UMUR
"Warring Factions" is the second full-length studio album by Norwegian black metal act Ansur. The album was released through Candlelight Records in April 2008. It´s the successor to "Axiom" from August 2006. "Warring Factions" would be the last studio album under the Ansur monicker, as the band opted to change their name to Leixis in 2011. The reason for the name change was predominantly that Ansur wanted to distance themselves from their black metal sound and instead start a band which focused on playing progressive rock...
...well... listening to "Warring Factions", Ansur were already well on their way in that direction. Although the album still features the occasional use of semi-snarling extreme metal vocals and a couple of more extreme metal oriented moments (one minute into "An Exercise In Depth Of Field" you´ll find one of those moments), the material is generally much more hard rock and progressive rock oriented with dominant use of organ, blistering melodic guitar work, hard rock chord progressions and riffs, time-signature changes, use of dissonance, and just an overall progressive mindset to the songwriting (the inclusion of saxophone is a brilliant touch). I think some of Ihsahn´s work is a valid reference, but Ansur generally create something pretty unique here.
One of the things I find interesting about "Warring Factions" is the positive energy and generally uplifting atmosphere that the album exudes. It´s not that Ansur was ever the most extreme or dark and savage sounding black metal act, but it´s still a bit surprising how much light and melody they have let in on "Warring Factions".
The band are obviously very well playing, but Ansur should probably already at this point have taken the plunge and gotten rid of the harsh vocals, because the few times lead vocalist Espen A.R. Aulie sings more melodic and clean are where the music shines the most. The harsh vocals are unfortunately the weak link of the album. They are not badly performed, but they just don´t fit the instrumental part of the music that well.
"Warring Factions" is a relatively long album featuring 7 tracks (including two tracks exceeding 12 minutes in length) and a total playing time of 61:34 minutes. The long playing time is fully warranted though and the album just flies by presenting one intriguing songwriting idea after another. The album features a well sounding production too (although the drums are a bit buried in the mix and sometimes also sound a bit artificial/programmed), and upon conclusion "Warring Factions" is one hell of a progressive metal album. Highly unique and creative. It would have been interesting to hear where Ansur would take their music had they carried on. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.