Editors Note: After this review was written, it was discovered this album has been available digitally since at least July, 2023. Double check your promos, kids.
Death metal has always been about ugliness, but after 40 years of refinement and cross-pollination with other genres, a lot of death metal is less stained cargo shorts and tattered t-shirts and more black-tie formal, or at least business casual. Sometimes you just want it dirty. Filthy f*cking vile. Really icky poopy. For times like this, Stockholm, Sweden’s Black Wound have you covered. In a thick film of grime. Only active since 2021, Warping Structure is the band’s debut full-length of clattering, dread-inducing death doom. Melody infused Swedeath this is not. In fact, the band have coined the word “wardoom” to describe their foul excretions. Will it make you want to take up arms against enemy and friend alike? Let’s plumb these loathsome depths and hope the air down there is breathable.
To call this caverncore would be an understatement. This is the music of a human sub-species who pushed deeper into caves as our own ancestors began constructing shelters with primitive tools. Over the generations, they lost their hair along with any memory of the sun. Their eyes turned to black orbs just visible beneath layers of translucent skin. They ride giant salamanders into battle and their dead are encased in slow trickling stalagmites. The feral croaks and death rumbles of vocalist William Kaloczy reverberate through damp walled tunnels while the buzzing crunch of his bass holds the low end to the floor. When guitarist Daniel Lysatchov isn’t bludgeoning you with abysmal doom chugs (“Dread,” “Vermin Firstborn”) or peeling your flesh with tremolo blades (“Rag,” “Trench Blast”), he lets the squall and squeal of barely controlled feedback fill the dark corners of every song. Ritualistic pounding and clear, sharp cymbal strikes courtesy of Gustaf Magnusson round out the relentless din.
The best way to take Warping Structure is as a whole. For almost exactly 40 minutes, let your head slip under the muck so only bubbles slapping the coagulated surface mark your location, because this atmosphere is all-encompassing. If you’re looking for contemporaries of the sound, Spectral Voice or Fossilization come to mind, but Black Wound have their own unpalatable flavor. They’re looser than either of those, which is part of the charm if you’re willing to let it be. Even in its densest moments, Warping Structure gives you aural perches, guide stars to get you through the murk, like the warped riff late in “Dread,” the sudden slowdowns in “Trench Blast,” the outstanding use of a Lord of the Rings sample in “Rag,” or the shriek/squeals Kaloczy lets loose during “Sworn” and “Vermin Firstborn.” The brutal title track even has a central riff that could be construed as melody, if you’re into that sort of thing. It’s all very ugly, but much more subtle and rewarding than can be gleaned from just one or two spins.
Warping Structure is an example of a band knowing what it wants to do and doing that thing to exactly the amount they aimed for, so it’s hard to find fault. That said, this is almost certainly something most people won’t want to reach for often, even if they enjoy it while it’s playing. Its looseness and its echoey—although surprisingly legible—production job make this a niche release to anyone not really into ooga booga sh*t. It’s an act of will to suspend whatever you think you want out of the listening experience and instead give yourself over to the clangor, but for those who can, whether easily or reluctantly, a meticulously built atmosphere awaits. In some ways, this is the death metal equivalent to raw black metal, and you know how I feel about that.
If you love death metal but tire of the sheen found on the tech- or prog- varieties, even a lot of OSDM these days, or if you just miss the days of trading death metal demo tapes, Black Wound has all the grime. It’s the most fun you can have over a mile underground, so pack your headlamp and your repelling gear. And some weapons.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: Stream
Label: Chaos Records
Website: blackwound1.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: May 31st, 2024 or awhile ago
