Walls of Jericho have returned with a meaner, leaner, and dare I say cleaner sound than in previous releases. This band has not done anything drastically different, count on that. Play "Trigger Full of Promises" and you decide. The guitars come out blazing on this fine album and this is Walls of Jericho's best work to date. "No Saving Me," the slow song on the album, will show you that Candace Kucsulain is a real singer, who is not afraid to let her walls come down, exhibiting a refreshingly vulnerability and not giving one fuck about going soft. This band is in it for the love of the music.

I remember years ago talking with Jesper Stromblad before an In Flames show where Walls of Jericho was the opening band. I commented that I was impressed to hear that WoJ was a female-fronted hardcore act, and he drove the point home by saying “yeah, and this girl’s got BALLS.” When the show started, I found out exactly what Jesper meant. The band played unrelenting, heavy yet catchy hardcore, and Candace’s vocals matched the music with as much hatred and force as one could hope for. Now, probably six or seven years later, I find Walls of Jericho’s With Devils Amongst Us All album in my stereo, after having heard more Hatebreed clones and metaclore wash-ups than I’d like to think about, and the disc still gives me my share of brutal hardcore satisfaction. It is an 11 song exercise in chugging hardcore, full of strong riffs and more importantly containing plenty of inventive, interesting breakdowns put in appropriate places in the songs. Moreover, Candace’s vocal range, is impressive despite the fact that she only rarely ventures away from the bellowed screams. The very occasional sung chorus, and the majority of “No Saving Me,” adds unique depth to the music and reminds us that, yes, there’s a woman in this band, and she knows what the fuck she’s doing. Walls of Jericho might decide spend a little more time experimenting with more double bass, faster arrangements and the use of Scandinavian style melodies to add to their repertoire, but that may only convert them into another metalcore act, so I can’t blame them too much for sticking with their direct, hardcore approach here. With Devils Amongst Us All is a good album, and as hardcore goes, I don’t think there’s much WoJ should do, as they’re cracking plenty of skulls with their current approach.

You're lost with no sense of direction and it's time to make some changes. It's a matter of life or death, you don't have a choice. You can either repeat your mistakes, crash, and burn or you can learn from your past on “Try.Fail.Repeat”, a standout track on Walls of Jericho's latest album “With Devils Amongst Us All”. This 5 piece, female fronted hardcore outfit, based out of Detroit, Michigan have just released one of the most anticipated albums of the year. “With Devils Amongst Us All” is anything but watered down hardcore, unfortunately the same cannot be said of Supremacy, the latest release from Hatebreed. Jamey (Jasta) could find his way back to the Victory (Records) days after listening to “I Know Hollywood and You Ain't It”, another great song that deals with people who are quick to give up their identity for a shot at fame. It makes sense, you can sell more albums, more people are exposed to your music, it's the ultimate quest, but are you willing to sacrifice your music? Walls of Jericho's answer was simple, we must survive and with Ben Shigel (Chimaira, Switched) behind the boards, you will do more than survive, you will conquer. Let's switch gears for a minute, the beautiful darkness, which is “No Saving Me” is a great song. It's not the focus of this album, even though it's become the focus of many album reviews. It was a great song, but I don't think the band has any plans to write “Horror Wrestling 2.” With the release of each album, Walls of Jericho's choke hold on hardcore has gotten tighter, With Devils Amongst Us All, will drive you right into submission.

Easily one of the most anticipated records of the year in the land of all things metal, With Devils Amongst Us All is upon us. With expectations running high, Walls of Jericho deliver what is easily their best to date. The album kicks off in a fury with 'A Trigger Full of Promises,' 'I Know Hollywood and You Ain't It,' and 'Hope to Die.' This is exactly the Walls of Jericho you were expecting to hear, only they sound bigger and meaner this time around. In that respect, I enjoyed the first batch of new songs but was mildly let down as I was expecting to hear more evolution than what I was getting. 'Plastic' and the brutally fast 'Try.Fail.Repeat.' help the album to shift gears a bit about mid-length and that's when the evolution becomes evident. The most notable step is the song 'No Saving Me' This is about as epic as hard bands make songs, as a matter fact it's more epic but it's far from metal. It's awesome to hear the band stretch their muscles to the point of a backing orchestra and clean vocals. A beautiful song results that gives this album way more depth than any of the bands previous releases and proves they are far more than a really good hardcore band. Overall this is a solid album from Walls of Jericho. While it's easily their best so far, I have a hard time believing that this is the top of the mountain for them. They are great at playing hardcore and new school metal but there are some hints on the biting With Devils Amongst Us All as to what this band is truly capable of and I can't wait to hear more of that.

