Metalcore reviews just don’t happen on this site. You’re more likely to go a day without seeing any Journey related drama on social media before you see a metalcore review on this site, and for my friends in the AOR/classic rock world, that’s close to never. So I guess you can say hell has frozen over, pigs are flying, or whatever other hyperbolic expression tickles your fancy, because today we’re reviewing a metalcore album. Yes, even I, Joe “Defenders of the Faith” Miller, can get down to metalcore from time to time.
Now mind you, when I say “metalcore”, chances are what I’m talking about is worlds apart from what you’re thinking. I’m not talking about the skinny jean wearing, swoop haired, scrawny bozos who dominated Myspace (Remember them?) with band names like “verb the noun”. No, I’m talking about the dark, misanthropic brand of hardcore from the early 90s, whose riffing and aesthetics were so heavy that it eventually earned the name “metalcore”. I’m talking about bands like Integrity, Ringworm, and the subject of today’s review, All Out War.
Formed way back in 1990, All Out War are certified OGs. Their first few albums are metalcore classics with mosh passages that even the most staunch of thrashers can get down to. They briefly broke up in 2004, only to reform in 2006. The albums they’ve released since their reunion have been, for a lack of better terms, hit or miss, to the point where I haven’t been all up on their catalog since…2017ish? I know for a fact I missed their last album (2019’s Crawl Among the Filth), so I figured I’d give their latest, Celestial Rot, a shot.
Much to my surprise, Celestial Rot sees All Out War heavier, darker, and more cathartic than ever before. This would be an absolute plus in my book if the aforementioned heaviness came off as an extension of their 90s heyday. Unfortunately, All Out War has instead co-opted the modern “blackened hardcore” ethos, which tends to get very old, very fast. Cuts like “Glorious Devastation”, “Revel in Misery”, and “Shroud of Heaven” embody this formula, combining blast beats, tremolo riffing, and shrieked vocals with tough guy breakdowns. There isn’t much breathing room for anything else, and one song starts to bleed into the next.
There are some nods to the old days scattered about. “Hideous Disdain” and “Weaving Oblivion” are violent slabs of Slayer infused metalcore that wouldn’t sound out of place on For Those Who Were Crucified (1998). “Caustic Abomination” is the obligatory breakdown anthem, while the title track goes full blown Obituary worship mode, making me wonder if the “death metal/hardcore” route would’ve been a wiser choice for these veterans. A handful of highlights aside, Celestial Rot is painfully average, sounding less like All Out War and more like *insert run of the mill hipster band playing extreme metal with a hardcore twist here*. The only thing saving it from a lower mark is its 25 minute runtime. Take note other underground bands!
5 out of 10
Label: Translation Loss Records
Genre: Metalcore
For fans of: Integrity, Ringworm, Slayer