The Alpha Dog Of Albums?
The Alpha Dog Of Albums?
Alpha by. War Of Ages Review
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Welcome to the latest edition of the "Music Review" blog series. This one comes courtesy of a challenge by the person, or people behind the Instagram tag "aggressiveworshippers". So shout-out to them for that, and be sure to go follow them if you are a fan anything in the Christian Rock, Metal, and Metalcore genres. Moving on, the review was put as a challenge on their story that read "Is anyone going to do a War Of Ages Alpha review?". To this point I do not know how many of their 1,600 followers have seen, and decided to write their review along with mine. So let's see if my review can meet what they are looking for. And hopefully it will make it to their page on Saturday!
Now, looking at the artwork, I can see why you might think that they are not a "Christian Metalcore" band. But believe me when I say that they are. They formed, first as the band "Point Zero", back in 2002 and then changed their name to what it is in 2005. But for time sake I wont get into too many details about the band. If you want to check out more about them you can Check out the blog post I wrote about them linked here (https://cmpmnnr.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-alpha-tour-war-of-ages-convictions.html). Moving on to the album now. This is the eighth album to come from the band in the fifteen years that they have been around. And it continues in their legacy of creating amazing Metalcore content that has a positive and Spiritual message to the scene. And I don't see them calling it quits anytime soon. I have to say early on that I was skeptical of what they could come out with this far into the game, but they didn't disappoint. So let's take a brief look into each track before I get into the technical aspects of the album.
1.) Creator: This is a track about creating false gods and idols and how we like to play creator as if we know what it is to create something as powerful as what the true Creator can. Simply because we want something to control. "Make me a god and turn us creator
How foolish am I?"
2.) Fullness: Or lack thereof. This song is about how we have become so empty and look to all the wrong things for fulfillment. But it is God that fills us up, heals us, and gives us the fight to keep moving on. "So hold me in Your arms. And let me dwell within Your favor. Lead me through the fullness of You. Never let go!"
3.) Buried Alive: Lord, break the chains that bind me. Keep me from being buried alive by the guilt that I have accumulated from my sins. Save me from the hate that consumes this world. That seems to be the arc of this song. The message that brings the crowd to it knees. Then brings them to their feet to fight on. "Choke the fear from my heart. Falling through this world. Break the chains that bind me. Watch it burn away"
4.) Warpath: This song brings to mind the feeling of fighting the false peace that comes from the promises of the evil one. How they promise that they are saving us from the very thing that they intend to throw us into. And now we are on the warpath to bring it to its end. "Baptized in the blood of the innocent! You played your selfish game! My God is everlasting!"
5.) Hollow Point: Clearly a song of brokenness. Speaking to the addictions of the world. How they can lead to making terrible decisions. Ones that could potentially be our last mistakes that we could ever make. But there is a flip side to this, "Take a step back. We are the voice. We are the voice of the broken". And see that there is an end to the pain.
6.) Repentance: A pot of duality. This song is. We reach a point where we become the thing that we were once trying to escape, and now we crawl back to it as f it is the only thing left. And there is a reminder that we will pay the price if we don't repent. And so we get the other half of this song in the lyrics, "Will you save me from myself before I break. I will surrender to Your name before I break"
7.) Mind Control: Does this one need anymore explanation? The world is busy telling us who we are, and who we need to be from the moment we are conceived in our mother's womb. And they want to keep you ripped away from reality so that they can control who you become. And it won't end well. "Will they ever see through deception? Balancing beneath insecurity. I will never lose my connection. Following throughout all eternity"
8.) Immunity Revoked: This one is a 4:36 instrumental. It sounds pretty gnarly. But nothing lyrically to breakdown
9.) Warrior: This one is a battle cry. Screaming at the enemy that you are the unstoppable warrior that is joining the fight to end their reigns of terror on the world. Couldn't say it any better than that! "Fight through the emotion. Reaching the highest depth. Reach down to me. Set me on fire. Setting your Spirit free"
10.) Cut Throat: The triumphant call for the end of the battle. And quite poetic at that. If you want to end something once and for all you go for the jugular. Cutting the head off of the beast controlling the thing that you are rebelling against. "Death to your movement! The fear, the fear is crippling! Truth purged by evil! Prepare, prepare your hearts for war!"
