Metal Underground.com

On Wishdoom's sophomore EP, “Winds of War,” the Greek metal band makes a triumphant return with another solid outing and much-improved production. Like the band’s previous effort, “Up The Hammers” (reviewed here), this EP gets started with a short instrumental intro, the title track “Winds of War.” Were it not for the foreshadowing of the rest of the EP's direction, this intro would contain little of note. However, it shows off a subtle but noticeable shift from the band's prior material: the songs on “Winds of War” fall slightly more into the epic or battle metal category than straddling the line between power metal and doom metal as they did on “Up The Hammers.” If this EP was about Vikings, it would undoubtedly fit well within the pack of Viking metal bands.

“My Wish Your Doom” actually does both quite well: the newer battle metal sound, as well as the doom sounds. The latter is achieved primarily with a slow/mid-paced riff that's brought to a hard stop and repeated, feeling slightly doomy. However, the pace picks up to a moderate gallop soon enough, invoking feelings of an escalating battle. Chris A.D. Paschalidis' vocal delivery is reminiscent of Matt Barlow-era Iced Earth and should be pleasing to most fans of this style of metal.

“The Battle of Plataea” features a marching pace, fitting perfectly with the battle metal theme and chorus line of “marching to victory.” That's not to say that the song is plodding or boring, as the vocals are excellent and there's an impressive guitar lead-into-solo in the latter half that manages to never really break pace but adds quite a bit of flair. “Guardians of Steel” keeps up the mid-paced metal and lyrical theme as well, also featuring an extensive guitar lead and solo close to the final minute that meshes perfectly with the song's pace.

“To Eternity” slows things down a little more, stretching out to seven minutes. The song features a slightly eerie guitar riff and tone, before heading back to mid-paced (albeit slightly slower) guitar chugging leading into the chorus. This goes on for some time, until guitarist George Samarithan G. predictably gets to show off some of his guitar work in the last two minutes once again.

While “Winds of War” is a welcome sophomore effort from this promising Greek band, I preferred the contrast of the slower doom songs with the vocal delivery as on the band's first EP, “Up The Hammers,” to the mid-paced songs on this effort. While the songs from both EPs would undoubtedly make an excellent full-length album together, when isolated the songs on “Winds of War” come off as slightly uniform and mid-tempo. Yet, with the improved production and quality musicianship, I can easily recommend Wishdoom's “Winds of War” for fans of Viking metal or battle metal.