The Exodus of Autonomy

...the music on this album is fucking godly! Wretched is a melodic/technical death metal band, formed in 2005. They are often classified as a deathcore band, and due to their usage of breakdowns, this is plausible. However, the music is very complex, melodic, and progressive, so, even though one can call them deathcore, JUST calling them deathcore would be an understatement. So, I tend to refer to them as melodic technical death metal. But labels are stupid. Wretched is a metal band, and that's all that matters. Now, this band is often associated with The Black Dahlia Murder in terms of sound, because they sound somewhat similar in style. Musically, however, Wretched is much more technical and intricate. They, skillwise, are much better than The Black Dahlia Murder.

The music on here is flawless. If I must put this on a list of top 10 deathcore albums, this would be somewhere in the top 5. Hell, it might even be my favourite deathcore album out of all of the ones I have heard so far, and that is a lot of albums. The guitar work on this album is magnificent. Steven Funderburk and John Vail handle the guitars on this album. They clearly know what they are doing, and know how to play technical riffs, but also maintain a lot of groove and melody in their playing. The title track of the album (which is actually titled "VI: The Exodus of Autonomy") is an instrumental, nearly 9 minute masterpiece, which showcases the talent of these two the most. There is a lot of room for riffs and time signatures in a 9 minute song, and they definitely take advantage of that. This song is full of solos, and some kick ass breakdowns. It's almost solo after solo, sweep after sweep, breakdown after breakdown the entire song, which keeps it interesting, as it sounds like almost nothing I've ever heard from deathcore before. There are some beautiful clean riffs in this song, too. This song seems to be part of a trilogy of songs, all of which make up the last three songs on the album. The other two tracks are "VII: The Descent" and "VIII: Everlasting Damnation". Though the last track has no guitars on it, as it is an orchestral album closer, and a beautiful one at that. On the track "Preservation of Immortality", the riffs sound almost like At the Gates worship. The whole album definitely sounds influenced by early recordings from the Gothenburg death metal bands, but very original. It's not like certain bands, who directly sound like clones of the Swedish bands. And on another note, I'll be honest: at times, this band put Between the Buried and Me to shame, containing much more intricate riffing at times, and being more consistent.

The drumming on this album is also perfection. Marshall Wieczorek's talent is shown right at the album's beginning, on the second track "Aborning", which starts with technical riffing, supported by Wieczorek's intricate, breakneck speed drumming. He doesn't keep the same pace throughout the album, which is good, as it makes for a lot of variation. His drum patterns can also get quite groovy, on songs such as "Fetal Consumption" (which also has one of the best guitar solos on the album), "Mephisto's Will", and "Final Devourment".

The vocals on this album alternate between low growls and screams. Vocals are provided on this album by Billy Powers, who is no longer in Wretched. The current vocalist is Adam Cody, who is definitely a good vocalist, but I personally prefer Powers. He has slightly more variation in his vocals than Cody does. The vocals, unfortunately, while very good, are overshadowed most of the time by the guitars. The guitar soloing on this album is probably the main part of the album, and is what the listener of Wretched tends to focus on anyway. But Powers does have to be mentioned, because first time listeners will take note of the power in his voice. His vocals definitely can help persuade people that Wretched is not just another The Black Dahlia Murder clone band, as his voice is not nearly as high pitched as Trevor Strnad's. He tends to sound more like Marduk's vocalist Mortuus on Marduk's album "Serpent Sermon" and MAYBE Strnad's lows mixed into one talent. Although as previously stated, the vocals are overshadowed most of the time by the sheer epicness of the guitar work, and this is even more of the case with the bass. David Briggs is hardly audible throughout most of the album, but you can still hear him on some parts. Take the intro to the title track, for example. Briggs is heard playing a very technical, jazzy bassline. That is probably his defining moment on the album.

Basically, Wretched is one of the best deathcore (still...I don't even feel completely right calling them that) bands out there. This album is their best, but the other two they have out to date, entitled "Beyond the Gate" and "Son of Perdition", are both very good albums. Their discography should be listened to in order, as all of their albums are amazing, and no one should be disappointed by any of them.

Pros:
Fantastic guitar work, very progressive, technical, and melodic
The breakdowns are not overused and are great when used
Drumming is powerful, albeit a little overshadowed by guitar work
The vocals
Lyrics are not cheesy

Cons:
Bass could be a little more audible, but that is not even a flaw, as the bass is the roadie of the instrument world

This is a perfect album, and I personally don't like to rate albums as 100's. I've only done it four other times, and they were all classics in the black metal genre. This is the first, and likely only, album in the deathcore genre I can think of as being a 100. It's flawless, and everyone who likes any type of extreme metal needs to hear this band. You owe it to yourselves!