Now on to some technical stuff. In terms of composition the entire album follows the theme of a fight against evil in the name of the "Alpha", God. Track one sets up the fight against evil, and track ten sets the final battle. Going for the throat of the evil beings. The instrumental composition is on point. Not as heavy as some of their previous stuff. But still heavy and crowd moving to the point where you can sit back and comfortably say that "Yep! That is a true War Of Ages album" Not that I wouldn't love to see the stuff of old from them, but it is good to see them trying to remain in the majority of what they are known for. Because things can get messy, and fan bases can be polarized when you try to change too much in your sound. And it goes to note that they brought on two new replacement members shortly before the album was recorded and produced. So props out to them for coming up with stuff that can compete seriously with the other War Of Ages material out there. So that about does it for my review. Be sure to head on over to the "aggressiveworshippers" Instagram page and let them know you are there and what you are in to. You can find them by copying the name in the blog. Check my social media links, as well as those for the band, and stay tuned for another blog post to come soon!
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4.) Warpath: This song brings to mind the feeling of fighting the false peace that comes from the promises of the evil one. How they promise that they are saving us from the very thing that they intend to throw us into. And now we are on the warpath to bring it to its end. "Baptized in the blood of the innocent! You played your selfish game! My God is everlasting!"
5.) Hollow Point: Clearly a song of brokenness. Speaking to the addictions of the world. How they can lead to making terrible decisions. Ones that could potentially be our last mistakes that we could ever make. But there is a flip side to this, "Take a step back. We are the voice. We are the voice of the broken". And see that there is an end to the pain.
6.) Repentance: A pot of duality. This song is. We reach a point where we become the thing that we were once trying to escape, and now we crawl back to it as f it is the only thing left. And there is a reminder that we will pay the price if we don't repent. And so we get the other half of this song in the lyrics, "Will you save me from myself before I break. I will surrender to Your name before I break"
7.) Mind Control: Does this one need anymore explanation? The world is busy telling us who we are, and who we need to be from the moment we are conceived in our mother's womb. And they want to keep you ripped away from reality so that they can control who you become. And it won't end well. "Will they ever see through deception? Balancing beneath insecurity. I will never lose my connection. Following throughout all eternity"
8.) Immunity Revoked: This one is a 4:36 instrumental. It sounds pretty gnarly. But nothing lyrically to breakdown
9.) Warrior: This one is a battle cry. Screaming at the enemy that you are the unstoppable warrior that is joining the fight to end their reigns of terror on the world. Couldn't say it any better than that! "Fight through the emotion. Reaching the highest depth. Reach down to me. Set me on fire. Setting your Spirit free"
10.) Cut Throat: The triumphant call for the end of the battle. And quite poetic at that. If you want to end something once and for all you go for the jugular. Cutting the head off of the beast controlling the thing that you are rebelling against. "Death to your movement! The fear, the fear is crippling! Truth purged by evil! Prepare, prepare your hearts for war!"
Now on to some technical stuff. In terms of composition the entire album follows the theme of a fight against evil in the name of the "Alpha", God. Track one sets up the fight against evil, and track ten sets the final battle. Going for the throat of the evil beings. The instrumental composition is on point. Not as heavy as some of their previous stuff. But still heavy and crowd moving to the point where you can sit back and comfortably say that "Yep! That is a true War Of Ages album" Not that I wouldn't love to see the stuff of old from them, but it is good to see them trying to remain in the majority of what they are known for. Because things can get messy, and fan bases can be polarized when you try to change too much in your sound. And it goes to note that they brought on two new replacement members shortly before the album was recorded and produced. So props out to them for coming up with stuff that can compete seriously with the other War Of Ages material out there. So that about does it for my review. Be sure to head on over to the "aggressiveworshippers" Instagram page and let them know you are there and what you are in to. You can find them by copying the name in the blog. Check my social media links, as well as those for the band, and stay tuned for another blog post to come soon!
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Links-N-Stuff
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My Links
FB: @CMPMNNR
Twitter: @CMPMNNR
Insta: @CMPMNNR
YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF43bvnzDy8zkQsFEIXtwPA?
Patreon: CMPMNNR
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War Of Ages Links
FB: @warofages
Insta: @warofages
Twitter:@warofages
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5PseGPt9BlRUIwjZCCmt1W?si=Cjp9AqQJSuipGATyqyNR3w
Website: www.warofagesmetal.com
FB: @CMPMNNR
Twitter: @CMPMNNR
Insta: @CMPMNNR
YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF43bvnzDy8zkQsFEIXtwPA?
Patreon: CMPMNNR
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War Of Ages Links
FB: @warofages
Insta: @warofages
Twitter:@warofages
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5PseGPt9BlRUIwjZCCmt1W?si=Cjp9AqQJSuipGATyqyNR3w
Website: www.warofagesmetal.com
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