The Werewolves machine keeps rolling forward.
The Ugliest Of All is the sixth album from the band led by Sam Bean (vocals/bass, Faustian, The Berzerker), Matt Wilcock (guitar, Abramelin, The Berzerker, The Antichrist Imperium, ex-Akercocke) and David Haley (drums, Abramelin, Consummation, Faustian, Psycroptic, The Amenta, Ruins…) since its creation six years ago.
The album kicks off with Fools Of The Trade, the first track, which is unapologetically violent and fast-paced, with the rhythm section trampling us vehemently while growls fill the air. Double kick, blasts and staccato riffs take turns before slowing down for a catchy passage, but the rage quickly returns, leading us to an original final sample before moving on to I Want To Be Offended, which follows much the same recipe, adding piercing harmonics. The abrasive basis remains fairly constant but doesn’t hesitate to transform into a veritable torrent of blows, just like Skullbattering, which follows and unleashes its fury from the very first moments. The track does feature a few rare and brief breaks, but the aggression remains constant, ceasing only temporarily with the introductory sample of Unoriginal Sin, which nonetheless leads us to a new wave of scathing leads, but also with a good dose of agonizing dissonance. We continue with The Enshittification, which starts off at an almost calm pace but soon ignites, even offering a rather gentle moment with a groovy base, but no one is fooled, and chaos will resume its place. Logorrea kicks off at full throttle, sweeping us along in its virulent flow to a particularly unifying martial section, then Rats Versus Snakes sets out to hit us relentlessly until we are exhausted, going straight for the goal and proudly displaying its devastating rhythm. The band barely gives us time to catch our breath and attacks again with Slaves To The Blast and its obvious need for destruction, but also its sometimes slightly more raw and catchy riffing, before moving on to The Ugliest Of All, the last composition, which shows us absolutely no mercy and strings together the wildest patterns under Sam’s roars, offering an interesting diversity to close the album, as well as a more elaborate guitar passage from Matt.
As we expect every year, Werewolves returns with a handful of raw but oh-so-delicious riffs marked by violence. The Ugliest Of All joins its predecessors and unashamedly takes its place as the heir to the band’s rage.
95/100