Concert Review: The War On Peace Prove Its Starts With An Individual

I get sentimental when I see certain bands. I have the pleasure of seeing many good ones, but, on occasion, I can feel their ambition. Maybe, it is intuition or certain “moon-phases”, but I swear the “hunger” comes out, and an artist’s desire to give the crowd their heart can be felt. The War On Peace deliver songs that say, “Love me!”, and their Rockwood show made sure you did!

The War On Peace are more than a band; they are a brotherhood. Their chemistry can be felt in their focus and precision to the point that Grahm Bailey, Steven Burkholder, and Jeremy Schering feel like one person/ mission with three separate concentrations; the most important being lead vocalistSteven Burkholder. Tracks like, “High Rise”, “Fear of Loss”, and “Goodbye Binney” were like vocal gauntlets, of which Bailey had to drive the meaning of this band’s major name. When your hear The War On Peace, as a title, it sounds like something massive in scope. Yet, for that range, Burkholder derived each song with an undercurrent of personal, intimate pain. The War On Peace are not so much about global forces as individual ones; the daily struggles and sentiments that block you from feeling apart of your own life. Their raucous, electro rock for those that feel spiritually rocked seems poignant for these times; when people are struggling to embrace this world as a participant and not an onlooker.

From “Armageddon Disco” to “Close Your Eyes”, Burkholder’s voice wormed through the loneliness of doom, and how it isolates a person to believe the gloom over the world is solely their shadow. Blessed with a voice that sounds girded in a soul’s grime, each song felt like a healing companion for human misery. Yet, despite lyrically, roughened feelings and arrangements that march upon the marshes of a fighting day, this trio is light-hearted. Their bond is what shows that every soldier goes into battle, but they never do it alone. It is this truth that makes The War On Peace feel winnable. For More Information On The War On Peace Click Here.