Album Review: Wasted Death – Season Of Evil (APF Records)

Brace yourselves, as London-based power trio Wasted Death is about to unleash their sonic onslaught upon the world with their upcoming album, ‘Season of Evil’, set to drop on March 15th, 2024, under the banner of APF Records.

They’re back and back with a f**king vengeance. Noise mongers through and through, if you’re unfamiliar with Wasted Death you’ll find everything from punk to grindcore to d-beat to thrash metal, and then some, here. There are no rules to the Wasted Death soundscape, aside from the fact that it’s going to be loud and intense.

Which, unsurprisingly, is exactly what Season of Evil offers, alongside lashings of tongue in cheek horror. Emerging from a rancid pool of blood with garish grins, they hold nothing back with the punk-thrash combo that is T-Virus. The pounding instruments and screaming vocals will twist the mind, body, and soul into something truly unbearable.

With even more rawness and an even more intense tempo, Wirehead seems like it’s going to be more of the same, but this is a track with some fascinating moments of levity and expansive guitar parts. There’s a hell of a lot going on in a track that isn’t even two minutes long.

Wasted Death like to keep it short and sharp and that is further exemplified by the following bursts of carnage that come from Dogs on Hind Legs and Brain All Rot. The speed, the heaviness, the intensity… it’s enough to turn the brain into mush. Except Wasted Death have this incredible ability to keep the mind focused through their twisting and turning track structures. These tracks, and the album in general, has way more going on musically than you might first expect.

Which is why a longer track (nearly four minutes) like Selfish Enough to Suck Air also works. It’s a side to Wasted Death we don’t see enough of, where they keep the heavy rawness front and centre, but take a more measured approach to tempos, have touches of groove, and push the horror to even higher levels. This is an outstanding track, and mightily experimental for them.

How about a bit of death metal filtered through a d-beat punk mentality? Stratofortress has this to offer, and the instruments have never sounded chunkier. Or how about nothing but ugly, horror-laden, stomach-churning noise? Nation of Mouthbreathers is where it’s at. Wasted Death are kicking all kinds of ass, and the album is as hot now, as it was at the beginning.

Just like that, it’s over, but not before we get two mighty fine offerings in the form of Keeping the Lid On and Wasted Death by Wasted Death. The former is traditionally abrasive and tonally chaotic, whereas the latter is a mammoth undertaking that nearly hits the five-minute mark. I shit you not. So, what do Wasted Death do with the time? Make a ton of noise, obviously. Delivering a meaty finish that burns through so many different ideas, features a phenomenal guitar solo, and guarantees broken necks through the sheer force of the head-banging that is going on.

It’s an outstanding album that proves emphatically, Wasted Death are one the UK’s finest purveyors of noise.

Wasted Death – Season of Evil Track Listing:

1. T-Virus
2. Wirehead
3. Dogs on Hind Legs
4. Brain All Rot
5. Selfish Enough to Suck Air
6. Stratofortress
7. Nation of Mouthbreathers
8. Keeping The Lid On
9. Wasted Death by Wasted Death

Links

Bandcamp | Spotify | APF Records