From the opening blast of "Birthing Sloth", the kick-off track of Wretched's latest slab of extreme metal mayhem for Victory Records, titled Beyond the Gate, it's quickly apparent that their 2009 debut The Exodus of Autonomy was no fluke. In a world full of stale death-core acts and too many technical extreme acts trying to see who can 'out-complex' who, Wretched take their Gothenburg influenced style to the next level, pairing intelligent, melodic riffing with tasty guitar solos, jackhammer rhythms, and solid vocal growls.
Guitar solos? Yep, and plenty of 'em, as well as some damn fine harmony guitar lines in the fine tradition of early In Flames, At the Gates, and Dark Tranquility. Though not quite as technical as say The Faceless or Psychroptic, Wretched weave some impressively intricate riff-o-rama, but it's the delicious fills and harmony lines from guitarists John Vail & Steven Funderburk that really make Beyond the Gate stand up and warrant attention. Their blinding, intense riffage on "A Still Mantra" drives the rhythm team of bassist Rico Marziali & drummer Marshall Wieczorek to new levels of insanity, and the epic instrumental title track sees the duo take plenty of influence from the legends Iron Maiden. On the latter there's some delicate acoustic work, some insane unison lines, crushing riffs, muscular lead bass, and pulverizing rhythms. If it's skull crushing death metal you crave, look no further than "My Carrion", a brutal masher with a killer breakdown and some agonizing growls from Billy Powers.
Beyond the Gate is not your typical death-core platter by any means. There's plenty of intelligent, well executed, melodic extreme metal contained within this CD, and if you like things on the technical side there's a good amount of that too. I think Withered are finally ready to play with the big boys now.
Track Listing
01. Birthing Sloth
02. The Deed of Elturiel
03. In the Marrow
04. A Still Mantra
05. Cimmerian Shamballa
06. On the Horizon
07. Part I - Aberration
08. Part II - Beyond The Gate
09. My Carrion
10. The Guardians of Uraitahn
11. The Talisman
12. Eternal Translucence
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