Label: Fighter Records
Release date: October 15th, 2024
War Dogs was formed in 2015 in Spain. After they completed line-up, in 2018 they released “War Dogs” EP. Debut album, “Die by my Sword”, was released two years later, and in 2024, on October the 15th, the new album will be released. Same as the previous, “Only the Stars Are Left” will be released via Fighter Records.
What do they play? Epic heavy metal, some might say, but I do not believe in subgenres. As Chuck Schuldiner would say: “Metal is metal and all those categories screwed a lot of people up… If you are metal, you are metal…”
The first thought after I heard vocals is that Alberto’s singing style is very influenced by Jake Rogers (Visigoth). It makes me happy, as a Visigoth fan, that this is a relatively young band with only two albums behind, that already influenced so many bands, specifically singers. Compared to the previous release, I can say that “Only the Stars Are Left” flows pretty much in the same direction, without experimentations, variety, any surprises, except when it comes to the songs “Heaven’s Judgement” and “Only the Stars are Left”. The guys decided to stay in their comfort zone. Debut album, “Die by my Sword”, was much faster, and if we go back a little further into the past, the EP “War Dogs”, sounded completely different. If we would talk about genres and subgenres, we could say that guys obviously at the beginning of their career had other vision of their music, more aggressive, on the edge of thrash/speed metal. Vocals, as I can hear did not progress much, singing style is the same and yes, it suits more to the music they are playing now. The general “problem” when it comes to the bands that sound like other bands is that always, without any exception, they would be compared. For example, Don’t Drop the Sword will always sound like Blind Guardian, Grayhawk and Ward Dogs like Visigoth. You can not change the range or the color of your voice, but when it comes to the singers that are compatible with the others that have already established careers as legends, you will always have that mark as a copy band. Ok, you can’t reinvent the wheel, but you can not also expect that you will build a big career. Maybe I am wrong, but the time will show.
Although the production is good, overall performance that is too much similar to already mentioned Visigoth (specifically songs “Riders of the Storm”, “Astral Queen” and “Vendetta”) distracts you from focusing on their own music. Based on two singles I expected more from this album, but after listening to it all I can say is that unfortunately the guys no matter how hard it is must find the way to distance themselves from the fact that they sound too much as a copy band. In the songs (at least at the beginning) “Heaven’s Judgement” and “Only the Stars Are Left” there are some signs that they have courage to experiment, but still, they didn’t find the proper way to do it.
The impression I have is that the guys are still searching for what suits them the most and I wish them all the best on that journey.
