Album Review: Eyes of the Living – War On Dead – More Dead (Pavement Entertainment)

East Coast Thrashers Eyes of the Living are 4 veteran musicians from the Philadelphia scene. Their new album, War On Dead – More Dead will be released by Pavement Records on March 15th, 2019.

A concept album, War on Dead – More Dead is a 12 song / 15 total pieces of music zombie themed album.

This Horror themed album is based on the pending Zombie Apocalypse and the fight for survival between man and himself, when he becomes infected with the disease ravaging his world.

Thrashing hard, Eyes of the Living have produced a nasty and sore-ridden record with War on Dead – More Dead. It’s a little bit Slayer, a little bit Testament and a whole lot of Eyes of the Living. Roguish riffs, screeching solos, commanding vocals and drumming loud enough to wake the dead. It all combines to make an album that is as powerful as you could hope thrash to be.

The story being told here combined with the lyrics is horrific and there is no arguing that Eyes of the Living are making the zombie feel relevant again even if it’s just in musical form. Each track could be the soundtrack to a nightmare of survival. Just look at the chunky riffs of Hell on Earth and tell me that isn’t the sound of a man’s descent into the depths. A truly powerful thrash metal effort. This following a set of equally powerful tracks.

Sadness comes next as the first Interlude (Aftermath) plays out a short stab of morose melody. Followed by the fastest and heaviest effort heard so far in the form of Chemical Bath, an absolute rager of a track.

How do you top that? By continuing to hit as hard as possible with Stench of Death and Pull the Trigger. The former is really stomp heavy track that would sit comfortably on a modern hardcore record while the latter is old-school thrash played at its most intense. Both equally as impressive.

It has to be said that any thrash record that goes over 40 minutes runs the risk of beginning to sound samey or repetitive. So imagine one that goes over an hour? Well that’s the case with Eyes of the Living’s War On Dead – More Dead. It’s I Am Alone that fails to really capture the imagination here and starts to make you wonder if the album is about to lose its way.

Thankfully that’s not the case as War on Dead delivers a really expansive track with bucketloads of riffs and groove to take a big bite out us. A lovely and juicy track.

Eyes of the Living keep the quality high and the momentum strong for What is Left for Dead and Survival. The latter in particular is all kinds of great. From the heavy-as hell riffing to the mixing up of vocals. We end the journey of death with the melodic sombre notes of Dawn with final defiant solo and roar of “everything is pain”.

Eyes of the Living – War On Dead – More Dead Full Track Listing:

1. Count the Days
2. Run for Your Life
3. Infected
4. Hell on Earth
5. Interlude (Aftermath)
6. Chemical Bath
7. Stench of Death
8. Pull the Trigger
9. Interlude (They Got Rick)
10. I Am Alone
11. War on Dead
12. What Is Left for the Dead
13. Survival
14. Dawn
15. Outro (Contamination)

Head over to Eyes of the Living’s website and Facebook Page to find out more.