Warmen was always a passion project for the Wirman brothers — viewed as a creative outlet for Janne Wirman during the down periods of the persistent schedule he was exposed to as one of the core members of Children Of Bodom. With Children of Bodom ending in less than favourable circumstances in 2019, and the pain of losing a friend following the unfortunate passing of friend Alexi Laiho in December 2020, its easy to understand how Wirman might have considered retreating from music altogether—something he had considered a possibility. After a period of reflection, and a burning desire to continue working on music, Janne and the rest of the Warmen crew went off to a cabin in the woods, wrote some songs that are stylistically different to what many might expect, and after almost 10 years of silence from their last release First of the Five Elements in 2014, the band is ready to make a splash with their sixth offering, the boldly titled Here for None.

The opening track Warmen Are Here for None sets a salivating tone. Opening with a slow-paced key introduction, the track quickly bursts into something that fans of Wirman will find very familiar. From its riff passaging, its guitar/key duel, and chanted chorus, this song exudes all of the confidence and energy that could quite easily see it released as part of Bodom’s Hate Crew Deathroll album and it would not be out of place. This strong opening leads into the second track a groove-laden second track, The Driving Force, which slows the tempo down a little bit but packs an extreme punch over every note. The standout moment for this track though is the impressive keyboard/guitar duel.

The third track A World of Pain takes the pace back up a notch again, dipping into thrash territory with its pacing, before a soaring melody sweeps through its chorus. Following this, the fourth track Too Much Too Late comes across like it was designed to be the theme song for an 80’s action movie, the track has a slower-paced rock vibe that track slowly builds into a melodic chorus filled with melancholy. These elements, combined with new member and vocalist Petri Lindroos’ harrowing cries over the top combine together to make this track a memorable one and one of the standouts on the album.

Night Terrors follows and is another fantastic romp with its synth-laden introduction laying a foundational bedrock that carries the song’s opening and closing stanzas. Sandwiched in between is a fleeting, but memorable guitar/key duel, which changes passages quickly but maintains such a fast tempo it sticks to the listeners’ memory. This is then followed by Hell on Four Wheels, another up-tempo romp that has a modern melodic death metal sound to it, but one with a lot of impressive guitar work carrying it from start to finish.

Guiding listeners into the last portion of the album, The End of the Line has another wonderful synth aesthetic with an extremely catchy sing-a-long chorus. Its riffs hit hard over a pounding drum and bass line that is as mesmerizing as it is impactful. This is then followed up by Death’s On Its Way, which sticks true to the band’s ethos of wanting to write heavier music, feeling like something that a modern-day Slayer would write if they blended melodic death metal elements into their music. All of this culminates in the final original track on the album, The Cold Unknown, which comes in exhibiting all of the hallmarks of a Finnish classic with melodic and melancholic undertones permeating throughout its runtime.

Finally, it wouldn’t be a Warmen album without including at least one cover, and Ultravox’s 1984 classic Dancing with Tears in my Eyes is the song that gets this treatment. Warmen have always been incredible at reimagining cult-pop classics in their own way, and on this occasion, they smash it out of the park again.

Musically, Here for None has everything you would expect as a product from its members. There are key solo runs, guitar/key duels, and heavy synth aesthetics but perhaps the most noteworthy thing this album does is harness the band’s renewed hunger for songwriting and their heavier approach to music overall.

While it’s undoubtedly going to be the most common comparison made, this new heavier approach for Warmen does at times make them sound Bodom-adjacent. This is something which they clearly don’t shy away from, but not something they should be prescribed by. Sure, there are similarities between the two with the soaring key passages and guitar/key duels, but Here for None certainly stands unique.

Instrumentally, this album has a lot to love. Of course, the big draw card for most listeners is going to be Janne. There are a lot of homages to Bodom in his work here (stylistically through his own playing and also songwriting), but overall, his performance has perfectly channeled the emotional challenges that he has experienced over the last few years in an artistic way. Similarly, his brother Antti’s guitar work is again exceptional with the diverse nature of many of the tracks on this album carried largely by the guitar work, with Antti’s workhorse attitude to the instrument bringing these songs to life. It would be remiss however not to discuss the inclusion of Lindroos on guitar too, as he provides another lens of inspiration for the guitar work and there are some clear musical influences from his playing that blend themselves into these songs.

The addition of new drummer Seppo Tarvainen does rejuvenate the band’s backing line—not that Mirko Rantanen’s previous work wasn’t impressive enough; but the injection of new life into a project that has had consistently long-standing members seems to have brought the appropriate spring in their step that the band was looking for. His partnership with Jyri Helko on bass rounds out the low end and provides a great platform on these tracks to spring everything off from.

Lindroos’ inclusion as the vocalist is another aspect that really wraps the whole product together and is clearly an element that has been sorely missed over the years for Warmen. While the band has been known to engage guest vocalists throughout any of their tracks that had singing, the establishment of a permanent singer within their midst gives the band another platform to leverage this release on. Lindroos fits this bill perfectly, with his raspy vocals complementing the soaring soundscapes on these tracks. There’s a degree of nuance with his performance too, almost Hetfield-esque at times with sections like the “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” chant in Hell On Four Wheels really standing out. It’s a complete performance from Lindroos and his inclusion in the band certainly cements the overall sound the band was going for with this line-up.

One of the greatest strengths of this album is its variety. Within the opening four tracks, listeners are treated to melodic death metal, groove-inspired death metal akin to something Lamb of God might be offering on their latest release, and another track that feels deeply rooted in an 80’s inspired rock era. There is a lot on offer, and the band isn’t shy of showcasing the breadth of their musical influences. Similarly, all tracks on this album are easy to listen to and accessible. It’s very easy to listen to this from front to back without skipping a song, and listeners never feel like they are being forced to sit down and absorb these songs as they flow so freely between one another.

It really seems like after such a long time that Warmen are finally taking the right steps to claim that destiny which has always been before them. Armed with new members, a new musical outlook, and new energy, Here for None comfortably cements the band as a force to be reckoned with and one which has the potential to create incredible music for many years to come.