Wrathrone - "Reflections of Torment" (Satanath Records/The Void Records, 2018)
Band: Wrathrone Title: Reflections of Torment Genre: Death Metal with some Thrash Metal elements Time: 47.23 min Release Date: 23rd April 2018 Rating: 90/100
Born in 2008, this Finnish quintet has a stable line-up even since 2009, and this is incredible within an extreme metal underground where the musicians are used to come and go continuously from most of the bands. So, you can already understand that you are in presence of a very compact and very tight-knit band that released some months ago an outstanding second album through the usual Satanath Records along with the Italian label The Void Records (that I didn't know before even though it's Italian!).
What can you expect from a band admittedly influenced by "bad people" such as Dismember, Bolt Thrower, Entombed and Vallenfyre? But nothing than OLD-SCHOOL DEATH METAL! In fact, Wrathrone play basically a death metal characterized by a gloomy atmosphere (also thanks to a murky production full of chainsaw guitars), an excellent interaction between the two axes (this means that the lead guitar puke often not only additional riffs so to support the work of the rhythmic guitar but also nice solos), and some thrash metal influences that help to create more intensity. More importantly, the band show a great inventiveness throughout the 10 songs of this "Reflections of Torment", so expect to listen to an album which is even able to surprise a lot the listeners by offering unpredictable solutions.
To show to you this versatility and also the different skills possessed by Wrathrone, I can mention my favorite numbers. So, let's start with "End of Your Sanity", that's surely the most thrash metal-oriented song, and it's so intense to be perfect for the moshpit. A promotional video was made for "Bloodline" (below you can find its official video while, above, you can watch the clip made for the opening "Throne"), that show a more dynamic sound also by playing some funny groovy solutions. Instead, the following "Dead Inside Me" is an amazing combination between fury and melody, surprising everyone, at a certain point, with a very atmospheric part in which there aren't only some delicate piano notes but also a melancholic guitar solo, before to slay everything through a totally brutal restart. After that, there is a massive mid-tempo with some great riffs called "Bloodshroud", an excellent example of how Wrathrone are good also with slower songs. Other memorable pieces of death metal are the last two tracks: the more black metal-oriented song "Last Journey North" (that starts with a dark intro where there is a piano) and the closing "By Dawn They'll Hang", in which the pace is more focused on sinister and apocalyptic mid-tempos. So, tell me, did you understand the compactness of this band?
Do you think that all this worth attentions from the death metal maniacs? FUCK YEEEEAH! This because Wrathrone offers an old-school death metal played with great versatility and fresh ideas (also taking inspirations from other metal genres, especially thrash metal) but without losing anything in fact of wickedness, darkness and apocalyptic feelings. Finding flaws into this album is very difficult, since, at most, there are less engaging tracks like "When All Light Died". But the fact is that "Reflections of Torment" belongs to that category of albums which can contains some good surprises in every song, so it's a big pleasure listening to this album, and the final result is that I consider it a modern masterpiece of old-school death metal! Some comparisons? I think the Swedish death metal à la Dismember/Entombed, the Finnish death metal à la Abhorrence, and surely Bolt Thrower. If you want some more modern bands similar, in some features, to Wrathrone, then I could mention Venefixion (for the thrashing and dark tunes) and Tomb Mold (for their sinister mood). At this point, considering that Wrathrone are very prolific as regards the live activities (in addition to sharing the stage, some time ago, with bands already reviewed here like Cryptic Brood or Lubricant, they have recently toured in the Baltic countries and also in Germany), I hope that, soon or later, they'll manage to play here in Rome, Italy. Meanwhile, they'll celebrate their 10th anniversary on 1st December 2018 in a live gig in Turku along with bands like Tomb of Finland and Funeralglade. Will you be there?
Tracklist:
1 - Throne
2 - End of Your Sanity
3 - Gut Goddess
4 - Bloodline
5 - Dead Inside Me
6 - Bloodshroud
7 - When All Light Died
8 - Through Desolate Passage
9 - Last Journey North
10 - By Dawn They'll Hang
Line-up:
Matti Vehmas - vocals
Vili Mäkinen - guitars/backing vocals
Lauri Holm - guitars
Pekka Wärri - bass
Mikael Ruoho - drums
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