Wake : "Devouring Rain"

On first listen to the opening track you might think this  Canadian band stomps out some crusty yet melodic sludge. The vocals are guttural and growled with a great deal of conviction. Then the death metal influence that appears on the second song sticks and stays. You can hear traces of their more grind core past.,midway into the song the chaos becomes more pronounced. Obviously saying the drummer is a monster would be stating what is expected when it comes to this kind of music. The guitar are more interesting as this is way more texture finding them maturing out of being brutal for the sake of sonic brutality.  By the time we get to "This Abyssal Plain" they are throwing the melodic headway they made on the first song out the window. There are breaks of weirdness and things do slow down into the kind of pounding I am more about. This is not the album's only weird noisy moment.

There are tormented layers to the anger being expressed here, so it has more depth than just in your face death metal aggression.  Yet when it comes to the actual notes being played they come across as a more sonically throbbing take on death metal. Fans of Ulcerate should 100 percent be down for this album. They even pull out some jaw dropping guitar solos.This is the first thing that reminds me that Ben from Khemmis plays on this album. They throw in a great deal of dissonance and slap it against often sharply angular riffs. When they do speed up into a blazing fury on "Torchbearer" it's fine because they have already been doing other forms of heavy. "In the Lair of the Rat Kings" is not as dynamic. It is very heavy, but some what one dimensional, though driven by a cool riff. The rule around here however is cool riffs alone does not a good song make. The vocals get a little monotonous by the point in the album.

"Monuments to Impiety" hammers at you like a post- Dave Vincent steam roller of a Morbid Angel song.  They end with more of this death metal tone . It's stompy in some places, but barrels pas you with a great deal of double bass. These guys are good at what they do. While I have enjoyed the listens already derived from this album it's not something I can see myself listening to on a regular basis, but I will give this album an 8.Comes out this Month on Translation Lost Records.

Wake : " Misery Rites"

 This album came out back in February. Which is not as long ago as that sounds now. Without question these guys are heavy as fuck. The question would be , but can they write songs? The answer is cleverly evaded by writing two minute songs that hit you so fast, you never have the chance to ask it twice. It's not until "Rot" that the vocals do something with a feel that sticks with you in one section. It more of a barked chant. These guys are dense , but not as spastic as hat comes to mind when I think of grind core. They are more death metal than a band like Nails. They are also less hardcore and have more of a metal core sound. No break downs so far though. "Paradigm Lost" finds them letting up on some of the more unrelenting bull dozer charges with that they have hit you with up until this point. They blast back before the end of the song .There  the chaos is contained in a manner not unlike mid period Converge so post- "Jane Doe"

"Exile" blast by in the more rushed style that is common with grind core, how ever they do find a more churning groove of sorts. It breaks down into more of a deliberate half time feel that is much more melodic than how the song started. The minute and a half "Ruination" is much more unhinged in it's speedy squeal. The vocals go up from their normal death metal growl into a more tortured squawk. There is a more technical spasm ripping into " Bitter Winter" . The last song "Burial Ground" is the longest at seven and a half minutes, which by today's metal standards is about average. This song has more of a dark black metal buzzing to how it blasts into you. The vocals are more scathing and higher. The vocals go into a lower accent on what would be the chorus. There minutes things go into a slow melodic part which is a first for this album. The vocals layers that come in create a evil sounding unison. Lyrically they are not invoking demons and seem to be about contemplating their own anger.

I'll round this one up to an 8. These guys are really good at what they do. What do sometimes falls into a collection of cool riffs, which hits the rule we have here that cool riffs alone do not a good song make. I think the average metal head might not be as picky when it comes to this, so if you like hard core and death metal then this album is worth your time.They are currently on tour with Withered.

Wake : "Sowing the Seeds of a Worthless Tomorrow"

If asked what the next big trend in metal was going to be , I would say grindcore. While it has had a strong underground following every since Napalm Death reared it's ugly head, it is building steam to press into the mainstream metal consciousness. A more punks grow up and into metal the ground is fertile. Canadian bashers Wake might ride in on this wave as they have enough teeth and a dark dismal sense to them that works well in the current climate of today's metal. They hit you with blasts and let you breathe in the cracks their explosion creates. They are not to be listened to if you have a hang over or even a mild head ached. In fact in need at least a half cup of coffee in me to appreciate their spastic attack. If it was not for their darker dissonant side that allows this sliver of ambiance to creep in I don't think these guys would be my thing. While "Drones" has a more metallic riff they attack it with more of a crazed punk fury, before allowing it to groove. I think the transition from black metal to this brand of darker grind core is a natural one for those who prefer the more straightforward intense blast beat heavy brand of black metal. As song writers these songs are in and out in under three minutes.They to do not jerk you back and forth with roller coaster like transitions. "Better Living Through Apathy" relies on speed more often than not with a slight embellishment of the riff twisted around in brief accenting bridge sections. It should be no surprise if you are a regular reader of this blog that the more straight forward moments appeal to me less than the more depressive sections like the opening of "Low" which is onto something cool that gets blasted away and then redeemed slightly when they hit it with a Converge like aggression. Sometimes the lyrics make it through the chaos. A song like "Unrelenting Hate" doesn't do much to win me over. The drummer is rabid monster, and this album sounds great, but they make actual much when it's dialed back just a few degrees. When it becomes a blur then it's hard to hear where a song like "Vultures" begins when coming out of the previous one despite a cool stompy riff. However the rule here is cool riffs alone do no make a good song.


 They are strongest when at their most deliberate and you can make out things like actual bass lines. I'll round this one down to an 8, because at some points when they are locked in the thrall of the speed fest everything begins to sound the same. Playing the album on a loop, when it restarted I lost the separation between the fist song and the second, meaning they did not have anything dynamically to make them stand apart. These guys are angry beasts and have captured what they do really well on this album. Perhaps this band and many other grind core bands coming out these days will continue to press forward and explore new places to take the genre that will be even more interesting and make me more compelled to listen , but it succeeds most of the time in the angry explosion this music is meant to be.