Review:
Everytime I see Victory Records logo anymore, I cringe. The label was once the top of the food chain for anything related to the hardcore scene. Opting to go in a different direction and sign up and coming acts of whatever trend of music that is getting noticeable attention, the label has dropped all of its credibility for an even bigger bank account.
Victory's newest investment seems to be on the popularity of deathcore and the Wretched is newest band to get a push in the genre. The advertisement sticker on the packaging for this album would lead you to believe that this was the sickest or goriest, most brutal assembling of musical arrangements you have ever heard. Well that might be the case if you never heard bands like The Black Dahlia Murder. While I give Wretched credit for not going the route of so many other bands and following Job For A Cowboy, they still did not bring much of their own originality to the table. Each track is full of rehashed guitar riffs you have heard by any other band that has tried to mimic more memorable bands like At The Gates. Breakdowns are bountiful and lack any sort of creativity and aren't going to be "brutal" enough to keep the mosh enthusiasts happy. The vocalist lacks "oomph" himself. His raspy growls are not harsh enough and his lows aren't low enough. In my mind he's probably the easiest replaceable member of the band.
While this album will never get another listen I do have some good things to say about it. It seems like Victory and the band spared no expense when it came to production. The album sounds amazing, but unfortunately its spray painting a turd with gold spray paint. The instrument playing band members aren't talentless and can actually play their respective instruments. If only they weren't recycling old riffs.
Overall this isn't near as bad as I expected. I really thought I was going to hear another Waking The Cadaver like band. Judging from what I was reading they were coming of as one of the heaviest things I was ever going to hear. They are about has heavy as a jewel case the disc came in. They stick to the BDM rip-off but ruin any metal credibility they could have earned with flooding the record with mediocre metalcore breakdowns. If their follow-up record puts more focus on their metal influences, they'll improve drastically.
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