Despite the fact this was released in '85, 'Atomkraft' had been executing their own style of Proto Thrash Metal since they were formed in '79 and as such were one of the pioneers of the genre. Being one of many NWOBHM bands from the North East of England, there are some familiar elements creeping into their music, particularly those of 'Raven' and 'Venom', although 'Atomkraft' thankfully never adopted any of the satanic influences of the latter. Drumming duties are courtesy of former 'Tysondog' man 'Ged Wolf', whilst vocalist / actor 'Tony Dolan' was later to have a stint with 'Venom' replacing 'Cronos'. Musically 'Future Warriors' isn't as Thrash orientated as their later EP releases and production wise this is better than you might expect, although I'm reviewing this from 'Total Metal' 'The Neat Anthology', where the sound has no doubt been improved somewhat.

After a cheesy spoken intro, the title track opens in solid pulsating fashion, musically filling a gap somewhere between 'Raven' and 'Venom', vocally quite aggressive but not to the degree of your usual Thrash band, the fret work is stringent and all told a fine start to the album. The opening track was no one-off either, 'Starchild' ensues and is a very effective, surprisingly well arranged and penned song, overall more melodic that you'd expect, but still driven and fairly brisk, but the addition of clever tempo changes help make this another winner. More simplistic is the rapid pace of 'Dead Man's Hands', which probably owes more than a nod to 'Motörhead' and 'Raven', 'Rob Matthews' certainly deserves a mention though for his blazing fret work on the splendid mid-track instrumental break. Taking a slightly more aggressive approach is the uncompromising Speed Metal of 'Total Metal', which initially draws comparisons to venom, especially with 'Tony Dolan's' snarling, but as the song proceeds the excellently executed instrumental sections recall classic 'Raven', whilst the more melodic wind-down is unexpected but worthy. The fine run continues with 'Pour The Metal In', probably the song for which 'Atomkraft' are best known, a short and simplistic cut, which blazes away effectively for just under three minutes. The double shot of 'Death Valley' and 'This Planet's Burning' follow, the former being a respectable instrumental intro, before the riff and rhythm driven second half, which ebbs and flows with conviction. Even more convincing is the 'Tank' influenced and appropriately titled 'Warzone', which utilises sound effects to good use and is further aided by a blazing rhythm, forceful vocals and an all-round tight arrangement. More predictable is 'Burn In Hell', musically this is spot on, with plenty of 'Raven' style attitude, but lyrically it all comes well and truly unstuck. The album bows out with 'Heat And Pain', which to my ear comes across as more commercial track, a slightly sluggish number and as with the previous cut lyrically is trite, but all told far from poor.

Ultimately being release in '85 was too late for 'Future Warriors' to be regarded as being influential, but by it's own merits it's a strong effort, sadly the band weren't able to follow it up with anything nearly as worthy.