Winds of Plague United States

"This is symphonic metalcore, which really means groovy and heavy riffs, and even heavier breakdowns, plus angrily barked vocals combined with keyboards and other symphonic effects.

Interestingly, what I appreciate the most about this album is not the symphonic or slightly progressive dimension, but rather the metalcore dimension - with breakdowns and all - because Winds of Plague are actually quite good at writing groovy riffs, and theit breakdowns are just right - not too much and not too little - plus, they have inserted bursts of guitar wankery in strategically sound places. All of this means that Winds of Plague avoid coming across as boring and monotonous, which some metalcore, and especially deathcore, acts are accused of.

The symphonic aspect does add an interesting texture and intriguing contrast to the heavy and groovy metalcore riffagem but I think that the tracks would be just as strong without it.

The vocals tend to become samey, though, and slightly annoying, and the lyrics evolve a lot around at motherfucking thatn and motherfucking that attitude, which is probably meant to be a tough-guy thing, but ends up seeming a bit unimaginative. That being said, I am not sure that the lyrics are meant to be taken too seriously in general, and I think that they are meant to be more parodying in nature.

I you are into symphonic more aggressive metal, like Dimmu Borgir, for instance, then you might be interested in this, too - although they sound very different.

(originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"