War Inside is back.
Created in the Nantes region, the project released its first demo in 2011, followed by two albums in 2014 and 2016. In 2024, with a new line-up including Edouard (guitar), Thomas Chamereau (drums, Koudeta), Nerik (guitar, ex-Atrocia, ex-R.A.Z., ex-Instant Zero), Olive (bass, HellZeimer) and Kratos (vocals, Circles ov Hell), the band unveils Almighty Earth, their third album, with support from L’Ordalie Noire.
Bass was recorded by Arthur Lauth (Ellipse, Mantra) before he left the band.
We begin with the dissonance of Suyrumama, which grows stronger as the unhealthy vocal parts come into play. The composition weaves between power and oppression, but also with touches of dark complexity that contrast with the more martial passages found, for example, on Almighty Earth, the eponymous composition reviving the band’s early influences. There’s however a very melodic approach at the end, which carries over to Dead Will Never Die despite its jerky rhythm, creating soaring harmonics that couple very well with the aggressive Old School roots. Mist of Chaos changes direction, offering majestic tones in the opening moments, then a much more impressive sound later on that undoubtedly borrows from the style’s big names, but bass takes pride of place with My Ineffable Wrath, a relatively melancholy track that again contrasts with the previous tracks. The band’s haunting patterns confirm their riffs’ permanent duality on The Hell You Built, before the final explosion leads to Unleashing, where the musicians are much more virulent, lining up solid catchy moments that will have you shaking your head. The band take the gamble of closing their album with Under the Curse, a track lasting over eight minutes, where furious accelerations compete with hypnotic patterns and more mysterious sounds, as on its final moments.
War Inside has come a long way since its debut. The martial Black/Death basis is still present at times, but on Almighty Earth it develops into much more soaring touches, even daring dissonant spikes of technicality.
75/100