Pennsylvania metalcore juggernaut War of Ages continue their sonic journey on their 10th album Dominion, shifting away from some of the more experimental ideas on their previous album Void and incorporating more their characteristic heavy elements into the songs.
War of Ages just played a 20th anniversary show in their hometown of Erie, PA, which should tell you something about the staying power of the band and the love of their music. Their first album on the Facedown Records imprint Strike First Records in 2005 first caught my attention as it was close to traditional/old-school hardcore with guitar solos, two things I dearly love in music. Over the years, the band has toured with the likes of Battlecross, Throwdown, As I Lay Dying and more and worked with legendary hardcore/metalcore producer Zeuss (Hatebreed, Shadows Fall) as well as Josh Barber (Norma Jean) and Will Putney (Impending Doom, For Today). Most bands that have been around as long as WoA have endured lineup changes over the years, but the band was hit by tragedy in 2022 with the death of longtime drummer Caleb Luebchow, whose last contributions are on Dominion. The album itself is the band’s first concept album and end up being much darker in terms of tone and subject matter as it uses the book of Revelation as subject matter and the songs dealing with the fall of the world, death, and judgement. Similar to their last album guitarist Jack Daniels handled the engineering production and mastering duties.