Album Review: Strangle Wire – Shaped By Human Frailty (Grindscene Records)
A gargantuan collision between the heaviest of death metal and the darkest of emotions, submerged in an unsettling atmosphere of grief and isolation, Shaped by Human Frailty is the debut full length album from Belfast’s Strangle Wire. Out on September 30th, 2022, via Grindscene Records.
From the very start, Strangle Wire bring blistering fury to the forefront with the smash and crash of Heavily Medicated. A sickening expulsion of noise; the riffs are akin to a saw cutting through flesh and bone, the drums are crunchingly intense, the bass akin to a sledgehammer to the knees and the vocals, scorn filled. It’s an opening that tells you everything you need know about this band in a little under three and a half minutes.
That’s just the start though and there is a lot more ‘heavy’ to come as Learned Wretchedness makes an even deeper impression with its unforgivingly brutal tempo. Followed by the malcontent of Judas Switch and the inane sadism of The Human Tensile Experiment. Each track, a physical and mental blow that can be hard to recover from.
It’s a good thing Strangle Wire are happy enough to pick you up, just so they can knock you on your ass again. The cold comfort of a melodic intermission (An Abhorrent Intervention) hardly enough to prepare the listener for the beating meted out by the title track. Nor the old-school death metal savagery that emanates from the horrific heaviness of Dead Before the Still. A track with absolutely no frills to it but so enjoyable because of how blunt it is.
Finally, it’s the pairing of Psychology of the Sick and Horrors Beneath that sees Strangle Wire rip the last remaining life out of the body. Two more examples of how this band’s innate ability to wreck the mind, body and spirit is unrelenting.
No complaints – they’re both bangers. As is the album overall.
Strangle Wire – Shaped by Human Frailty Full Track Listing:
1. Heavily Medicated
2. Learned Wretchedness
3. Judas Switch
4. The Human Tensile Experiment
5. An Abhorrent Intervention
6. Shaped By Human Frailty
7. Dead Before the Still
8. Psychology of the Sick
9. Horrors Beneath
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Strangle Wire - Shaped By Human Frailty (Grindscene Records)
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The Final Score - 7.5/10
7.5/10
