Since 1991, All Out War has delivered their punishing metallic hardcore aggression through an arsenal of recordings, and are now back with their sixth studio album, which is the first since they returned to the scene in 2013. Their debut was released as long ago as 1997, but these guys are showing no signs at all of slowing down as they mix metal with New York hardcore to create something that is brutal, relevant, and smacks the listener right between the eyes and ears. When they came back they, did so with the line-up that had recorded the second album and launched themselves into festival performances which again saw them offered yet more gigs and studio time, and at long last here is the result. Their style is an unrelenting metal assault of mid-‘80s German thrash colliding head-on with the crossover of Carnivore and the Cro-Mags in a purely seething, tension-filled alloy rife with divebomb leads and merciless breakdowns, unmatched by today’s standards. Their trademark social commentary on such subjects as political and religious hypocrisy as well as social apathy of a materialistic population cover the relevant subjects of corruption of organized religion, ecocide, and the degradation and exploitation of the weak, set to a soundtrack appropriate for the end of days.
The nihilistic approach is somehow welcoming and inviting, and while this brutality won’t be to everyone’s taste there is a strong sense of melody that permeates every song, and the result is something that is far more mainstream than they would like to admit. This is one of the best metal/hardcore crossover albums I’ve come across, and is definitely worthy of further investigation.
