EYES OF THE LIVING – War On Dead – More Dead

Since its inception in 2016, the Philadelphia Metal quartet Eyes Of The Living have released two albums. The more recent one by them titled War On Dead – More Dead is surely one of those things fans of heavy music from across the world had been waiting for in a while. It certainly is a very impressive album – because not many bands decide to put fifteen tracks on their second record. Even though some of those tracks are interludes and outro (as the title suggest), that is still about an hour’s worth of decent music. All those who prefer groove and punchiness over melody are in for a very exciting experience. Here are Eyes Of The Living with their album War On Dead – More Dead!

Despite being really heavy, the riffs in the songs are quite catchy. They’re not particularly complex or neck-wringing fast, but there is a groove to them. Especially the guitar harmonies in the second half of the opening song titled “Count The Days” are really captivating. Eerie and sinister, a perfect combination! The album has a really heavy sound to it in general, although some of the bass riffs would have probably sounded better if played an octave higher – sadly the bass line is barely audible in the first verse of the opening track. One thing that’s really well done is the guitar solos. Just like the riffs, they’re rather simple, it doesn’t take a Jeff Loomis or Marty Friedman to pull them off, but they suit the rest of the music really well. Another interesting feature of the songs on War On Dead – More Dead are the breakdowns, like the one in the fourth track “Hell On Earth.” It sounds a fair bit like the one in “Head Crusher” from Megadeth’s Endgame.

The album features two interludes: “Interlude – Aftermath” and “Interlude – They Got Rick,” is the fifth and ninth track respectively. If anyone had doubts about the lyrics of all songs on the album being about a zombie apocalypse, the title of the ninth track should disperse all doubts.

Interestingly enough, the tracks after the second interlude are significantly different from the rest of the album. It’s not only the extensive use of synths, but there’s also some power to those songs and that’s what makes them even better than the previous ones. Maybe it’s the overall slightly Punk sound these songs, like for instance the twelfth track “What Is Left For The Dead”, have to them. The next song “Survival” is probably the most interesting song on this record. No, it is not about tight riffs or perfect solos. It’s about the Metal groove one can get carried away by easily, not necessarily having had any psychoactive substances beforehand. Although this song might initially come across as unfinished as if there was something missing there, after a couple of listens it becomes quite an earworm. It is a shame that the nearer the end gets, the better the songs get as “Dawn,” which is the last song before the outro is really great despite the slightly Nu Metal sound to it. The clean guitar parts could make one think of “Enter Sandman” by Metallica.

War On Dead – More Dead is certainly a good album. Considering how Eyes Of The Living has not even been around for half a decade, their creative output so far is surely impressive. These guys certainly do not lazy around and most likely no one will at their shows – because some of the songs mentioned above sound about perfect to mosh to.