Indian Music Revolution - Latest News, Reviews, Interviews, Gigs, Downloads

You are here:Home/International/Reviews/The Wretched End-Ominous
A+ R A-
20 Oct
Album Info
  • Band / Artist The Wretched End
  • Genre Black/Thrash Metal
  • Label Candlelight Records
  • Year 2011
  • Format Album
Rating 8/10
Tracklist
  1. Intro
  2. Red Forest Alienation
  3. The Armageddonist
  4. Last Judgement
  5. Of Men And Wolves
  6. Numbered Days
  7. With Ravenous Hunger
  8. Fleshbomb
  9. Human Corporation
  10. Residing In Limbo
  11. The Juggernaut Theory
  12. Zoo Human Syndrome

 

Norway has always been known for its notorious Black Metal which has always fascinated metalheads with its visceral sound and dark imagery, while shocking them as well with violent band histories (where else would you find band members killing each other?) and church burnings. Recently there have been many artists from Norway who have strayed away from the genre and have received mainstream publicity such as Metalcore act PURIFIED IN BLOOD and Hardcore/Metal fusion act KVELERTAK. THE WRETCHED END can be considered another one of these.

THE WRETCHED END is a three piece from Notodden, Norway consisting of the legendary Samoth (EMPEROR, ZYKLON, GORGOROTH to name a few) on guitars and the equally prolific Nils FJellstrom (DARK FUNERAL) on drums and Cosmo (ZYKLON) on vocals. The band plays mainly a mixture of Black Metal and Thrash Metal with some elements of Death Metal and Groove Metal. These guys do complete justice to both the genres, you’ll find the raw distortion, tremolos and the overall gloomy atmosphere of Black Metal mixed perfectly with the heavier ,downtuned chugging riffs and harmonized solos associated with the genre which we all know and love called Thrash Metal. This makes this album different from a lot of other bands these days but at the same time its not something thats very experimental and would seem very alien to the listeners unlike Samoth’s previous band ZYKLON. This is something that Black Metal fans and Thrash Metal fans would immediately recognise and acknowledge, yet it seems so unlike anything else because of the clever song writing. However there are some moments where the band does tend to experiment such as the track OF MEN AND WOLVES which mixes some elements of Modern/Groove Metal with their Traditional Metal and Black Metal or the last track ZOO HUMAN SYNDROME which has a tremolo played with reverb over a fast chugging riff accompanied by speeding by double bass, this is something that I have never ever heard before in either of these genres. All of this is producing in complete clarity with each note being audible to the listener, now that might not appeal to fans of Traditional Black Metal fans but I believe that it suits this album perfect.

So in the end the OMINOUS turns out be a great album that would definitely appeal to all the Thrash Metal fans, as far as Black Metal is concerned I am not sure if it would appeal to all “kvlts” but I am sure it would appeal to the more open minded Black Metal fan, however I don’t think that this is their best, for that is yet to come.

Recommended if you like: SKELETONWITCH, MAYHEM, BURZUM, IMMORTAL, EMPEROR, GORGOROTH, TESTAMENT, PANTERA, SLAYER, EXODUS.

Bottom Line

If you liked Skeletonwitch(check out my previous Review) you gonna love OMINOUS!

Mohammad Kabeer

Mohammad Kabeer

Mohammad Kabeer is a 23 year old Independent documentary film maker the subject of which is the metal scene in India , when not shooting a concert or an interview ,Kabeer spends his time watching Anime and reading Graphic novels apart from that he plays drums in a band called SLOTH , musically his interests lies in Sludge/Doom Metal/Thrash Metal and the phenomenon known as MESHUGGAH. Currently he is listening to a lot of Modern Grindcore.