I wanted to review "
The Great Stone War" because it is the key transition to
Winds of Plague's war-bringing thematic style to that of "
Against the World", which is utter and complete shit.
The Great Stone War focuses on medieval themes of battle and war, starting with the cool intro "
Earth". This album is good, but not as good as "
Decimate the Weak". Standout tracks are "Chest and
Horns" and the title track. This is
Winds of Plague moving from a unique creation to just another
Deathcore band. The one stand-out of this album is that the symphonic elements are very well placed and epic in some parts, this and the lyrics are really the last ties to "
Decimate the Weak".
Johnny's vocals sound similar to "
Decimate the Weak", except here he starts to develop that annoying rap style that is trademark in "
Against the World". The vocal style sounds less metal and more hardcore.. Also he uses shouts instead of high screams here, which work well, but the gutturals are overproduced and hard to understand. The rap style with the lyrical content just... Doesn't work. It seems he has to have a horrible "Reloaded" style rap track in every album.. Here it is the
Halloween cover by the Misfits. This track is so butchered and horrible that I would buy every track BUT it and pay a dollar more for the incomplete album than have to hear this shit. The vocals have deteriorated here but are still okay.
The first thing you notice about the guitars is they are downtuned to match the bass like
Emmure and
Suicide Silence, and not melodic standard tuning like "
Decimate the Weak" (uh oh, I smell generic). The riffs are more basic and upbeat and are seemingly designed to accent Johhny's rapped vocals rather than being a creative element on their own merit.
That said, there are some solos and a few cool riffs, not reducing this to the shit of a
Chelsea Grin album. Guitars are okay. The bass is just
Deathcore, no comment.
The drum work here is very similar to "
Decimate the Weak" but instead of the metal sounding drum tunings, we have tuning that sounds like it was recorded at a Rise records studio. This makes the album even more generic to me. Drums are fair but below average.
Overall, this album marks a sad progression from a unique band to a band that has been marketed and changed to attract the massive hardcore/
Suicide Silence fan base. The symphonic elements are the last link, so enjoy them... They are used horribly in "
Against the World".
That is if you can listen to that album long enough to hear them. Overall,
Winds of Plague's last decent release, and the end of a good style, and the beginning of Johnny Plague's "yeah bro" douchery. This gets 12/20 only for the symphonics.
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