More and more these days, hardcore bands are crossing over into the metal scene with their resultant offerings combining the hard-hitting, socially aware lyrics of the hardcore scene with the mosh-happy grind of the metal scene. Along with the likes of Bleeding Through and Hatebreed, New York ragers Walls Of Jericho are leading the way in the crossover hardcore / metalcore scene with their last offering, the face-pummelling All Hail The Dead, winning them over a whole legion of new fans. Well, the band are back and have stepped it up a gear with their new album. The signature Slayer-infused guitar sound heralds the start of the album as the band detonate into their crossover carnage with no fuss. The rest of the album follows a similar pattern with the likes of ‘Try.Fail.Repeat’ and ‘I Know Hollywood, And You Ain’t It’ both sounding angrier than a pitbull with a hangover. Fronting the band is the incendiary Candace who spits and roars putting in a performance that only goes to solidify her position as one of the best hardcore vocalists around at the moment. The real surprise comes when, after half an hour or so of teeth-splitting, nose-breaking thrashing from the band, they slow the tempo down for the ballad, No Saving Me, in which Candace proves that there is more to her vocal range than just screaming her guts up. It’s a surprise to say the least but, as with The Truth on the recent Bleeding Through album, it’s a breath of fresh air midway through a stunning album. While purists in both scenes may see the hardcore / metal crossover as a bad thing but one listen to the raging, circle-pit inducing ‘And The Dead Walk’ should leave people in no doubt that the two genres have now well and truly blended into one resulting in one absolute beast of a sound and With Devils Amongst Us All is testament to how frightening a prospect this is for the future of metal and hardcore.

After a lengthy hiatus, Walls Of Jericho came out of hibernation with their third full-length. "All Hail The Dead" is finally being made widely available in Europe thanks to Roadrunner. All hail Roadrunner! Anywayz, Candace still screams like she ate something bad, the breakdowns are downright brutal, the Slayer-like riffing quite simply kills and ex-Catharsis drummer Alexei Rodriguez beats his kit like he's got some score to settle with them. Two flaws though! The clean vocals don't always sound good and don't contribute all that much which kinda makes you wonder why they didn't just cut them out completely. And what's with re-recording "Day And A Thousand Years"? Other than that, another powerful release for these Detroit natives.

2006 is shaping up to be a fantastic year in metallic hardcore. LA’s Terror recently delivered a career best in ‘Always The Hard Way’ and Hatebreed look set to follow suit with their forthcoming ‘Supremacy’. Meanwhile Boston’s The Hope Conspiracy are due to make a welcome return to wreak more damage with ‘Death Knows Your Name’ later this year, but for the time being Detroit’s Walls Of Jericho are back to pour further fuel on the fire. Upcoming the ante from 2004’s ‘All Hail The Dead’, this is a fearsome collection of bruising hardcore that decisively breaks its foot off in your arse and is sure to place the band firmly alongside the leaders of the genre. Overflowing with thrashy riffs, juggernaut-sized breakdowns and shout-along choruses, this is brutal hardcore the way it’s meant to be. The album explodes to life with the merciless ‘A Trigger Full Of Promises’, ‘Welcome Home’ is a flawless torrent of horrified anguish and ‘The Haunted’ rides in on a wave if insidious chanting and echoing guitar, opening up into a breakneck riff and finishing you off with a head-caving chorus. Throughout, Candace Kucsulain’s vocals are unleashed with a heartstoppingly ferocious power that pushes energy levels through the roof. With a commanding presence onstage that defies her diminutive stature, her performance here is her most authoritative yet and stands her toe-to-toe with the likes of Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta. The only real disappointment is the out of place power ballad ‘No Saving Me’. Certainly, it shows a greater diversity to their arsenal but with such impressive carnage surrounding it on every side, it seems a little superfluous. Regardless of this misstep, this is an absolute monster of a record that will resoundingly kick the shit out of you, yet leaving you begging for more.

