Album Review: Widow’s Peak – Claustrophobe (Self Released)

Technical death metal band Widows Peak will release their debut full-length album, ‘Claustrophobe’ on July 7th, 2023.

Not sure what you’re in for here? Well, the odd introduction of Blood on the Breath won’t exactly clear that up. The eerie tone and discombobulated instrumentation doesn’t make much sense, but you might need to get used to that as the album goes on.

This is a bit of mental mind-f**k of an album. As technically wild, progressively weird, and extreme as they come. Widows Peak unleashing carnage with the title track, scarring the mind with the sharpness of Implements of Hell, and dropping devastating heaviness with The Worming Hour. There’s no time to take a breath, Widows Peak’s mayhem is as savage as it complex. Even keeping up with them proves to be a challenge.

A challenge that most will relish though as the detail in each track is interesting, the overall extreme speed and intensity is exciting, and their unbending attitude to relentless heaviness is likeable.

Into the warped sound of Monochrome, where a frenzy of guitars awaits. Another scathing vocal performance arrives with Pillars of Failure, Charlatans Of Industry is more aggressive than anything heard so far, and Thrombosis burns the senses to nothing with a stupendous array of technical supremacy.

Up to this point, Widows Peak have kept things short and sharp, but that changes with Heartworms I: Aorta. An eight-minute bevy of noise that transitions into enigmatic melody, building back up to a massive cacophony. It is one of the cleverest sounding tracks on the entire album.

Heartworms II: Vena Cava takes a different approach to the previous track, as in it has no melody, and goes for all-out mercilessness from the first moment to the very last. Before the album wraps up with a lengthy outro built on a blend of moody and relaxing melody with When the Last Leaf Wilts.

Widows Peak – Claustrophobe Track Listing:

1. Blood On the Breath
2. Claustrophobe
3. Implements Of Hell
4. The Worming Hour
5. Monochrome
6. Pillars Of Failure
7. Charlatans Of Industry
8. Thrombosis
9. Heartworms I: Aorta
10. Heartworms II: Vena Cava
11. When The Last Leaf Wilts

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