A debut full length from Italy’s Spiral Wounds comprising a three piece of Patrizio (bass), Sandro (guitars, drum programming) and Tato (vocals) and I must admit I became very suspicious of the band using programmed drums as whilst they can be decent enough, more often than not the lack the organic toning I think is essential in death metal, plus programmed drums done live do not work for me one iota. All the band members are or have been involved in other projects that I won’t list here as the album opens with ‘Beneath The Mud’. Instantly it is old school death metal with a guitar sound possessing a crunching tone as the drum programming really doesn’t sound like programming but instead has a deep dense sound you’d expect in the genre. The blast beat work injects plenty of venom to the songs as do the mixed vocal tones which for purist death metal fans might be a struggle as the blackened higher tones have a snarling biting tone.
Screeching vocals adorn ‘Dreaming Fears’ and it is this style that fans of death metal may struggle with, but when embedded with the deep resonating style the balance does pay off in the end. ‘Death Painted In The Face’ has some cool snappy riffing to sink your hooks into as the track veers into a modern death metal approach linked to those tonal gradations on the vocals which here I found less convincing but utterly barbaric and extreme. ‘Declino’ is an excellent track, thundering density and a catchiness you can really latch onto as the blackened shrieking comes to the fore and reminded me of Dani Filth in places.
I’d never say that this album is ground-breaking in any way, it is fairly safe overall but as a debut the album it is a solid start to the bands journey and if truth be told I’ll probably not listen to the album in full again for some time except the odd tune on compilations I create for journeys to gigs. However, there is plenty on offer here for the death metal fan as the slightly weirder ‘Human Plague’ shows and the more doom-death like soundscapes of ‘From Bad To Worse’ that precedes it. Things improve with ‘Luminary Clarity’ a song soaked in visceral attitude and links nicely with penultimate tune ‘Hermetic’ with barked vocals.
Closing the release is the best song here, ‘Shadows Of The Murderous Death’ where the build-up styling adds to the charisma crafting a dread filled ethos. The opening slower doomy start has some fine guitar work as the starting sequence is embedded with drum fill effects before the track blasts into cataclysmic deviance. With huge amounts of groove the song really does stand out above the others, its velocity surges matched by the shrieking vocals and grisly density plus some cool guitar touches.
If you’ve some cash to spare then Italy’s Spiral Wounds are well worth spending a bit of time with, they certainly have something you don’t expect in the death metal genre, whether it is blackened feathering vocally or the doom like phrasing that rears up, it is an interesting album and even if there are better albums being released in death metal this one has something a little bit extra dotted about here and there on most of the songs.
(7.5/10 Martin Harris)
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