Review By Cliff Scowen

8/10

Most people (myself included) were shocked at the departure from the band of Angela Gossow, for 14 years with her raw, depths of hell vocals,she made Arch Enemy one of the best melodic death metal bands of the past 10 years,but with Gossow hand picking Alissa White-Gluz (formerly of The Agonist)the future looked bright.

Opener “Tempore Nihil Sanat(Prelude in F Minor)”  sets the standard of what’s about to be unleashed upon us.

From the off White-Gluz let’s rip with some guttural screams on “Never Forgive,Never Forget” pure death metal with some huge riffs,title track “War Eternal” pours from the speakers,every decibel from the band is spot on and some fine shredding from Michael Amott(if you’ve seen the video,you’ll know what I mean.

“As The Pages Burn” tears you a new one from the off,their trademark riffs and hooks leading into huge melodic singalong choruses and then bam ambient guitar time,sublime stuff.

“No More Regrets” and “You Will Know My Name” rip through with new guitarist Nick Cordle carving out his own little niche in the band and as ever drummer Daniel Erlandsson beating out some thunderous beat blasts,some of his best since “Doomsday Machine”.

Things slow a tad with instrumental “Graveyard of Dreams” only for our eardrums to be sonically assaulted by Amott and Cordle on belter “Stolen Life”,followed by a another somewhat morbid instrumental intro kicks off “Time Is Black” then in true Arch Enemy style it blasts into life with some monstrous bass work from Sharlee D’Angelo.

“Avalanche” sees some clean singing from White-Gluz,my personal favourite “Down To Nothing” is possibly the fastest track they have ever recorded,(shame it was stuck on the end of the album) sheer blistering pace and sounding very raw.

Album closer “Not Long For This World” has quiet a doomy feel to it,a sort of track Candlemass would do,if they’d do instrumentals.

So by no means a perfect album,but as a album with a new singer and guitarist, White-Gluz give the band a new dimension with her better vocal range than Gossow and it’s certainly up there with “Rise of the Tyrant” and “Doomsday Machine”.
Band..
Alissa White-Gluz…… Vocals,
Michael Amott……….. Guitar,
Nick Cordle…………… Guitar,
Sharlee D’Angelo…… Bass,
Daniel Erlandsson….. drums.

Track listing..
1… Tempore Nihil Sanat (Prelude in F Minor),
2… Never Forgive, Never Forget
3… War Eternal
4… As The Pages Burn
5… No More Regrets
6… You Will Know My Name
7… Graveyard Of Yards
8… Stolen Life
9… Time Is Black
10… On and On
11… Avalanche
12… Down To Nothing
13… Not Long For This World

---