Unitron
With Devils Amongst Us All is the third studio album from metalcore/hardcore punk band Walls of Jericho.
The band reached a new height with their comeback album, All Hail the Dead, which showed a perfect balance between blistering thrash metal and punchy metalcore/hardcore of the Hatebreed variety. With Devils Amongst Us All continues mixing the two, although it's not as balanced as it was.
Walls of Jericho keeps delivering a brutal slab of thrashing and sometimes groovy hardcore/metalcore with punishing breakdowns for the most part. Just one listen to "I Know Hollywood and You Ain't It" will give you a brutal thrashing that you'll never forget, while the breakdown in "The Haunted" will hit you over the head like a sledgehammer after an ominous beginning. "And the Dead Walk Again" is another brutal thrasher, armed with dissonance making it sound a bit like a mix of a groovier Voivod.
There is less thrash metal here than All Hail the Dead, which is disappointing because the band's great blend of blistering Slayer-esque thrash and punishing hardcore/metalcore is what made All Hail the Dead and The Bound Feed the Gagged such masterpieces. The metalcore is up front more here instead of a balance, and there is also a "Nothing Else Matters"-esque power ballad with "No Saving Me" which just sounds out of place on an album like this. A lot of the songs are also quite forgettable.
While there are some winners here, it's quite a step down from All Hail the Dead which I see as one of the greatest Metalcore albums ever made. It's worth a listen, but don't expect a masterpiece.
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