Is it bad that I want to see who would win in a fight/make out session between Walls of Jericho’s Candace Kucsulain and Bloodlined Calligraphy’s Ally French? Anyways, arguably Kucsulain is one of the most venomous female mouths in modern metal and it appears that the band, with their third album, is on par with her vocal performance. Though not playing anything new with their thrash based hardcore, as All Out War is still a tangible reference point, but by god Kucsulain (especially) and co. deliver the goods with a truly acidic and abrasive intensity that’s hard to ignore. With only one exception, the 11 seething balls of PMS fueled vitriol come spewing out of the speakers with the ravaging conviction of a coked up Cobra; striking, hissing and spitting with precise aggression. “A Trigger Full of Promises”, “I Know Hollywood and You ‘Ain’t It”, “And Hope to Die”, “Plastic”, and “Try. Fall. Repeat” are all early attention getting numbers, making for a wickedly merciless first few tracks to the album as the runaway train pacing is littered with the odd gang chant and slow rumble (no, not breakdown). “The Haunted” provides a sort of mid album respite but delivers a surprisingly catchy chorus, but “And the Dead Shall Walk Again” and “Another Day, Another Idiot” returns to the sonic bolliking. Now, “No Saving Me” is the exception I was talking about earlier, and yes it’s a Evanescence-ish ballad. However, Kucsulain shows great vocal range and mood, and the piercing scream/peak at 3:30 is pretty fucking rending and I imagine it would be a safe choice for a forthcoming single/video. For those that despise ballads (I personally thinks it’s a standout track on the album), things are ‘righted’ with “Welcome Home” and the closing chuggtastic title track. Even though the band now has Ozzfestitis and it’s associated stigma with ‘cool’ metal fans, I expect the ethic and approach of the band to carry them so they continue to deliver hard edged, no nonsense metal.

(5 out of 5)- The last word in power metal- until their next album. Walls of Jericho have a special gift, namely the ability to make the power-metal workbook sound refreshing and dynamic, despite the number of half-assed pretenders clogging that scene like so much audio cholesterol. Their no-so-secret weapon is fearless singer Candace Kucsulain, who doesn’t assume any of the clichéd roles of women in metal, sonically or socially (at gigs, she’s caught stagedivers with her face more than once without having to tell the world about it in a friggin’ blog). The 11 tracks on With Devils Amongst Us are ferociously propelled by guitarists Chris Rawson and Mike Hasty’s bone-crunching chug, with drummer Dustin Schoenhofer sterring the time changes and breakdowns with the same kind of aplomb one uses to elude law enforcement. Only “No Saving Me,” a power ballad that finds Kucsulain unnecessarily sounding like Maynard James Keenan, drags the proceedings down. Nonetheless, WOJ are now at the height of their powers with Devils, and are completely worthy of the world’s attention. Pantera? Isn’t that some kind of car?

There are not many hardcore bands that are fronted by a woman. To be honest I just can think of one, Walls Of Jericho. But if we may believe Candace Kucsulain she wasn’t hired for the job because she had tits. On the third album of Walls Of Jericho called With Devils Amongst Us All she proves again she was right.   The album starts with ‘A Trigger Full Of Promises’ ,which is also the first single of With Devils Amongst Us All, and boy what a way to start an album. With this song Walls Of Jericho immediately grabs you by the throat and won’t let go until you reach the end of the album.   Where All Hail The Dead  was mainly very aggressive, With Devils Amongst Us All  sometimes is quite melodic. The cause of this is probably the first time use of a producer. Ben Schigel (Ringworm, Chimaira, Zao) was the man to do the job and he gave Walls Of Jericho that extra push to create this album.   In the past Walls Of Jericho did an acoustic song on an album, this time they surprise everybody with the song ‘No Saving Me’ which is some kind of ballad. In this song Candace Kucsulain shows a different side of her voice and easily could give Walls Of Jericho some airplay. Of course gaining airplay isn’t the main idea behind the song, they just wanted to do something that would drop some jaws to the floor. Well they succeeded!!   The use of a producer has turned out very well for Walls Of Jericho, their sound is well balanced. Of course there will be some critics saying they didn’t stay true to their sound, but I believe Walls Of Jericho has made a great step forward and will also be attractive for several metalheads. To me it’s obvious I have another great album to add to my yearlist of 2006. Score: 87%

