Videoclip of the Month!!!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Winds Of Plague - Against The World

Winds Of Plague - Against The World


Winds Of Plague have released their fourth studio album Against the World, and for all who don’t know, Winds of Plague are supposed to be the leading band when it comes to symphonic deathcore. The hype before the release of this album was amazing, with the success of Decimate the Weak and The Great Stone war, fans were lining up over the world to have a taste of what these guys were to bring out next. This album left many fans disappointed because it was nothing like what was expected.

Their debut album Decimate the Weak was also their signature album and what was responsible for their success. The progression continued with the release of their next album The Great Stone War, everything was improved and it was equally as successful. Unfortunately, this is where all the progression ends. In fact, these guys have taken a massive step backwards. This album was suppose to be one of the best deathcore albums of 2011, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be.

Let’s start with the positives first, the only thing that they have kept true to is the symphonic elements to their music, but even they are a little different. The symphonic elements in Decimate the Weak were more like what you would expect from Mozart or something along those lines, and it was this style that all of the fans came to love about this band. The symphonies in Against The World are completely different, they sound more cinematic the orchestral. It’s probably the styles that you would normally find in the intros of movies such as King Kong. Now this isn’t bad, but I felt that the symphonic elements in Decimate the Weak were a lot more effective then the style that they have used in Against The World.

Now this is where all the fun ends unfortunately.  Where to continue, let’s go with the breakdowns. The breakdowns, I felt, didn’t have the same impact as what they used to play, they weren’t as organised or as forceful. Unlike say, the one off Anthems Of Apocalypse which was heavy as fuck, the ones here sound smoother and unsatisfying. It seems that they have done a completely half assed job at creating breakdowns probably because they think that everything they pull out of their ass will be pure gold.

Another thing that was poorly done and what I thought was even worse than the breakdowns were was their song writing. They have seemed to throw everything that was loved about their song writing from previous albums out the window and into a volcano which lead to the fire pits of hell. The whole framework and structure and song writing has collapsed on itself. The music is loose, jiggered and I little hard to take it. You know those times, where you’re at school, and the teacher goes so fast things go through one ear and out the other? Yeah that’s what listening to this sounds like. Nothing is taken in, and I didn’t feel any emotional connection with the music at all. So that leaves me with the question, did they even think about what they did here?

Even musically they have changed for the better, back in the day, they sounded like deathcore with symphonic elements. I don’t even feel that they even sound like deathcore anymore, it sounds more like a NYC hardcore band trying to gain rap fans which hasn’t worked. This style of music is referred to as rapcore but the colloquial and more descriptive term that comes to mind when hearing this is shitcore. Which is shit, hence shitcore.  I think that worst thing about it is that this doesn’t suit the symphonic elements as well as what their previous, more “pure” deathcore characteristics did.

Even musically they have taken a step backwards, there is nothing here that shows any progression instrumentally. The drumming, where did the blast beats go? Yeah there are a few traces here and there but they haven’t really endorsed them at all and have no impact. Deathcore is an extreme metal genre for crying out loud! We need more blast beats! I think the only track where the drumming shows its full potential is the track Strength to Dominate and even it was pretty bad because of all the other stuff going on. The guitars have even taken a turn for the worst as well, I didn’t really like the tuning, distortion and song writing of the guitars. In previous albums, the guitars sounded very powerful and thick. Now, they sound totally different, it almost sounds like nu metal. Also, the writing of the tabs was pretty piss poor as well. Before the they has palm muted and tremolo picking deathcore riffs, but now they have turned to a more hardcore/thrash metal style of guitar playing. I think that the vocals are the only relics that they have kept from the old days, the still utilize the same style of scream (or shriek) that we once saw in their previous albums. But like symphonic style of their music, there is another side to them, yep the shitcore side to them, which is self explanatory.

I think the word “bad” only begins to describe how shocking this album was, many fans (including me) were so disappointed when this album came out because they have thrown everything that was respected about their music into the garbage.  Their music used to be powerful, heavy, uplifting and enjoyably to say the least. This isn’t the case anymore unfortunately, it doesn’t even sound like Winds of Plague anymore. When it comes to recommending tracks from this album, my simple answer is none of them because why would you settle for less appealing Winds Of Plague when you have more Appealing Winds Of Plague. This is especially sad because this is a 13 track album, and no good tracks? What’s going on here? These guys have left us hanging here with the release of this album and that leaves me with one last question. Will there be a come back? I give Winds Of Plague’s Against The World a 6/20.


3 comments:

  1. yeah the song california does sound rap core

    ReplyDelete
  2. but what about one for the butcher that song was pritty good

    ReplyDelete
  3. the white vinyl only 2,ooo copies world wide is pritty sick

    ReplyDelete

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