Subrosa
For This We Fought the Battle of Ages
Release Date: Aug 26, 2016
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Heavy Metal
Record label: Profound Lore
Music Critic Score
How the Music Critic Score works
Buy For This We Fought the Battle of Ages from Amazon
Album Review: For This We Fought the Battle of Ages by Subrosa
Very Good, Based on 5 Critics
Based on rating 8.2/10
For This We Fought the Battle of the Ages—the fourth album by Salt Lake City doom-and-drama masters SubRosa—takes its inspiration from We, an almost 100-year-old dystopian novel by Russian writer Yevgeny Zamyatin. We is a paralyzing, prescient portrait of a modern surveillance state, where a world made of glass prevents secrets and state policies curtail pleasurable sex. We predates George Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984 by two decades and helped shape a literary tradition where the chief concern is exactly how much state authority can overpower individual autonomy.
Based on rating 8/10
Right after a crunchy riff kicks in a minute into “Black Majesty”, SubRosa‘s Rebecca Vernon howls, “Isn’t it beautiful?” The minute preceding the song’s burst into SubRosa’s characteristically magisterial brand of doom is beautiful in a way most could agree upon. Vernon, with an almost hymn-like delivery, sings lowly as hushed noise accents the background. The vocals of Vernon and her bandmates Sarah Pendleton and Kim Pack (who both also perform the group’s signature electric violins) have always been a major selling point of SubRosa, and on For This We Fought the Battle of Ages, the band’s fourth studio LP, they remain as intoxicating as ever.
Based on rating 7/10
SubRosa have crystallized their chamber-infused doom on For This We Fought the Battle of Ages. Having achieved critical acclaim for their last two full-lengths, this fifth LP demonstrates the band's subtle understanding of where they've been and where they need to go next.The proof is in the strings. While the dual-violin assault has never approached gimmickry, it's also never been as inextricable from the band's sound as it is on The Battle of Ages.
Based on rating 3.0/5
Review Summary: Glass.On For This We Fought the Battle of Ages, Salt Lake City group SubRosa envision Greek tragedy with chamber instrumentation, revitalized Gothic elements, ambience, introspection, and, in lengthier portions, neoclassical qualities. This would be impressive in itself if Black Tape for a Blue Girl hadn’t already done this thirty years ago (give or take), but what SubRosa do uniquely is rebrand this style in heavy, anthemic channels of doom, thanks primarily to guitarist Rebecca Vernon. At times she delivers warring riffs at ground zero, and elsewhere her guitar resembles a lightning rod channeling the storm’s impact.
Opinion: Excellent
SubRosa — For This We Fought the Battle of Ages (Profound Lore)<a href="http://profoundlorerecords. bandcamp. com/album/for-this-we-fought-the-battle-of-ages">For This We Fought The Battle Of Ages by SUBROSA</a>Even for listeners who love doom metal in all of its varieties, things feel a bit oversaturated of late.
'For This We Fought the Battle of Ages'
is available now