Candice and her boys are back with a blast... Understatement! Let’s start with a conclusion for a change, “With Devils Amongst Us All” is simply the best Walls Of Jericho album to date. This band has been one of the happy few that really harvest on the ongoing metalcore hype that has been amongst us all, the band has been growing very fast due to relentless touring and great albums. This new one is a step further from where they left off with their previous releases, not many changes are to be recognized but the careful listener will hear a little more mature Walls Of Jericho. Candice’s Neanderthal roar has softened a bit and there is more room for cleaner voices here and there, but don’t worry, this doesn’t mean the album has any less aggressive or impressive, take the incredibly cool titled ‘I Know Hollywood And You Ain’t It’ for instance, this is the ultimate pitkiller. The overall sound has been pointier and more metal but a tad faster and therefore they must still be put in the line with the heaviest of the heavy metalcore formulas. Remarkable is the epic Bleeding Through-like ballad “No Saving Me” that executed amazingly well, even when Candice sings clean this way (she sounds a little hoarse though) she is able to impress. A great album by a great band, not much to complain about and easily one of the better metalcore albums of the year, and if you don’t believe me, watch out for their tour with Sick Of It All and Madball later this year and convince yourself!

When God promises you something, you have to let nothing stand in your way to get it, even if you must bring the down the Walls of Jericho to get it. This is an extremely condensed version of the meaning behind the biblical story of Joshua and the walls of Jericho. And an insight into the philosophy of the hardcore metal band Walls of Jericho, a band that has been mercilessly breaking down walls since it's inception in 1998. Like a wild fire, word of Walls of Jericho's unique and ferocious brand of music and live performance has spread throughout the metal community. Its reputation has earned the band spots on tours with many well-known acts including, most recently, the second stage at Ozzfest. Walls of Jericho's eagerly awaited third full-length album 'With Devils Among Us' delivers the intensity that fans expect from the band while also bringing some new tricks to the table. The band's maturity in form, style, and song writing is most evident on this release. An extremely tight rhythm section backs up singer Candace Kucsulain's unearthly roar, with songs that can almost be described as catchy, in a catch-you-and-then-beat-you-in-the-face kind of way. Deliberate, shredding, guitar hooks accent the double bass driven, rhythmic, pound of the songs, punctuated with anthem-like, melodic choruses. No heaviness is lost, only melody gained. Since 'With Devils Among Us All' is such an extremely complete piece of work, it's hard to pin point the "best" songs. However some moments definitely stand out. The first track, 'a trigger full of promises', sets the tone for the entire album. Starting out with a fast, chugging intro that immediately induces head banging, the song then heads effortlessly into double bass driven verses, and an epic chorus. The song 'The Haunted' posses a demonic quality, worthy of Morbid Angel, but reminds the listener that early thrash and death metal were inspired by punk as much as metal. The song 'Plastic' displays a unique vocal style, especially during the chorus, where the lyrics "I write these words for my own survival" are yelled in excellent hardcore punk fashion, audible yet determined. The song 'No saving me' is one of the most surprising on the album, as well as fantastic. It has the potential to be one of the biggest metal singles in the last five years. It is a ballad, and yes some die-hard metal veterans cringe at this word, but rest assured, 'No Saving Me' does not lack any of the heaviness you expect from Walls of Jericho. An almost classical intro builds up into an epic chorus, and then pounds into the truly moving and well-executed guitar solo. The listener also has the pleasure of hearing the massively multi-talented Candace Kucsulain executing intimate, beautifully sung vocals instead of her usual screaming growl. She does alternate between soulful singing and screaming at the end of the song, which results in a brilliant emotional release. Easily one of the best albums of 2006 so far, the beauty of 'With Devils Among Us All' is that it perfectly displays the balance that Walls of Jericho have achieved as a band. They have developed the perfect blend for their unique style. Each song can stand on its own, while it also blends perfectly with then entire sound of the album as a whole. Each song is complex enough to keep the listener interested, but not so complex that the listener gets lost in technicalities. It is heavy enough to satisfy hardcore metal heads, but possesses enough melody to get the tunes stuck in your head. It is unique enough to be original, but still sticks to the classical rules of metal and punk. It is guaranteed that once this album is popped into your CD player it will be in heavy rotation for months to come.