BEYOND REDEMPTION

With most bands that I am very fond of I normally make the effort to get my hands on one copy of each of their records, even if I'm not necessarily fond of a particular album or two in their catalogue. This records acquisition would be an example of that attitude. In the grand scheme of things, All Our War's "Assassins In The House Of God" is a ridiculously superb example of crushing Metallic Hardcore fury, but it's probably the weakest album of their entire discography, hence why it's ended up being the last that I've brought into the collection. This record has been floating around on my want list for years now, and it's a cheap record to buy, I've just never had a good, affordable way of having it posted my way until the last fortnight.
Having not developed a proper interest in hardcore of this ilk until after the end of the 90's, I sometimes feel like I really missed this band in their proper heyday, and I would assume most of the older guys who were around during the release of the bands earlier works would agree. It's funny though how I feel that the LP that the band released after this one, "Into The Killing Fields" is easily their crowning work and the best album by any group of 2010. In fact I don't think any single album by any band has topped it since. I still spin it just about every single week. Wedge "Assassins..." then between that excellent last record and three genre defining LP's released between 1997 and 2003, and it's probably doomed from the very start. Like I said though, this is still a ferocious album, but when I feel like punching the face of God, I do it with "ITKF", "For Those Who Were Crucified", or "Condemned To Suffer" instead.
As disclosed, my interest in heavy hardcore hadn't properly developed until the beginning of the 2000's, and perhaps as a result my view of the majority of 90's hardcore is a little less than favourable. Apart from a few favourites here and there (the more obvious stuff- early Hatebreed, Buried Alive, early Biohazard, Turmoil, Ringworm, some Integrity etc) it all just seems like either horrendously executed metalcore (Disembodied), excruciatlingly overboard hyper PC bullshit (Trial [though I actually love their LP, whatever]), or a combination of the two (Earth Crisis). Though their first album suffered the same fate as the VAST majority of stuff committed to disc by any band throughout pretty much all of this decade, in a shitty shitty recording, All Out War are one of a very few bands that managed to escape all the trappings previously mentioned and just play demonic, brutal, heavy hardcore. It's been mentioned countless times by countless others, but to me, they're the only band whom A) has the balls to, and B) executes precisely the writing and playing of a perfect splice of Obituary, Slayer and Cro Mags. There is word of a new album due this year. I await the mayhem.