Honor Is Dead brings light in the dark with sheer pounding rifts and epic solos. Wovenwar hit you for six with their adrenaline pumped sound and thrash their way into pure brilliance.
Spawning out of San Diego USA, Wovenwar were formed from some original members of As I Lay Dying plus a new frontman. Honor Is Dead is their second released album following on from their original self titled album released back in 2014, which had widespread critical acclaim with the album reaching No. 36 on the US Billboard charts, pretty impressive.
Wovenwar’s musical style has been described as hard rock, alternative metal, melodic metalcore and modern heavy metal. Honor Is Dead is quite diverse in its style between songs which is interesting, along with faster and slower paced songs, so great variation across the album. HID feels quite experimental at times, a band still finding themselves. The artwork of the album is gothic, industrial.
Frontman Shane Blay’s (ex -Oh, Sleeper) vocal tone has been described as both soothing and robust, the softer more honest vocals complement the growls and screams. Both are enjoyable and fit incredibly well. Lyrics are mostly dark and pessimistic, the band keep true to themselves and tell their own story which has to be respected.
Definitely a modern metal sound this, so expect overlap with bands like Linkin Park, Atreyu but with less of the special FX. Honor has always been a very subjective subject and Wovenwar have something to say about it.
Opening track, Confession, is sure to make your ears prick up in delight and anticipation of what is to come. World On Fire track five also exposes the heavy metal heart of these guys with lighting riffs of destruction and screamo that penetrates your very soul. Expect some rapid headbanging drums too. Compass is a track on the album though with a very different more submissive feel for the come down.
One song on the album that really stands out is Lines In The Sand with its eerie intro and rifts which really come across in sound almost picturesque. It’s dark, it’s heavy and feels omnipotent. Overall the album is well constructed and worth listening to from start to end.
Wovenwar would be a very good surprise major festival act who could draw in the crowds through their ability to produce defined sounds and perhaps even through their dark styling alone. Great future for these guys and we keep the door wide open for more from them and hope they keep experimenting and evolving.
Rating 7.5/10, Good, well worth a listen.
Written by Drew
Tracklist
01. Confession
02. Censorship
03. Honor Is Dead
04. Lines In The Sand
05. World On Fire
06. Compass
07. Stones Thrown
08. Cascade
09. Silhouette
10. Bloodletter
11. 130
Band members
Shane Blay – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Nick Hipa – lead guitar
Josh Gilbert – bass guitar, vocals
Jordan Mancino – drums
Label, year of release: Metal Blade Records, 2016
Discography
“Wovenwar” (2014) [review]
“Honor Is Dead” (2016)
Weblinks: Facebook / Twitter / Website
Buy the album here:
Holland: First Paradox
Norway:Nordic Mission
Video for ‘Cascade’
Lyric video for ‘Censorship’