Holy shit. No, let me rephrase that. Holy FUCKING shit. This is one brutal piece of work. All Out War had already found a place in my heart with their first two albums, Truth In The Age Of Lies and For Those Who Were Crucified, but what the band does on their third record (second one on Victory Records) is simply unbelievable.

The band sticks to the succesful formula of metal with a bit of hardcore they also played on previous records. The band’s sound has even become harder, if anything changed at all. In most of the songs, the band increased the pace a bit, songs that sound a bit more like ‘Enemies Of Creation’ than like the moshier songs on the previous album, but there’s still plenty of stuff here that will whip a moshpit into a frenzy.

Opener “Straight Towards Extinction” has a cool oldschool Slayer-solo at the end. “Bleeding The Weak” starts with an eerie keyboard part followed by some furious riffing, which reminds me of bands like Cradle Of Filth, while “Heaven’s Coming Down” and “Hypocrites For The Revolution” have more of a hardcore feel.

That is as far as ‘hardcore’ goes for a band like All Out War, because even in these songs they’re so metal they scare the beejezus out of most ‘real’ metalbands out there.

Mike Score shows no mercy on his vocal cords, and probably less on the listener, since his lyrics contain more suffering, apocalyptic images and biblical references then anything written since, well, the bible. Songtitles like “Pray For Salvation” and “Destined To Burn” (which also featured on their debut album, but still rocks as hard here) say it all, and do the music more than justice. Metalcore album of the year: this stuff is essential for both hardcore fans and metal heads.