1. Force Fed Lies
2. Flesh & Bone
3. Never Coming Back
4. My Vaccine
5. Get Over It
6. Ghost Alive
7. Wage A War
8. The Will To Overcome
9. Beast
10. Never-Ending Night
Genre: Metal
For Fans Of: Woe Of Tyrants, Sylosis, Artas
Battlecross has been making a name for themselves since their first release, and War Of Will only improves their name. Battlecross is for the average metal head, no doubt about that. They have everything that a metal band should have in order to make it big. One thing that kind of stood out to me on this album is that some of the parts, mostly instruments, sounded a bit rushed. However, still managed to sound perfect. Even though they may have rushed some parts on this release, they made it come out to the best of their abilities. War Of Will manages to change up Battlecrosses music, and you can hear how they've improved from “Pursuit Of Honor, in order to make something that could amount to it, musically. I’ll be honest, I've never really listened to Battlecross much. I've gave “Pursuit Of Honor” a few plays here, and there, and I didn't really enjoy it as much as I've came to enjoy War Of Will. It shows some serious improvement in places, however, the vocals are similar. Also, the improvement on the instrument play, the vocals have improved a little bit as well, to sound more brutal. A few songs that stand out on this album would have to be, “Force Fed Lies”, “Never Coming Back”, “ Get Over It”, ” The Will To Overcome”, ”Beast”, and “Never-Ending Night”. “Force Fed Lies”, is the first song on the album, and starts it off brutally. It shows you all the talent that the guitarist has, and shows some of the rather interesting riffs that you might be hearing later in the album. The guitar play throughout the album is definitely aimed to please, along with the drumming. They’re both aimed to please the fans that look for that in their music, for sure. There’s definitely no questions asked there. “Never Coming Back”, is one of the shorter songs on the album; coming in at only two minutes. It may be short, but it still comes in with a pretty big bang, and a storm of brutal guitar playing. Something that you’ll notice on this album, is that the band seems to get better with little things throughout the release. This does them some serious good in my opinion, and doesn't really make the album boring either. It sort of spices it up a wee bit. “Get Over It”, is the longest song, and probably one of the better songs on the album. The song is a straight five minutes long, with a storm of brutality, and guitar riffs coming into your ears. If you were comparing a storm, to the album; without the disaster part, this song would definitely be the eye of the storm, and the most dangerous part of the storm. Not only because it’s five minutes, but within those five minutes, the band managed to write something that literally changes a lot in their music careers. This will get fans to enjoy something for everything they have to offer as a band, guitar play, vocal play, drum play, bass play, everything is there for your ears to hear and enjoy. “The Will To Overcome”, has some of the better vocals in my opinion, they’re more enjoyable for the average metal head. I’d have to also say that this song is one of my favorites, when it comes to vocals. It sounds like the range is more in depth. “Beast”, is another song I highly enjoyed on this album, because of the vocals. I’d have to say that I really liked the name, because it sounds like the vocalist unleashed the beast inside of him while he’s doing the vocals on this song. It definitely makes the songs name mean a little bit more. The name definitely fits pretty well, and the vocals just gave it more meaning. “Never-Ending Night”, is the last song on this insanely heavy album, and I’d be lying if I said they didn't end it off on a heavy note. They ended on not only a heavy note, but a rather brutal note. I’d also be lying if I said the album didn't impress me a lot, and made me a fan of Battlecross. I wasn't a fan at first, but when I listened to this release the first time, I became a fan automatically.
Breakdown:
Screams: The vocals are different, but still in the screams
section, there’s growling, high screams, low screams, and some brutal noises
with the vocalist. The vocals are for someone who loves metal, and everything
metal. There are no downs on the vocals what so ever, and that only makes it a bit
better for the listener. The vocalist improved his range from their older
albums, and I definitely give him his props on that. They sounded a lot better
on this, than they did on their first album.
Instrument: The instrument play on this album is a mix of everything,
good, and somewhat bad. But mostly good, and impressive. The guitar play is the
most impressive, I must say. Their guitarist has improved a lot from their older
music, and he definitely learned his way around a guitar. He wrote some brutal
riffs, and some of the crazier riffs. Now on to the drumming, I’d have to say
that the drumming in my ears, have improved a lot from their older releases,
and it packs a serious punch. I’d have to give the bassist his props as well,
you can hear him a little bit, but not always. The times you do hear him, he’s
definitely packing some heat, like the guitar player. For the better, he’s
making Battlecrosses sound a bit unique in its own way. Everyone in the band,
the vocalist, the guitarist, the drummer, and the bassist do some unique things
in order to make their sound a lot better. They try to make it stick out in
their genre, and they definitely do. This really impresses me about Battlecross.
They try not to sound the same to get people to buy their music. They make
music to be a bit different, and still manage to have a good fan base
supporting them.
Rating: 9/10
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