Album Review: Wounds – Ruin (Everlasting Spew Records)

‘Ruin’ is the long-awaited debut album from Chicago tech-death band, Wounds, and it will be released on March 15th, 2024, via Everlasting Spew Records.

Death metal with a technical twist, and flair-ups of even more extreme sounds, Wounds follow up their 2019 debut EP (Light Eater) by showing just how far they have come. Delivering a tight and taut beast of an album. Nine tracks of tech-focused intensity with riffs that tear through flesh like the hungry bite of a wild animal, hooks that pierce the soul, percussion that grinds bones into dust, and vocals that pour salt into gaping wounds.

Putting it simply, it’s a nasty sounding record, but it’s not messy. Which makes it infinitely more listenable, especially as the technical infusions makes for a more studious listen. There’s a lot going on, but not to the point of distraction, and the over-riding focus remains on garish and guttural intensity. Hardly something to complain about if extreme metal is your jam.

It’s hard to pick a favourite track, as every single one has something about that it, that hits. Be it explosive bursts of speed, screeching guitar moments, frenzied drumming, or ‘in your face’ vocal barbs. Every time the album seems like it might be repeating itself, Wounds add some flair and send things careening off in a new direction. It makes for a very exciting listen, where you really never know what will come next. Aside from the fact that it’s probably going to be mean and ugly.

At around 38-minutes long, Ruin gives you plenty to sink the teeth into, plenty of depth and detail, plenty of reasons go head-bang yourself into a stupor, and plenty of reasons to keep coming back. It’s so far from a ‘one and down’ release, as repeat listens uncover more layers and more elements that the mind just couldn’t fathom first time round. The best kind of tech-death is the kind that thrills enough to leave an impression, but intrigues enough to make you want to come back to it time and time again. That’s Ruin, and that’s what Wounds are all about.

Wounds – Ruin Track Listing:

1. Of Ruin
2. The Archfiend’s Apothecary
3. Doom Incarnate
4. In The Maw of The Beast
5. Birth Of a New Light
6. Dismember and Devour
7. Zoophagist
8. Ready Your Mind
9. Bent On Disaster

Links

Bandcamp | Everlasting Spew Records