War Of Ages - Eternal

Artist: War Of Ages
Album: Eternal
Release Date: 4/13/10
Label: Facedown Records

I am a fan of War of Ages. I loved their last album, Arise and Conquer, as it was a big improvement over their previous work. With that said, I believe Eternal is even a step up from Arise and Conquer. The album is everything War of Ages does well, but taken to the next level. The guitar work is fantastic and shredding is definitely their strong suit. Thankfully, chugging is kept to a minimum.

The album starts off with the melodic "Collapse," complete with one of the many great solos found through the album. Following up is "Desire," which features guest vocals from Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying. It is a pretty average song, but a filler track by no means. The following track "Failure" comes as an improvement over "Desire." It has nice, simple guitar work throughout. It's nice to hear this over the usual chugg-fest on most albums of the genre.

The song "My Resting Place" serves of one of the heaviest songs War of Ages has ever written. After this comes "Eternal," which starts off amazing. Described as P.O.D. influenced metalcore, it sounds awkward, but rest assured, is not. A nice combination of Sonny Sandoval (of P.O.D.) and Leroy's growls sound great. Leroy's vocals, once the weakness of the band, have become a strength.

"The Fallen" starts off with a heavy drum blast and is heavy and fast. Out of nowhere comes a heavy breakdown. "Your Betrayal" comes out as nothing special and is the last vocal track, but thankfully the album doesn't end there. The last song is a instrumental track. I am not the biggest fan of instrumentals, but this one however is gold. It consists of a beautiful acoustic guitar, that sounds like it could have been written by Living Sacrifice or Becoming The Archetype, and a very soothing electric guitar. It comes out very nice throughout and I love the solo midway through the song. This was a great way to end the album.

Rating: 9/10 Overall, Eternal is a must own for both fans of War of Ages and of the genre itself. As mentioned, there is nothing groundbreaking here, but melodic metalcore done very well. A possible contender for album of the year, not only for the genre, but overall.

Reviewed by Matthew Alexander

Tracklisting: 

1. Collapse
2. Desire
3. Failure
4. My Resting Place
5. Eternal
6. Indecision
7. Lack of Clarity
8. The Fallen
9. Your Betrayal
10. Instrumental

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