Oozing Wound : "Whatever Forever"

I am making it a point of listening to the first song of everything in my in-box. If I'm not feeling it then delete and move on. If something grabs me then I'll review it. This hipster thrash band on Thrill Jockey sounds like they have blown all their speakers as they come at you full speed. The riff to "Diver" is slightly catchier than the opener. The vocals are yelled at you with a nasty sneer. Four minutes into the second song there is a shimmery almost post rock level of sonics brought in and it's clear that they have more in common with Lightning Bolt than Testament. "Deep Space" has more of a punk feel to it. The snare hits are too stiff for me. It does stir itself into a denser storm, but there is something not metal about this.

There is a tinge of a heavier sludgey sound to "Mercury in Retrograde". It circles around the mammoth riff, but never instead of developing more into a song things just soar off into a more chaotic sonic sphere and eventually come back down to earth. The fuzzy lo-fi ambiance that gives this album some of it's charm can hamper certain tones, namely the drums which could be powerful but sound like pop corn popping going into "Weather Tamer" . Though I like the angular attack of this song. The drone off the sonic wells for longer than you would think a supposed trash band should. The plus side is it does darken up the album a bit. Things stay dark for "Everything Sucks and My Life is a Lie".  This is the first place I can hear a grungey side to the band though the song fall victim to a barrage of drums for no reason. There is a more genuine metallic attack to "Tachycardia".

The album closes with the furious "Sky Creep".  It's feral enough and convincingly heaving, but more along the lines of Eyehategod. I'll round this up to a 7.5 , as these kids have potential. I think working more on songs rather than trying to challenge you with cool abrasion is a better investment. If you go into this as an interesting experience rather than wanting to hear  a new thrash band you will have more reasonable expectations.