War Of Ages – Supreme chaos

Some time ago I would basically buy everything that Facedown Records released. And shitloads of their First Strike sub-label as well. In my memory that isn’t too long ago, but checking the discography of War Of Ages this is already ten years ago. Time flies, huh? The point I’m trying to make here is not that I’m a nostalgic old fart, but that I got to know War Of Ages back in 2005 already. I liked almost everything released on Strike First so I checked out their self-titled debut album (later re-recorded as Fire from the tomb). I was not disappointed! I followed the band for a while. Especially Pride of the wicked was a favorite around here. Of course it wasn’t much different from what the big names of the scene, like Unearth or As I Lay Dying, were doing, but I’m into this kind of stuff for the energy and they have that in loads!

Somewhere along the line my musical interests became a little different and metalcore was no longer the type of music I was actively following. That’s where I lost War Of Ages out of sight. I was excited to see they have a new album out, so I decided to check it out for this review. This is the sixth album (including the twice recorded debut) and I must say this band has grown over time. Not that they have changed drastically, but they have definitely evolved. Where they were compared to As I Lay Dying or Unearth in the past I’d say they are following the same course Trivium is following lately. Their songs are very melodic and a lot of them are anthemic to max, just asking you to scream along with your fist in the air. On this album they have a new guitar player, Jack Daniels (of Hope For The Dying), perhaps he’s to blame for these changes. If I read the reviews of other albums though I guess they were already heading down this road. Biggest change from when I lost track of them is the inclusion of keyboards every now and then and clean vocals. Even though I usually dislike clean vocals in this type of music, War Of Ages gets away with it. Main reason is that their vocals aren’t the sugary sweet type. What didn’t change over time is the amount of energy that’s coming through your speakers!

I guess I’ll listen to their old albums more often, but that’s mainly for nostalgic reasons. This album made one thing clear to me: I need to check out the albums I missed, as Supreme chaos is a great metalcore album and shows War Of Ages is a force to be reckoned with.

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