WTF

What an unusual album we have ourselves here today. Very strange indeed, consisting of melodic guitar solos, many riffs, and many time signatures. All of the riffs and awkward time signitures featured on WTF are what make WTF stand out in my collection and not just some plain old, and generic melodeath album. Now there is more to WTF than just flashy guitar work, because WTF may not be the most complex album on the market, it still has some hidden gems that need to be uncovered. While listening to WTF and searching for those hidden gems, you will be thinking exactly what the title suggest.

Despite the somewhat comical name, WTF is a rather serious album released by two serious metalheads. This is a very fast album, with tempo changes being constant in each song. Before and after each tempo change you will hear similar melodic riffs from more popular melodeath acts. More popular acts in the vein of In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, and even Amon Amarth. The most notable influences from the three bands listed above can be found in “Rasputin's Magical Penis Goes on a Picnic” which features riffs of a similar sound that could be found on Whoracle, Projector, and With Oden On Our Side. “Freeze Into Fire” is probably the heaviest song on here. It has some riffs resembling what could have been early (first album) Cryptopsy. However, with all the cool riffs floating around there comes a point where all the excitement comes to a halt. Take “Chugronomicon” for example, which has about as much chugging as your average Meshuggah song. Thankfully “Chugronomicon” is the only song of that sort on WTF, and the rest of the songs consist of no chugging, and focus more on the riffs, duel guitar melodies, and complex time signatures that can be found throughout.

All the cool guitar solos and riffs do not make WTF so unique though, it has to be the drumming hands down. Fast nonstop blast beats in the title track with a snare being hit like a jackhammer and very strange time signatures going on with the cymbals and bass drum, very interesting work. Too bad that there are no vocals to be found on WTF though. That is a downside for I would have liked if WTF had some vocals, at least on one song. Without the vocals the album as a whole feels like somethings missing, like not all of the components to make an enjoyable album are not there. It’s like you have a jigsaw puzzle and you’re missing one of the most important pieces to it. Anyway, get past the name and the fact that WTF has no vocals anywhere, WTF is a very fast, technical, and melodic album that almost any melodeath fan should enjoy. Just be sure to ignore those song titles and you’ll be fine.

Phew! Now that I have recovered from the massive orgasm I received upon hearing this album, I think it's time that I review it. It will doubtlessly be a challenge though, because I am not sure at all what the fuck this band is trying to sound like! It says death metal, but it's more like blackened power metal with some death metal influences. Ah, what the hell, I'll just review it as an extreme metal album.

First of all, let me tell you that despite this band's name and song titles ("Rasputin's Magical Penis Goes On A Picnic", "Ultra Dimensional Time-Warp Space Rape") they are by no means a bad band, quite the opposite in fact. This entire album is instrumental, so I can't review any vocals, but everything else is pretty much perfect. The guitar riffs are creative and well-played (although they use so many of them that you get pretty jaded towards them) and the drum programming is used in all the right places, although it tends to sound too robotic sometimes. The best thing about the album though, is simply that it's a half hour long orgy of creative riffs, ecstatic drumming and an assortment of cameos by other random musical instruments (including a piano, acoustic guitar, and some thing which sounds like an instrument from RuneScape).

There's not much else to say, since the whole album sounds almost the same, but considering that the whole thing is available as a free high quality download endorsed by the band, there's no reason not to get this album.