Five years is quite a time in the days when some bands are popping albums out every 2 years, or in some cases every 12 months. Admittedly, this band has been rather busy with their touring schedule so it can be forgiven to an extent. The one thing that can’t though, is some of the songs on this album.
Let me start by saying I have the utmost respect for Dying Fetus and own a good number of their albums. In my opinion, Reign Supreme was a good album but Descend Into Depravity to me was arguably a more ‘complete’ album. Things weren’t technical for the sake of being technical and everything flowed together rather nicely.
With some of the songs on WOTFW however, they seem almost disjointed. Take for example the opening track, “Fixated on Devastation”. The opening technical riff just suddenly jumps into a slower riff without any real transition. It’s the same at the end of the song when it just suddenly jumps back into the technical riff. “Panic Amongst The Herd” has a similar problem in that parts of it just don’t really line up too well. Yes, I know this is death metal, but come on…
By the third track, things seem to have changed and become a little more structured. The chorus on this track, whilst maybe a little over-technical, bears some similarity to the faster section of “From Womb To Waste” from the previous album. The initial issues appear to be fixed now as the following tracks flow into each other like a nice brutal slice of cake. “Ideological Subjugation” in particular is one track that is sure to get pits going at the shows with it’s ‘headbang inducing’ main riff in the verses.
One of my favourite tracks on the album has to be “Weaken the Structure”. Featuring a rather impressive opening solo from John (Gallagher) and having a much darker overall feel, it keeps the brutality of the previous tracks but isn’t a shred-fest like some of the other tracks are. “Fallacy” and “Unmitigated Detestation” bring the tried and tested ‘Fetus formula’ back, only with a touch more intelligibility to the vocals. The tracks aren’t afraid of slowing the speed at points either, though these are only brief before the tempo shoots back up with a face-melting riff.
The final track on the album, the title track, then airs and it starts off in a somewhat uneventful manner. The traditional chugging riffs and pounding drums dominate before the pace is elevated and the technicality rears its head. The second half of the song then completely turns things on their head and brings the brutality with an ascending riff mixed with lightning speed drums.
It’s hard to really say what I make of this album. Whilst it does have some really good songs, I can’t help but feel as though the band has almost played it safe. There’s no real structure to some of the songs and most of the non-technical riffs feel similar and over-used in places. Are Dying Fetus the “Wrong Ones To Fuck With?” No. Not this time sadly.
Rating: 6/10
Standout tracks: Ideological Subjugation, Weaken the Structure, Unmitigated Detestation
Second Opinion from Mosh: This is a complete flip on the Papa Roach album review where James didn’t know the band and I did. I’ve seen Dying Fetus live a couple of times and listened to most of their back catalogue on and off, but I’m no expert.
What I can say is that this is a nice, heavy album with plenty of technical twists… but that I do agree with what James has said about the sudden jumps within tracks. I don’t think they annoy me as much as they do him, but there are often times when you feel that one track has finished and another begun, the skip is so sudden.
However, ignoring this (and the perhaps over-widdly tech parts which just aren’t my cup of tea) and there’s plenty of good album material underneath. “Ideological Subjugation” is definitely one of the best, with a Slayer-esque opening and a belting rhythm throughout.
Perhaps as I’m being a little less analytical than James, I’d plump for a 7/10. I did enjoy large parts of the albums and these generally outweighed any irritation at the skips and jumps.
Wrong One To Fuck With dropped on June 23rd.
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