Moldovan five-piece Melodic Death Metal band, THE WARD, have released their fourth effort and their second full-length album, called "Part of Humanity". It's the follow up of their 2013 EP "Death Monastery", and of their 2012 full-length album "Something in Russian I don't understand".

The album kicks off with "End Of Time", an intro song, which solely consists of keyboards and synthesizers. It kind of reminds me of what VAN HALEN did on their album "1984". The song flows seamlessly over into "Megiddo", where the drums start banging and the vocals boom down on you, like thunder on a clear day. The guitars and keyboards keep the whole thing nice and melodic. I really like that you can understand the vocals a little bit, and the keyboards give their music an extra dimension.

"Towards Extinction" starts with some of the heaviest guitars you're able to hear, and keeps going on like that, for that matter. After a minute or so, the song changes and the guitarists keep mixing things up, with piercing melodies and booming riffs. They keep the whole thing from becoming monotonous.

"Under The Fire Garden" starts very fiercely with ominous sounding keyboard in the background keeping things fresh. "Death Monastery" is a bit more of the previous songs, except for the little intermezzo in the middle of it. "The Ultimate Dream" has the same structure, but "In The Depths of Theories" is a bit different, thanks to the change of pace in the rhythms and due to the longer middle part with soft guitars.

"Part of Humanity" is something else still. Whispering vocals led by a drumbeat lead the song to an explosion of guitars. After that it keeps on changing, for the good, that is. This eight minute long effort can be called the magnum opus of their second album.

With "Issued Blood" and "Flakes of Rapture", they go back to their good old Melodic Death Metal selves, although the female voice in the latter are a really nice touch. It weirdly fits very well. After that it's time for "The Beginning of...", an outro song, which finishes the album off the way it started, with keyboards and synths; the end of an album worth listening to. Nothing groundbreaking going on, but it's definitely a good one.<