Alberta heavy hitters Our Last Crusade have just released their newest album Death Wins. The band has had a successful track record, having released multiple albums and singles while growing a dedicated fan base. This newest installment, however, is sure to set them apart from the crowd. The album features 9 relentless tracks, providing non stop aggression from front to back.
Heatvision (feat. Terence Thiessen)
This first track starts the album strong, immediately opening with chunky grooves and harsh screams. There are some really nice sounds blended into the rhythm sections of the song. Anyone who knows me knows I have a soft spot for synths, and this band does a great job at subtlety adding them in the background to enhance the melody.
The track remains consistently fast with a fairly unique spoken word buildup before a crushing breakdown towards the end.
Deathbound (feat. Beau Danger)
This track starts a bit slower than the the others before erupting into consistently fast double bass and crunchy riffs. I particularly enjoyed the breakdown in the mid/end sections of this song and found it playing my head pretty frequently through the day. The outro of the track features some fairly unique vocals to close it out. This was one of my personal favorites on the album.
Thulcandra
The third track on the album and the latest single to be released by the band. We recently did a full review on this song that you can view here!
Purified
One of the heaviest and my personal favorite on the album. From beginning to end this song is constant brutality. I giggled a bit part way into the song when the melody begins to slow and a Post-hardcore like riff starts, only to immediately cut back to a breakdown. Vocalist Adrian Parcioaga's performance on this track is particularly impressive, displaying a wide range of tones and vocal power. The bridge section also features a breakdown that uses chaos chords to create a groovy melody which caught me a bit off guard.
Nomad (feat. Cory Halvorsen)
This one opens with a nice extended groove before the vocals kick in. The entire track is full of bouncy chugs and warm guitar melodies. The mid-section of the song has this moment where the instrumental becomes more tame and the vocals switch to a spoken word style which I really enjoyed.
Martyr Market (feat. Benjø Agustin)
The shortest song on the album, but nothing short of heavy. The track is full of rapid double bass, thick riffs and vicious vocals. The intro to the song has a guitar groove that had me "stank faced" pretty quickly. There's also a really smooth transition from a fast melodic part to a breakdown near the end that just hits.
Flowerhead
This song opens up with my favorite intro on the album, starting with chaotic chords and chugs, energetic leads and a vocal sound-clip nicely overlaid - in the words of Todd Howard "it just works".
As with the previous tracks, this one is chalk-full of bright leads and bouncy breakdowns, especially the one at the end. The high screams on this track are particularly vicious as well. I feel like the extra savageness of this song would make it a great one to see live.
For the World is Hollow, and I Have Touched the Sky
This track is the only instrumental on the album. Despite not having a vocal performance, this one goes hard. The song is centered around a main riff while the rest of the track evolves with it. I've always been a huge fan of instrumental music and bands so I really enjoy hearing a full instrumental mixed into an album.
VØID CVLT
Having an instrumental track open it, I was expecting this song to be a focal point in the album and I wasn't disappointed. Opening with fierce blast beats and irate vocals this track is relentless. Near the bridge section of this song, the track stops and vocal fx are used as a pretty unique buildup into a secondary buildup. The breakdown that follows is probably the heaviest on the entire album. This song was a great conclusion to the album.
All in all, I was very impressed with Death Wins. This album has shown a massive growth and elevation in the bands sound. The meaningfull lyrics coupled with the relentless vocals and instrumentals created an atmosphere that felt familiar but also unique to the band themselves. I'm excited to see the new paths this album will open up for them.
When asked about the album, Adrian had this to say:
I believe this is our most complete to date with a dialed in sound that should see fans moshing in their living rooms - There is no filler. Every song is full force from the beginning and hopefully sees us having our own defined sound that listeners will recognize immediately and want more of
We at Screams look forward to hearing more from this group! Be sure to catch Our Last Crusades vocalist Adrian Parcioaga on this week's Screams Stream, Sunday January 22nd at 12am EST. Twitch.tv/screams_media
You can also listen the album, the new single and keep up with the band through the various social links below!
Keep an eye out for tour announcements and more!
LISTEN TO DEATH WINS HERE:
Spotify
Linktree
-Kurtis Bradimore
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