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Album Reviews : We Came as Romans – Cold Like War

By on November 9, 2017

This American metalcore act has hit upon quite a heady, intoxicating sound on this, their fifth album. They have found a very sweet balance between the heaviness, which when it hits is poundingly, face-smashingly heavy, and the injection of pop melodies that make each track rise to the heavens and ensure that every song is memorable in its own right.

There is just the right level of experimentation and progressiveness too, enough to keep it interesting for people who require a little more from their heaviness, but not so much as to alienate your every day, garden-variety metalcore fan. For example, when Encoder kicks in, you find yourself checking your music player to see if the album has finished and it’s clicked over to different band, but it is ultimately one of the most interesting and enjoyable tracks on the album, being equal parts pounding heaviness and electronic-based industrial pop (although not necessarily in that order).

Promise Me is another example of this, where you find yourself wondering if you are listening to a different band. Its overriding vibe is that of lush RnB pop. It’s another pleasant surprise, and only adds further dynamics and light and shade to an album already full of variety.

There is a subtle use of electronica and occasional symphonic effects as well, and all of this adds up to quite an intriguing mix, and bespeaks of a band growing and evolving nicely within the confines of their sound and the needs of their fanbase.

There are a lot of cookie-cutter metalcore acts doing the rounds across the planet at the moment, it remains arguably the major force in heavy music currently, and has been for a while. It’s the bands that go out of their way to do something a little different with the style, and pull it off, that will survive when the inevitable commercial decline comes. Whether that’s next week or in five years time. And that’s exactly what we have here. Cold Like War is a winner.

Band: We Came As Romans
Album: Cold Like War
Year: 2017
Genre: Metalcore
Label:  Sharptone Records
Origin: USA

About

Rod Whitfield is a Melbourne-based writer and retired musician who has been writing about music since 1995. He has worked for Team Rock, Beat Magazine, themusic.com.au, Heavy Mag, Mixdown, The Metal Forge, Metal Obsession and many others. He has written and published his memoirs of his life and times in the music biz, and also writes books, screenplays, short stories, blogs and more.