The latest young heathens to Ireland’s Black Metal scene unleash their debut mcd with a killer Track Mix production.
http://deadmansheadphones.blogspot.com
There’s a nagging sense of begrudgery within people of a certain generation (myself among them) in the metal scene whenever a new band’s first release is an “EP” or full length rather than a plain old demo. That stems undoubtedly back to our time serving in the great tape-trading trenches of the late 80s and early 90s where such a thing was unheard of – you had to have at least two badly recorded 3 songers with shitty hand drawn covers under your belt before progressing up to the more professional CD release. Of course waving the “back in my day” banner publicly now makes me sound like some sort of irritating underground Victor Meldrew, but privately I always feel a little vindicated when the majority of the inevitable straight-to-cd black or death metal bands invariably turn out to be a load of uncrafted, disposable bollocks. Every once in a while though you do come across a situation where a band releasing an “official” cd on a label without a demo do actually justify their quantum leap onto, and on the evidence of this 6 tracker, WOUND UPON WOUND might be one of them.
“Burial” opens proceedings in a focussed burst of blackened fury. Well structured, tightly produced, and exuding authority, there’s a clear Mayhem/Dissection influence on show for this track and the following “Grievance”. Third track “Decadence” continues the Norse influence, albeit at a less frantic pace, allowing space for the riff to remain in your head after it finishes.
It’s in the latter stages of the cd however, when they slow down and focus on setting a mood that this really clicks with me. Particularly on the final two tracks, “Last Breath” and “Reflection”, both capture a feeling similar to (without, I should add, sounding like, I should stress)demo era Katatonia or particularly Ved Buenes Ende. This more morose, stark element allows a looser approach that’s easier to absorb and get lost in then the walls of ice presented by the opening songs.
My gut instinct here is that while WUW make a fine, straight ahead black metal band when they urge takes them, that’s not really where their future or their interests lie. As fine a song as “Burial” may be, I can hear in the latter half of this cd a band letting go of the stylistic burdens they’ve imposed on themselves, and it’s here where their own personality shines through. I’d wager those two openers were probably amongst the first songs they wrote, and in a weird way it seems the sequencing of the songs reflects them getting further away from that initial point of entry. It’s worth noting that generally the band seem to pay particular care to structure within the music, and I would imagine the sequencing of the tracks was laboured over with equal attention.
Certainly, my favourite WUW song is one they’ve been playing live to open sets with, which Leigh tells me is a new song, and which points to a definite and more intriguing shift in style to come. A year from now I’d say this band will sound very different, and I’m certain if they focus themseleves on that more atmospheric side, the results to be yielded will be excellent. But for now, a fine beginning worthy of your time and money.Which, incidentally, you can spend on a copy of this beautifully packaged 5 tracker by dropping the band themselves a line at wounduponwound@hotmail.com , and address you might also want to take note of if you;re a vocalist as apparently the guys are looking for a new singer
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