Winds Of Plague, call them what you will whether it be Death Metal, Deathcore or Metalcore but one thing they are is heavy. ‘Resistance’, their latest release in a strong discography of brutal stuff, proves just that with its fast riffs, ferocious drumming, brutal vocals and ground-breaking breakdowns.
A solid release, this is one of their greatest efforts do date, featuring elements that will shake the foundations of many people with its sheer brutality. But brutality isn’t the only thing that will shake you…
Kick starting its Metal machine is the opener ‘Open the Gates of Hell’. It starts off with keyboards et al for the first half before just dropping into its heavy nature. Feeling like stuff in vain of Make Them Suffer, it is effective and gives you a taster of what is yet to come. The intro track swiftly moves into the next song, entitled ‘Say Hello to the Undertaker’. Fast and heavy? Check. Melodic keyboards? Check. Amazing? Check that too. This boasts only some of the heavy breakdowns, fast, heavy and melodic riffs, heavy, frantic bass work, astonishing vocal abilites, furious, aggressive and precise drumming and beautiful, melodic keyboard work that is heavily featured throughout the album.
The rest of the album storms through tracks full of brutality and beauty such as ‘Left for Dead’, ‘Time to Reap’, ‘Good ‘ol Fashioned Bloodbath’ and ‘No Man is My Master’ before reaching the end track, ‘Snake Eyes’. Leading up to the closing track, expect to find some of the heaviest stuff released this year along with what has to be some of the most impressive vocals released on an album during this year.
It has everything from great riffs, heavy breakdowns, great solos, mind-blowing drumming, precise, intense bass-lines and beautiful, haunting and sometimes creepy keyboards that fit so well with everything else placed within the album. It all works here and that makes this album even more impressive to listen too. ‘Snake Eyes’ is a great ending track, a song that starts with blast-beats and keyboards before going into its several riffs and bringing the brutal assault to a magnificent to an end. Everything ends and you are tempted to replay the whole album again.
With keyboards, heavy guitars, chuggy bass-lines, brutal vocals and terrifying drums being a main staple of Winds of Plague, this is certainly an album that delivers. Mixed so that everything can be heard, with all the songs sounding crisp, sharp and beautifully heavy whilst being hauntingly melodic, this is something that will more than likely turn a few heads. Granted, this is nothing new but it is something that is refreshing to listen to. So many bands focus too much on gaining fans whereas this band is more apparent on being as heavy as it can be haunting. It is magnificent.
Crisp, brutal, astonishing, refreshing, haunting, beautiful. Six words to describe this album. Everybody showcases their talents here and the album ends a lot sooner than you could hope for. Johnny Plague’s vocals here are some of the finest vocals in recent years, mixing Death Metal and Hardcore vocals into one fine blend of sheer epicness. Beautiful brutality is on display here and this is one of the damn finest albums released this year. It isn’t the heaviest album made, it isn’t the most ground-breaking but, in terms of albums released so far this year, it is one of the best. If you want something to make you feel like smashing something up, turn this up full blast. Trust me, nothing will make you feel like wanting to smash something up more than this album does.
9.5/10
- Asa