''The Great Stone War'' is the second studio album by American

deathcore Deathcore is an extreme metal subgenre that combines death metal with metalcore. The genre consists of death metal guitar riffs, blast beats, and metalcore breakdowns. While there are some precursors to the concept of death metal fused with met ...

band

Winds of Plague Winds of Plague is an American deathcore band from Upland, California. Formed in 2002, the band is known for being one of the few deathcore bands to incorporate symphonic elements into their music. The band's name is derived from a section of ...

. It was released on August 11, 2009 through

Century Media Records Century Media Records is a heavy metal record label with offices in the United States, Germany and London. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million. Background Century Media was founded by Robert Kampf and Oli ...

. The album also marks the recording debut of drummer Art Cruz and keyboardist Kristen Randall. ''The Great Stone War'' sold 6,300 copies in its first week of release to debut at No. 73 on The Billboard 200 chart. A cover of "

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

" by

Misfits Misfits or The Misfits may refer to: Film and television * ''The Misfits'' (1961 film), a film starring Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, and Montgomery Clift * ''The Misfits'' (2011 film), a Mexican film * ''The Misfits'' (2021 film), an American ...

appears as a bonus track on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

Composition

Winds of Plague described the record as a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

. Vocalist Johnny Plague states, "The idea of ''The Great Stone War'' is that civilization as a whole will digress and in time inevitably end with one final battle. This battle will not be fought with technology but with stone. Over the course of eleven tracks the listener hears about a journey foreseen through the eyes of a heathen in a religious world apocalypse. Even in the world's darkest times you always have to take a step back and see life for what it is and not lose sight of what is most important."

Track listing

Personnel

;Winds of Plague * Jonathan "Johnny Plague" Cooke-Hayden – unclean vocals * Nick Eash – lead guitar * Nick Piunno – rhythm guitar * Andrew Glover – bass, engineering assistance *

Art Cruz Arthur Cruz (born May 27, 1988) is an American musician, best known as the drummer of heavy metal band Lamb of God. He is the former drummer of Winds of Plague, Prong and Klogr. Early life Cruz was born May 27, 1988, in Downey, California. H ...

– drums, percussion * Kristen Randall – keyboards, clean vocals ;Additional musicians * Martin Stewart of Terror – guest vocals on tracks 2, 13 * John Mishima – guest vocals on track 6 *

Mitch Lucker Mitchell Adam Lucker (October 20, 1984 – November 1, 2012) was an American vocalist best known as the lead singer for the deathcore band Suicide Silence. Career Mitch Lucker first started performing music in the year 2000 with the band Breaka ...

Suicide Silence Suicide Silence is an American deathcore band from Riverside, California. The band was established in 2002, and has released six studio albums, three EPs, and nineteen music videos. They were awarded the ''Revolver'' Golden God award for "Best ...

– guest vocals on track 9 ;Additional personnel * Daniel Castleman – production, engineering *

Tue Madsen Tue Madsen (born 1969) is a Danish music producer and sound engineer, who is well known in metal genre for his work with bands like Meshuggah, Dark Tranquillity, Suicide Silence, Hatesphere, The Haunted, Mnemic, Ektomorf, Cataract, Exmortem ...

– mixing, mastering * Brian Lawlor and Ryan Kelly – orchestral arrangements *

Ash Avildsen Ashley Greg Avildsen (born November 5, 1981) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and the founder and CEO of Sumerian Records and Sumerian Films. The son of director John G. Avildsen, he wrote and directed the films ''What Now'' ...

– booking * Steve Joh – A&R * Pär Olofsson – artwork * Rob Kimura – layout, design

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Stone War, The 2009 albums Winds of Plague albums Century Media Records albums Concept albums Albums with cover art by Pär Olofsson