ALBUM REVIEW: Bovine Mockeries Of Human Posturing – Wrektomb
Although their first EP, Hollowed Socket Nystagmus, may only have been released little over three years ago, WREKTOMB have very quickly established themselves as one of the US’ best new death-doom acts. Through their striking visuals and domineering yet punchy music, the Maryland-based four-piece have managed to set themselves apart from many of their peers in the American underground, not just in terms of their sound, but also their presentation. The band’s anticipated debut album, Bovine Mockeries Of Human Posturing, shows an impressively confident and immersive approach to their songwriting, and lays some incredibly solid foundations for the band and their sound going forward.
Gored Into Reality, a fairly dark, mid-paced slab of ominous melodic death metal, starts things off in an impressive way that sets the tone for the rest of the record: slick guitar work, tight, steady drumming and thick gutturals that are slightly buried in the mix and don’t get the full attention they deserve. It’s a powerful and dramatic way to kick things off that creates a foreboding, doom-laden sound that immediately draws the listener in without having to go straight for the jugular, opting for a slow-burning and sombre approach instead.
Unexpected Encounters With Nature’s Order proves to be much more forceful, with dense, chunky rhythms and jarring dissonance lending this a harder, more sinister air, with the sludgy vocals complementing the fiercer opening moments. As the song progresses, it takes on a more gothic tone, with expansive keyboards and funereal, wailing leads shifting the music towards a heavier, brooding death-doom sound that sounds cavernous and epic in equal measure. The doom is where this song excels – much like the album’s opener – with the death metal sections possessing a clipped production that unfortunately lessens their impact, although these harsher moments, along with the polished melodicism, still sound great.
Quantumcreep, with its atmospheric, hypnotic sound, is arguably the album’s centrepiece; with some fantastic touches, from the percussive drums to the monolithic guitar work to the immersive, haunting vocals, it leans prominently into the band’s more ponderous side, allowing the bleak riffs and rumbling vocals to be the central focus, with the visceral motifs being knitted together much more seamlessly than in the preceding two tracks, developing the grandiose qualities and dirge-like intensity that made the last track especially so interesting.
Society Supported Psychopaths swings in the opposite direction, embracing the band’s death metal side, with chugging guitars, industrial touches and disjointed flourishes The acerbic growls further provide a sonic density to this effort and give it an effective and unnerving edge which the clean middle section only accentuates, turning this into a streamlined but powerful version of the formula of earlier tracks, and making for a multi-faceted and eerie slab of crawling death metal that works extremely well. This Decay Of Me blends the drama and bombastic elements that have been the backbone of this record with opaque and compelling musicianship that ties together the death and doom components of the band’s sound expertly, once again developing the grand yet sepulchral mix of styles on display to create one of this album’s definitive statements, and closing this record on one of its strongest and most wide-ranging songs.
This is certainly one of those albums that gathers a lot of momentum and confidence as its progresses, with the last three tracks especially fully embracing an expansive and imaginative sound that makes them instantly memorable and powerful. Even the first two tracks, which are decidedly solid in their own right, are hindered by the tight production rather than the songwriting or musicianship itself, with the vocals rarely feeling like they get a look in despite the fact that it’s clear just how ferocious and impressive they are as the album reaches its climax. This is an extremely epic take on death-doom that doesn’t neglect to throw some subtle black metal and goth influences in amongst the already grand sound, with the end result being an album that is vastly more varied and adventurous than your average debut album.
Rating: 8/10
Bovine Mockeries Of Human Posturing is out now via Personal Records.
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