The Great Stone War

The Great Stone War is the second studio album by American deathcore band Winds of Plague. It was released on August 11, 2009 through Century Media Records. 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" by Misfits appears as a bonus track on iTunes.

The Great Stone War
Studio album by Winds of Plague
Released	August 11, 2009
Genre	Deathcore symphonic metal
Length	37:17
Label	Century Media
Producer	Daniel Castleman
Winds of Plague chronology
Decimate the Weak (2008) The Great Stone War (2009) Against the World (2011)

Composition

Winds of Plague described the record as a concept album. 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."^{[citation needed]}

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Ashladan	[2]
Blistering	[3]
Lords of Metal	[4]
Zware Metalen	(8.2/10)[5]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Earth"	1:30
2.	"Forged in Fire" (featuring Martin Stewart of Terror)	3:35
3.	"Soldiers of Doomsday"	4:06
4.	"Approach the Podium"	3:40
5.	"Battle Scars"	3:25
6.	"Chest and Horns" (featuring John Mishima)	4:00
7.	"Creed of Tyrants"	2:45
8.	"Our Requiem"	4:14
9.	"Classic Struggle" (featuring Mitch Lucker of Suicide Silence)	3:20
10.	"The Great Stone War"	4:17
11.	"Tides of Change"	2:25
Total length:		37:17

All tracks are written by Winds of Plague

iTunes bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
12.	"Halloween" (Misfits cover)	1:52

Japanese bonus tracks (live at Shibuya Club Asia on September 23, 2009)

No.	Title	Length
13.	"Earth/Forged in Fire (live)" (featuring Martin Stewart of Terror)	4:55
14.	"Approach the Podium (live)"	3:31
15.	"The Impaler (live)"	3:08
16.	"Reloaded (live)"	2:59

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 – 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 of Suicide Silence – guest vocals on track 9

Additional personnel Daniel Castleman – production, engineering Tue Madsen – mixing, mastering Brian Lawlor and Ryan Kelly – orchestral arrangements Ash Avildsen – booking Steve Joh – A&R Pär Olofsson – artwork Rob Kimura – layout, design

References

1. The Great Stone War review. Allmusic
2. The Great Stone War review. Ashladan
3. The Great Stone War review. Blistering
4. The Great Stone War review. Lords of Metal
5. The Great Stone War review. Zware Metalen