czwartek, 12 maja 2022

A review of Writhing Shadows "Writhing Shadows"

Writhing Shadows

"Writhing Shadows"

Dawnbreed Rec. / Gurgling Gore 2022

 


Friday, May 13th, meaning today, is when the release date of the debut album from Birmingham / Alabama's Writhing Shadows, was scheduled. The band is admittedly young, dating two years back, but as befits the underground, decent standards, already having a demo, split and two EPs on their account. Now it's time for a full-lenght, simply titled "Writhing Shadows". We find here eight compositions, lasting together less than half an hour, which are basically the quintessence of old school death metal. No, there is absolutely nothing innovative or revealing on the album. The Americans simply collected all the most attractive inspirations from around the globe, took lessons from the greatest masters and melted everything into their own style. Mostly based on the British school. The echoes of Bolt Thrower are clearly audible here, for example in marching, armored rhythms with a stainless melody, which makes you want to put on a tank helmet, aim and slap one hundred twenty millimeters at hated enemies. There is no racing against the wind or technical show offs here. There is, instead, an incredible weight and a perfectly balanced groove. However, this is not just another clone of the Coventry legend. Writhing Shadows very wisely weaves in their sounds some elements referring to the Swedish school, appearing, for example, in the transitions into d-beats, or the Finnish one, resonating in the guitar patents appearing several times on the album, strongly suggesting that the gentlemen know Demilich inside out. To make it more interesting, the sound of the guitars also seems to evolve over the course of this album, adapting in timbre to the patterns mentioned above. The drum parts are also quite varied, sometimes simple, pounding, almost punkish, and then heavy and overwhelming. Did I mention anything about the bass lines? Let me just say that this instrument also makes a strong presence on “Writhing Shadows”, apparently in the slightly post-apocalyptic ending of “Devourment of God's People”. Saying of the vocal, it is a classic puke, and also here no one tried to reinvent or forcefully experiment with gunpowder. In addition, some fragments also feature delicate, moderately used keyboard ornaments, and all of this combined together makes Writhing Shadows' debut work like a solidly oiled war machine. I am absolutely convinced that no old school geek, especially of  the aforementioned death metal fractions, will feel disappointed with these recordings. On the contrary, I think that many of them will have "Writhing Shadows" at the top of the summaries, at least in the "US Death Metal Debut Album" category. Killer!

- jesusatan

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