WAR DANCE – Wrath for the Ages review

 WAR DANCE – Wrath for the Ages

Eat Metal Records

http://www.reverbnation.com/WarDanceMetal

It seems to me like yesterday, but three years have already passed. In 2011 I received the EP of a new Greek band under the name WAR DANCE in order to present it. The release impressed me and it is needless to say that I listen to it often till this day. WAR DANCE didn’t rush things and 3 years after the release of their EP are ready to offer us their first debut studio album which carries the title “Wrath for the Ages”.

THE COVER: The cover of the album is the one you expect to see from a band that plays epic metal and draws inspiration from ancient Greek history and mythology. So, yes, you will see ancient Greek warriors guarding the mountains of Greece and other things inspired by the ancient history of Greece. It is a beautiful and very detailed cover with a modern computerized touch.

MUSICAL STYLE: As I have mentioned above, WAR DANCE belong to the epic heavy metal sound and this means that you will listen to a lot of mid tempo compositions through which they create a pompous and imposing atmosphere. They do carry influences from bands like early MANOWAR, WARLORD, DOOMSWORD and CANDLEMASS, but somehow they manage to breathe into their compositions a touch of the Greek folklore music and this is what makes them distinguish and characterize the personality of their sound.

COMPOSITIONS: The album includes 8 compositions from which the 4 tracks under the title “Recall”, “Freedom”, “Prometheus” and “The Thunder Inside Me” were included in their promo too, but this time they have a better mix and mastering. They also have a cover of SARISSA’s “Marathon” song and 3 new compositions which have the titles “Achille’s War Dance”, “War of Titans” and “Wrath for the Ages”. The compositions as I said before are in the epic metal logic which means mid tempo compositions and sometimes the band almost flirts with epic doom metal like in the song “War of Titans”. The only song that is more into traditional heavy metal paths is the one that gave the title to this album. As I said above the magic with the compositions of WAR DANCE is that they manage to add to the entirety of their compositions a strong Greek element (such an example is the use of the Cretan lyra in the song “War of Titans”).  The whole album is a great experience and enjoyment to listen to, but I have, here too, my favorite songs which are: ““War of Titans”, “Freedom”, “Wrath for the Ages” and “Achille’s War Dance”.  

CONCLUSION: I appreciate a lot the bands that manage to transform their influences into their own personal sound and I also love it when they manage to pass their national musical identity into their compositions and I think that WAR DANCE have managed to do here both. In my opinion this is a release that will endure the test of time and we can say this one will be one of the best epic metal releases of this year and an album jewel for the Greek metal scene.

Nick “Verkaim” Parastatidis