What I had trouble adjusting to was the realisation that this is also their finest work to date. They freely imbibe influences from across the extreme metal spectrum -- one song even features a head nodding mid-era Katatonia styled melody -- but drawing it all into a vicious and coherent masterwork. The mid-length songs allow little room for superfluous tangential passages, ensuring each note is a vital cog in their (ahem) "war machine". It may initially seem that atmosphere has been abandoned, but it hasn't; it has merely metamorphosed into a different, more subtle and effective format than the usual key histrionics.

Deinonychus may have lost some fans with _War Machines_, but will have gained many more with this release.