Winds Of Plague – Against The World

Yell! Magazine Review:

In promotion of their fourth studio album, Against the World, Winds of Plague will play the entire Warped Tour 2011 (June 24th-August 14th) on the Advent Clothing stage. With a tour of duty of that magnitude, you know it’s going to be grueling, and these deathcore metallers will bring their distinguished brand of aggression to get that sweaty, dusty pit into a full-tilt boogie.

As one of the few deathcore bands to feature symphonic sounds, Winds of Plague have also introduced their fifth keyboardist (Alana Potocnik, replacing Kristen Randall) on Against the World. These symphonic sounds often come in an Asian-sounding form on this album (which should come as no surprise considering there’s a Japanese warrior on the cover of the album), but this is most evident on “The Warrior Code,” which happens to be dictated by the former Intercontinental Champion, The Warrior. Yes, this track should be featured in the upcoming Conan remake, in fact, it’s perfect for that film. Come on Nu Image Films, buy these rights.

One last point on this symphonic element: When you hear it infused so beautifully with metal (as on “Only Song We’re Allowed to Play in Church Venues”), you can’t deny that Mozart or Wagner would have been in heavy metal bands if they lived today. Just sayin’.

Understandably, there are always going to be detractors, and I’ve come across those who have said that Winds of Plague often tread too closely to rap or hip-hop (i.e., on “Drop the Match” and “California”). I get it. I used to be one of those metal guys that hated anything to do with rap. Sure, I always knew of this metal-rap hybrid that basically started with Anthrax and Public Enemy, but even if such luminaries as Anthrax were participating in the subgenre, I was still never going to accept it. Shit, elements of hip-hop can be found in early Metallica and Megadeth. Today, however, if a track can get me to nod my head (not nod out) with the groove, then it’s a pretty good track, rap influence or not. Keep in mind that I’ll always consider Limp Bizkit and Korn shit.

OK, so I might be big-upping Winds of Plague a bit. Truth be told, what they do is trendy, but it’s still got some power behind it. If nothing else, they are at least a gateway band, meaning that they open the doors and introduce kids to this type of music, and hopefully these kids get into some more serious types of metal. You know, the same way I hope the gateway drug, marijuana, gets kids into more serious kinds of drugs. As long as the genre is getting exposure, who cares if a particular sound or style is trendy. And Winds of Plague were smart enough to cover Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” and get it on the Homefront video game sound track, further exposing them to a wider audience.

Winds of Plague’s album gets put under the microscope, next…