Maximum Metal Rating Legend

War Of Ages Return To Life Company: Facedown Release: 2012 Genre: Metalcore Reviewer: EC

Maximizing the genre's ability

War Of Ages have been quality and quantity since 2002. I've enjoyed five albums thus far from the Pennsylvania natives and each record shows more and more progression to perfection. "Return To Life" could be the band's best record to date, a perfect blend of hardcore vocals and cleanly sung melody. Few bands can pull this sort of thing off considering how over exposed metalcore has become. War Of Ages are brilliant, never really stepping out of a comfortable zone but maximizing the genre's ability to combine heavily stroked riffs with a stirring sense of melody.

Fans of Shadows Fall and Killswitch Engage probably already know War Of Ages and if they don't then they really should. Tracks like "Redeemer" and "Psalms" serve up heaping helpings of Killswitch Engage styled metalcore, both just waylaying the competitors with a tight crunchy rhythm, hardcore vocals and clean singing melodies. "Fallen Idol" is a real standout, lots of clean singing and a recurring "We Are The Children Of Promise" sing along chant that is pretty effective and addictive. Vocalist Leroy Hamp is similar to Shadows Fall's Brian Flair and musically the band run the tables on thrashy rhythm, crunchy groove and melodic scale playing that occasionally results in a flashy lead.

This is an album full of riffs that are more groove-oriented yet still possess enough melody to make them uplifting. The band continues the positive songwriting like previous records. I really believe this is their best work to date and most definitely the best sounding recording courtesy of Zeus (Shadows Fall). The band is consistently on the road so look for them in your town.