Source: Album Artwork
wars (yes, spelt with the little “w”) hailing from Rugby are a fresh new contender to a scene that already has an awful lot of contenders. Think CBBC’s The Raven but with breakdowns instead of actual challenges. Despite having only been a band for just under two years at this point, their debut album We Are Islands, After All has been released on Spinefarm Records – no mean feat for a band younger than the last Slipknot album.
First thing’s first, we need to talk about the vocals. The vocals are what people define your band by. The screaming in We Are Islands, After All is fine – there’s plenty of personality in there, they match the pace of the album fantastically and though sometimes unintelligible (due largely to the way they have been recorded – see also, Converge) they sound whatever one step above acceptable is. Unfortunately, the clean vocals somewhat let the side down. They feel overly too token, hammed in just for the sake of being there. They give a nice juxtaposition when it comes to the vocals overall, and maybe the album would get a bit boring if it was all just screaming, but the clean vocal passages that are designed to sound “epic” just kill the pace and add unnecessary healthy snack in what would otherwise be a perfectly good pot of pic ‘n’ mix. The lyrics for the most part, are fine, even inspiring at points, although all too occasionally they stroll confidently across the border of Clichetown into Cringeville and stare back at you over the border while taking a dump.
For all it’s failings though, there’s something undeniable about this album. wars have made a record that sounds youthful, vibrant, and exciting, in a genre and a marketplace where those things are being phased out in favour of nice t-shirts and inoffensive guitar playing. The instruments are the real driving force of this record – on top of the thick production and tone of the guitars, the bounce and swing that the riffs provide really push each song through the speakers and right into your Mosh Muscles.
wars have some way to go yet before they’re a top-tier band. If they can keep writing post-hardcore riffs as strong as these and find some way to write clean vocal sections that don’t kill the pace though, then they will be a damn sight closer than a lot of bands these days.
