WRATHEON are an one of the most musically intense and ferocious acts within the US’ extreme metal underground. Crafting a sound that straddles a fine line between blackened thrash and melodic death metal, the band’s tight and searing sound is an incredibly lean and punchy brand of extreme metal that manages to be unflinchingly belligerent whilst being infectiously catchy, with their first EP, Black Thrash Mass, providing a concise and powerful look at their trademark style. Their first album, Becoming Nil, builds upon the many strengths of this EP, laying strong foundations for the band and their future albums.
Annihilation kicks things off with a short, sharp shock of blistering aggression, built around frenetic drums, razor sharp guitars and harsh vocals which all create an intense and powerful start to the record, going straight for the jugular rather than easing the listener in. The Horde has a denser, more rhythmic sound, with the guitars and drums providing a muscular backbone with only a few melodic flourishes, allowing the vocals to come to the fore more prominently and carve a searing path through the rest of the music without distracting too much from it. Set Your Body Ablaze, with its huge guitar sound and thunderous drums, is another forceful and groove-laden affair, albeit with a focus upon the more chaotic fringes of the band’s sound, creating a visceral and jarring effort that still manages to incorporate some great punchy leads to make things more accessible.
We’re All Fallen places greater emphasis on imaginative leads and intricate musicianship on all fronts, making this sound far more technical and feel a lot tighter than some of the earlier songs. It blends the slick hooks and monstrous undercurrent together better than the first three tracks and turns this into an incredibly catchy and belligerent slab of blackened thrash. Dragged Into The Light, with its thicker bass sound, percussive drums and chunky guitars, takes the formula of the first few tracks and makes it sound cavernous, with some acidic vocal performances and stringent riffs interwoven into the sound and shifting towards a polished, domineering speed metal that is extremely energetic and impactful.
Bathory adopts a noticeably more measured pace, slowing to a mid-tempo gallop which again pushes the bass and drums to the forefront of the sound, and leaning a bit more towards black metal, especially with the guitars which finally match up with the snarling quality of the vocals in a way that they don’t on some earlier offerings. This fiercer black metal touch is carried over onto In Late October, which serves as a brief burst of brutality, with dizzying guitar work, authoritative drums and soaring vocals providing a faster, more streamlined take on the style of the preceding song, and being even more effective for it.
The Descent lurches back to a slower approach, with bleak, grandiose guitars immediately grabbing the listener’s attention and instantly establishing the epic melodic black metal sound that informs it throughout, standing out from the rest of the tracks for all the right reasons with its lighter tone and expansive sound that shifts away from the unflinching intensity of earlier tracks and showing a more immersive and dramatic side to the band. A New Dawn reverts to the fast and furious template that has run throughout this album, with angular guitars, juggernaut drums and bellicose vocals taking the best elements of the last two tracks and applying the more urgent and caustic speed of the album’s first half, creating a dark and exceptionally fierce piece of music out of this blending of styles. Becoming Nil, with its steady tempo and monstrous blackened thrash hooks, develops the sound from the last track and makes it weightier, with the guitars and drums especially feeling gargantuan at points, bringing the album to a close on an incredibly powerful and driven note.
Although incredibly impressive and tight at various points, much like the vast majority of debut albums, Becoming Nil still requires a little bit of work from WRATHEON in order for the band to fully realise their musical vision. There’s little to find fault with when it comes to the band’s melodic and aggressive blackened thrash, but it would be great to hear them explore the black metal elements within their influences in the future, as much of this album comprises lean thrash and speed metal with coarse, black metal vocals, and only a few of the tracks capture the atmosphere and sinister edge that makes black metal so impressive. Other than this, it’s an extremely sharp and focused album that possesses a lot of potential for WRATHEON going forward.
Rating: 7/10
Becoming Nil is out now via Seek & Strike.
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