Hammercult soared to metal stardom when they won the Wacken Metal Battle back in some year nobody remembers because Wacken sucks and their lame awards are for the birds. The most interesting thing about Hammercult is that they hail from Israel. The tendrils of intrigue would have not been hard to come by had "Built for War" not embraced the style, substance, and subtlety of a modern Adam Sandler film. "Built for War" showcases a style of death/thrash metal in the vein of Skeletonwitch without the bones (ba dum tss) to keep the music from becoming a mass of slime that one may poke guardedly with a stick and then shutter. It throws out nuance and poise in exchange for a quick fix of vapid metal that does pretty much jack sh*t for forty minutes.There isn't another way to approach Hammercult without stacking them up against Skeletonwitch; their similarities are obvious. It's almost like the two are brothers: Skeletonwitch is the high achiever and humble spirit, and Hammercult hits its climax landing its first and last job at a fast food joint. Hammercult is dumber, uglier, campier, and less interesting on every parameter. "Built for War" is just basic death/thrash metal with a few melodic bits here and there without any sense of nuance or sophistication. Instead, the band throws out these quick, unusable slabs that are almost like snippets of songs that never happen. Their knack for standard, insignificant riffs with no bite and layering them upon poor choruses that try too hard (see "Spoils of War") makes the whole thing insufferable.
The music covers a lot of territory that never makes "Built for War" enjoyable, but the vocals are on another spectrum of awfulness. Shrill, bothersome screams accompanied by the occasional double-tracked section douse the sheer mediocrity in another coat of unbearableness, and the onslaught never ends. The guitar leads are impressive, but not a single song manages to stand out; it's sad talented musicians resort to a style lacking even a fragment of quality. Just another disposable metal CD to use a few times before the decay commences.