Wisdom In Chains is an American hardcore punk band which was formed in 2002. Originally the band consisted of members from Holland and America also; the slight continent divide didn’t work out too well for Wisdom In Chains however and as time passed by the Dutch members left the band. ‘Class War’ is Wisdom In Chains third full length studio album and was released through Eulogy Recordings in 2007. The album contains seventeen tracks and has a total run time of 38 minutes; with this album the band blends elements of hardcore, metal, and Oi! together also, often to great effect and providing of an extremely full and rich style of sound.
The album kicks into action here with the two minute track ‘The Sound of the End’; the music opens to the sound of police sirens, helicopters, and gun fire before slamming you into some seriously heavy guitar sounds and ferociously shouted vocals also. ‘This is the sound of the end’ is here chanted by the band, it’s not exactly a hugely adventurous sound but one which reminds me a lot of Agnostic Front. I’m a huge fan of Agnostic Front and if you are too then I’m sure that you’ll love the Wisdom In Chains album that is ‘Class War’.
Lyrically the music is hugely political, the bands sound is strong and the genres of hardcore punk and metal have here been welded together well. The guitar work always is hugely powerful here, this I feel is where the main strength of Wisdom In Chains music lies and instrumentally I really do love what the band has done here throughout this album. Vocally the band makes use of many a ‘woah-oh’ throughout this album, there’s a definite punk rock feel to the vocal vibe, and although for the most part the vocal shout is fiercely hardcore; there’s also often an underlying presence of straight up punk rock in the sound.
Stylistically the songs all sound extremely similar here, there’s not much difference between any of these tracks and this is something that could most definitely be perceived to be a huge weakness of the music of Wisdom In Chains. I like the hardcore punk approach that Wisdom In Chains takes here, there will be plenty out there that don’t however and if you don’t like one track from this album then you wont like any of them; the sound created on each and every track here really is that similar in sound.
‘Class War’ is a great album to own if you’re a big fan of hardcore punk, particularly if you’re an admirer of Agnostic Front as the Wisdom In Chains sound really is extremely similar. If you don’t like hardcore punk then you certainly won’t like this though; ‘Class War’ as an album is very much a blend of hardcore punk, metal, and Oi!, and never does the band attempt anything different with its sound here. All the tracks sound extremely similar, but if you like one track you’ll like them all and this I feel is the beauty of the bands music. Wisdom In Chains attempts nothing new as a band here, the music has all been done before, it’s done well here however and ‘Class War’ is therefore an album I’d highly recommend listening to for all fans of the genre.
Label: Eulogy Recordings
Release Date: September 3rd 2007
Rating:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.