Review Summary: Visceral in every sense of the word
The state of metalcore is interesting of late: bands like Knocked Loose are ratcheting up the intensity of their riffs, breakdowns, and their vitriolic nature, literally trying to fistfight a listener through their headphones while other bands, too many to name here, are just staying close to their wheelhouse where they’re well known and won’t lose too many fans, but also won’t gain too many fans. Then there is this little unassuming band out of Newburgh NY who has been crushing it for over 30 years: All Out War. Labeled a ‘metallic hardcore’ band for their duration, they’ve focused a great deal in thrash through their last few releases, culminating in the stellar
Crawl Among the Filth in 2019. It’s 2023, and now All Out War has taken a route down a blackened street of chaos and mayhem with their most visceral release to date,
Celestial Rot.
Coming in at a mere 26 minutes over the course of 10 tracks, All Out War holds absolutely nothing back on this record; no song breaks the three minute mark during the aural onslaught, rarely giving the listener a chance to breath. Starting with opener
Snake Legion, each track features tremolo riffs over blast beats while vocalist Mike Score (pardon the pun) scores high marks for his black metal wail, genuinely demonstrating anguish and anxiety. Frenetic pacing abounds, even as the guitars slow to half time during the verses and the drums follow suit during any semblance of a chorus. The constant tempo shifts keep listeners off guard, unsure whether to bop their head or frantically move it until everything has shaken loose, and such a display of constant ferocity may lead some to feel that the album is very ‘same-y;’ and, while each track has its own personality, its likely that All Out War was going for their namesake with this one: all out war on the senses.
Inhumanely paced guitar work and blistering percussion peppers each track, Score threatening his vocal chords with every vitriolic word spit. Doomsday march pacing during
Wrath/Plague gives listeners a moment to head-bang as Score yells at listeners that
our Gods will burn with us a tempo shift as a precursor, belying the ultimate chaos to come, should you choose not to listen to the warnings, before an onslaught rages on with about a minute remaining, the final words reminding listeners that
our Gods will die with us.
It’s just one song picked from the pack, but it paints the bleak picture of apocalypse that the entire album packs into less than a half hour; decay, burning, ritual agony, all words or phrases describing the landscape and the hellish lives of those unfortunate enough to be caught in this current / post apocalyptic world, where
our only religion is war, per the title track,
Celestial Rot, vocal layering generating a demonic entity beneath Score’s shouts.
As with the title track, closing unit
Shroud of Heaven absolutely eviscerates religion and god; the blast beats, tremolo picking, it assaults us two seconds in, Score comes in a few moments later, imploring us to realize that
we will never be free, referring to those fighting in the name of religion or to find god as
morbid masochists, before a swift time signature change, a slow down into double bass and mammoth down tuned riffs, another indictment from Score, spitting with acid as he refers to god as a
devious savior, us humans mere fodder for artillery fire. The major point from this song being, quite simply,
God is War, humans will never be free, and we’ll have succumbed to all the lies perpetuated when everything is said and done.
The constant shift in tempo not only yields an end track acting as the perfect amalgamation of the entire album, but it truly proves to be a roller coaster of transitional points; high velocity transitions to a half time transitions itself to an even slower riff fest, lather rinse and repeat. But do not take that phrase as a detriment: the track slows down when the listener hears we will never be free, the song speeds up another example of god being ‘war’ is laid out on the table. Each transition serves a purpose, that purpose to keep the listener on their toes, don’t fall into the trap of the song, don’t fall into the trap of religion. The song is going to do what the song is going to do, just like ‘god’ is going to do what ‘god’ is doing to do.
To sum up this album in a brief phrase, it’s an absolutely visceral assault on the senses. Even at its slower points, the album is barbaric, an unhealthy level of hatred spewed from Mike Score, the sheer volume of notes contained in a mere 26 minutes nearly inhuman from a ‘metalcore’ band. But this band really can’t be considered metalcore, or even metallic hardcore, after this. They’ve attained blackened thrash status with Celestial Rot, an album as dark and intimidating as the name implies. It won’t be for everyone, especially those with an aversion to Black Metal, but if you’re in the mood for an assault on your senses that needs to be fit into a half hour or less, then this needs to be on your list.
