.
