Album Review: Winds Of Plague-Against The World

Winds Of Plague is one of the small number of deathcore acts that I consider to be great. Decimate The Weak and The Great Stone War are two essential deathcore records.Those records are what set them apart from the pack in a genre that is very hit or miss (for me at least). That's why I had pretty high expectations for Against The World. Sadly, Against The World is a major disappointment.

Against The World biggest flaw is the overwhelming hip-hop overtones during parts of the record. I felt like I was listening to a really bad Biohazard cover band at times. "California" just made me sad. It's trying way too hard to be a hardcore punk type song and instead comes off as a nu-metal piece of shit. It seriously sounds like an extreme Limp Bizkit song. I except shit like "California" from a wigger-slam band like Emmure, but not from Winds Of Plague, they are better than that. "Built For War" is another dull track that can't even be saved from energetic guest appearance from Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed and Kingdom Of Sorrow. Another element that really let me down was the lack of symphonic material. The keyboards and various symphonic arrangements added a layer of great depth to Winds Of Plague and it's noticeably absent for most of Against The World.

Against The World isn't all bad though. There are actually a few really good tracks on here. "One For The Butcher" and "Monsters" are vintage Winds Of Plague. They actually use the symphonic elements and are exactly the epic, massive sounding tracks you expect from Winds Of Plague. The interludes on this album are also pretty solid. "The Only Song Were Allowed To Play In Church Venues" is a really melodic and beautiful guitar solo that is one of the better overall songs on the record. "The Warrior's Code" is a spoken word track that was a pretty cool surprise and was a unique track to throw in the middle of an album.

Against The World is a polarizing listening experience. At times I despised it and I didn't even want to finish the record, other times I was pretty impressed with what I was hearing, and a majority of it was in between. One thing is for certain, this is easily the most straightforward and worst album Winds Of Plague has made to date.A pretty good majority of the album isn't bad, it just feels really stripped down of the key elements that made Winds Of Plague something special. The record as a whole rarely rises above decent. A huge stepdown from their previous work and one of the biggest disappointments of 2011.

3/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.One For The Butcher
2.Monsters
3.Only Song We're Allowed To Play In Church Venues