Stark Raving Mad

Wrath were one of the bands that have been plagued by the “early peak” curse as their sophomore “Nothing to Fear” would invariably tower over everything else they tried to create before and after… not that the guys peppered the road with dozens of albums after it, but especially in reunion cases like that, there would be one single question in the metal head’s mind: how would this new recording fare against this magnanimous second coming?

Well, this question may have become a quite redundant one after the disastrous “Wrath E.P.” in 2008 which, for some shocking reason, decided to unearth the slowly, but surely forgotten groovy post-thrashy sounds from the past decade, in the least appropriate time, the music accompanied by the furthest possible choice from the previous high-strung clean vocal exploits, a harsh hardcore-ish semi-shouter. If the style on the potential full-length was going to be based on this charade then it had better remain unreleased.

And it did, truth be told, at least for another six years during which time the band re-released their first two efforts as the “Mutants” compilation, a step that couldn’t have possibly been followed by an ode to the groovy 90’s. And it wasn’t, like the opus reviewed here nicely shows, a classic thrash slab which doesn’t quite reach the heights from the past, but is a fairly decent addition to the contemporary old school metal roster, and to the band’s own discography.

The opening “Face to Face” doesn’t promise much entertainment along the lines of the older impetuous thrashisms being a mild crossover-ish crowd pleaser, but comes ”Licking Wounds” and things become instantly more attractive with the hard-hitting riffs and the jumpier rhythmic section, a cut that would have been a highlight on “Insane Society”, for instance. “Into Machine” hardens the course being a short explosive headbanger, but “Within” pacifies the environment with a portion of milder power metal-ish configurations that disappear for the lively semi-technicaller “Conquered, Divided” which blends both sides into a cool diverse roller-coaster. “High Tides” is a contrasting amalgam of fast and speedy passages the latter not far from being proto-death ornate even, and “Payment Due” is a steady mid-pacer of the power/thrashy variety. “Retaliation” is more intense with a very jumpy rhythm-section bordering on groove, but nothing awfully 90’s-ish, especially after “Heads Hung In Shame” shoots another slab of dynamic bouncy power/thrash with a more officious epic flair as a finishing touch.

The vocalist, different from the one on the demo, is a much better choice although his levelled, not very emotional clean timbre lacks the pathos-like dramatism that was so characteristic of the band’s older singers. Not that the musical delivery really requires some extraordinary vocal bravado as it doesn’t hit any highs from both an executional and compositional point-of-view… the guys merely announce their actual return to the scene without straining themselves to produce unheard-of feats, at this stage content enough with erasing the shame from the previous showing. Thrash may not be a constant presence here, if we have to complain about anything, but as a mixture of all things old school this effort delivers the goods by at the same time not promising much in terms of both aggression and technicality on potential future instalments.

Well, with none other than Gary Golwitzer, yes, that same one, the inimitable banshee from “Nothing to Fear”, brought back in the game in 2015 the band may be setting the scene for another fearless creation… don’t raise your hopes too high, my piece of advice; it’s always better to leave some room for surprise than to be perplexed by another portion of crazy musical ravings.