finding that their lyrics – which he said "came across as grandstanding" in U2's earlier work – cohered into a "remarkably clear" vision on War and, complemented by the band's "muscular, forceful performances", succeed at "making the universal sound personal". J. D. Considine and Nathan Brackett's overview of U2's discography in the 2004 edition of The Rolling Stone Album Guide states that with War, the band brought more focus to their songwriting and effectively balanced personal and political subject matter, while also creating a musically "richer and more varied" album than October. Reviewing War upon its 2008 reissue, Blenders Jon Dolan opined that it marked a tonal shift from U2's more "inwardly focused" previous albums and demonstrated the band's newfound "titanic moral and sonic force", while Rolling Stones David Fricke commented that on War, "U2 sound like stars, not aspirants, ready for their money shot". Steven Hyden, writing for The A.V. Club, said that the album showed Bono's mastery of "the art of the grand symbolic gesture" through "his inspirational iconography on anthems like 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' and 'New Year's Day'". Pitchfork reviewer Joe Tangari concluded, "The U2 we've known ever since had arrived on War, and even today it sounds vital." According to Treble writer Jeff Terich, War served as "a triumphant close to [U2's] post-punk trilogy" and "the dividing line between U2, the young Dublin new wave act and U2, the heroic stadium rock band". In a dissenting analysis, Bob Stanley believed the band had actually deviated from post-punk's regionalism and rejection of pop music universality by achieving progressively higher levels of international success. He wrote that, beginning with War, "it became increasingly hard to tell what U2 stood for, or what their purpose was – their vastness and their complete avoidance of detail made them hard to read, let alone love. One day someone will explain to Bono that pop is always more expressive when it is trying to mend a broken heart than when it's trying to save the world." Track listing In 1993, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab remastered the album from the original analog master tapes and released it on a 24kt gold plated CD. The original master recording has slightly different running times: "Seconds" runs 3:22, adding 11.5 seconds in the break section (beginning at approx. 2:01) "New Year's Day" runs 5:38, leaving in the one measure before the guitar break (beginning at approx.