Fueled by Fear

Wraith to me has been one of the top 3 bands in the current resurgence of blackened thrash metal. Taking a gritty, more hardcore angle to the genre, the band's strengths are in making short, catchy headbangers. Dominator, Heed the Warning, Bastards, DEVIL'S HOUR; under 3 minutes and have the hook in your head the rest of the night - that's where they excel - and that's why with this album I'm left wanting.

While some songs did breach the 4 minute mark for the first time ever, others just weren't having the staying power of past successes and for the first time with the band I'm left feeling bored at times. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad album, but after several listens I've noticed I'm opting to skip tracks, whether it's through a slog like Warlord or Hell's Canyon, or an annoying structure like Shame in Suffering, the band just isn't in their usual groove, both failing to keep things interesting (some material is really starting to sound samey) and coming up short on the experimentation they did try. This is also their longest album, with 14 tracks, that could and should have been a tight 9.

Another issue I have is production. While previous albums had similar shoddy production work, I was really hoping they would finally tighten things up. Their usual producer must think he's being clever and unique by aggressively dialing the mids into the floor, but the end result, every time, is the music sounding muddy and compressed. To me, it's a waste of that time spent in the studio because the quality should be much better, but it's distorted by design. I'm just airing grievances here but I hope that guy gets canned and they try giving their sound more bite on future releases.

High points include Ice Cold Bitch, Merchant of Death, and Heathens Touch; the first two being especially catchy and what I want more of from Wraith. I do think this album is worth a listen, but reluctantly, only after you've checked out their previous efforts.