Wounds takes up the fight!
After a few years as Wounds of Ruin, followed by a beloved debut EP in 2019, the band comprising Neil Haney (vocals), Rick Mora (guitar), Franco Caballero (bass) and Nate Burgard (drums) unveil the release of Ruin, their debut album, via Everlasting Spew Records.
With Of Ruin, the short first track, the band laid the foundations for what was to come on this album: a veritable surge as complex as it is aggressive. In less than two minutes, the musicians manage to fascinate and then sweep us off our feet before The Archfiend’s Apothecary places the vocal parts in the hurricane of unbridled violence and jerky groove, letting a mix as clean as it is explosive pay homage to each element. The rhythm section is devastating, as on Doom Incarnate where blast and bass compete with the vocal eruptions and scathing harmonics that the quartet pours out without slowing down. Some heavier influences are also exploited on In The Maw Of The Beast, where the band adopts a chaotic pace made up of unexpected accelerations and worked riffs while letting the vocalist roar regularly, as on Birth Of A New Light where the sustained rhythm is perfectly managed to let the technicality bludgeon us. Dismember And Devour will offer a similar sound in terms of complexity and strength, but with a slightly more Old School approach that is felt both in certain groovier parts and in the sequence of riffs, while Zoophagist returns to the impressive, heavier and unbridled parts punctuated by more tumultuous passages. The sound eventually fades out, giving way to Ready Your Mind, which continues the infernal overkill at full speed for each instrument, before Bent On Disaster closes the album with equally crazy catchy patterns that will make music lovers dream.
Whether you’re a musician or not, you can’t help but admire the precision and coherence with which Wounds aligns its crafted riffs on Ruin, making them as explosive and unpredictable as catchy!
95/100