Release Day Roundup: 4/5/24

Top Picks

Wretched Death – Democide (blackened death thrash)

I was in a shitty band once. We were alright. Our singer sucked and I didn't really know how to play, but we had fun. We used to joke that we were cool and played "blackened death thrash" when we really played some pretty rudimentary groove-metal/core. Point is, I wish we sounded more like Wretched Death.

One-man black-thrash bands are a dime a dozen these days but, for whatever reason, Wretched Death are doing it for me, while recently lauded releases from the likes of Midnight and Hellripper have left me pretty cold. Is that reason the extra bottom-end that pushed the recent Rage album over the line as well? Probably. While many similar acts take from the more, Motörhead-esque, speed-metal-leaning end of the genre, lone member Levie Ramsey has concocted something in Democide that sounds like Hell Awaits-era Slayer mixed with early Venom, with the bolstered production value of later Venom Inc. I love the way this album sounds, which is wholly raw, but also incredibly well balanced for what essentially appears to be a bedroom act (with three whole monthly listeners on spotify) and also reminds me a lot of In Malice's Wake's more recent death-tinged efforts.

At only twenty-three-minutes, Democide is a hell of a ride and I look forward to seeing what else Ramsey can come up with in future. In the meantime, please enjoy an excerpt of the lyrics from the song "Nazi Crusher", off of last-years far less well-produced grindcore demo Moribund (2023):

I’m so sick of your Nazi bullshit
It’s time to get my revenge
I’m gonna rip out your eyes
...
You fucking deserve this
You racist cunt
Rip off your dick
And I’ll make you suck it
Then I’ll throw you off a cliff
And feed your cock to my dog

Die!
Die!
Die!
You fascist bastard

Now that's poetry.

Alpha Wolf – Half Living Things (nu deathcore)

I've always had a soft spot for Alpha Wolf. Maybe it's my Melbourne bias showing through, but that affection has only grown since watching them absolutely blow US hardcore heavy weights (and apparent scene leaders) Knocked Loose off the stage at a festival last year, and off the back of Half Living Things* I'm more than ready to elevate them to the upper echelons of the hyper-aggressive, mosh-forward nu deathcore rankings.

Half Living Things answers the question, what if Emmure were good actually? Or, perhaps more accurately, what if Knocked loose wrote more memorable songs that were actually fun to listen to? Indeed, there seem to be a few cheeky digs thrown the way of their Kentucky counterparts' way across the album ("Thin the herd, trim the fat, It's the big bad, where my dogs at? Woof!"), although they seem to be throwing down the gauntlet to anyone and everyone with lyrics like "Where did everybody go? I don't see a lot of movement, Hear a lot of talk and not enough of the music" which opens the utterly devastating deathcore diss-track "Sucks 2 Suck" and, with sloganeering that sharp, anyone foolish to pick it up will be picking their teeth up first (as the song well warns).

Not everything on the album works as well as it might. The overwrought sincerity of quasi-ballad "Whenever You're Ready" sticks out like a sore thumb amid all the bludgeoning braggadocio, and, for all it's glory, Ice-T's rambling, nonsensical appearance on "Sucks 2 Suck" is perhaps the most ill-fitting and awkwardly inserted guest spot since Billy Corgan teamed up on Corgan Code Orange. Then again, it all adds to the album's pig-headed charm. They might have started off more readily aping Korn, but Alpha Wolf are now in their Limp Bizkit-era it fits them as snugly as a backwards-facing NLB cap, while tracks like "Mangekyō" and "A Terrible Day For Rain" prove they still know how to bring the brutality when necessary.

Let it be known: there's a new top-dog in town.

*Shouldn't that be Half-Living Things? Speaking of which, shouldn't it be "Release-Day Roundup"? I don't know, I've been overdoing it on the hyphenation lately and I fear I've lost all perspective.