ALBUM REVIEW: Misery Never Forgets – Wristmeetrazor

Flaunting distinctive influence from the likes of CONVERGE and WILL HAVEN and existing as a monument to the space between sanity and self-destruction, WRISTMEETRAZOR do a mighty fine job of reigniting the flame of early 2000’s screamo as they uncompromisingly smash through the door with their debut album, Misery Never Forgets.

Music boasts a certain capability and mode of access when it comes to human emotion, it is often tasked of a song/artist to help us consolidate our feelings and lift our spirits through relating to strong displays of sensitivities that get wrapped in inviting melodies and sounds that provide us with catharsis. At our core we are emotively driven beasts and therefore it makes sense that music that can permeate emotion and provide a relatable voice is what sticks with us most. The power of music to transform negative feelings into something positive is truly special, and it is this metamorphosis that stands Misery Never Forgets in good stead. The three-pronged vocal approach of the band enables them to conjure some truly gruesome sounds and this onslaught is utilised to good effect throughout Misery Never Forgets to culminate in an emotive and grabbing project that finds it’s strength in it’s downright malicious intent.

Opening track Loathsome does a commendable job of shrouding festering trauma in distortion and instils a barking intensity that is maintained effusively as WRISTMEETRAZOR coarse through the inflicting themes of sorrow they pool from on Misery Never Forgets with blissful and stubborn downtuned riffwork. The group makes efficacious use of alterations in pace as tracks often lumber onwards before frantically shifting up a gear and bursting into a vengeful paroxysm of slaughterous riffing and incessant drum pounding. This serves to gives the project a certain dynamism and the tempo switches that accentuate the slicing nature of their instrumental precision implies a strong sense of chemistry within the band ahead of their less than two year existence.

Come On In, The Water’s Pink champions a bittersweet sombre recollection of loss that is channelled into a sweeping and surprisingly soft clean melodic hook drenched in charisma and emotion, and acts as a prominent display of how successfully WRISTMEETRAZOR can translate sentiment, which is one of the biggest positives of the project. Album single XOXO (Love Letter From a Loaded Gun) is a searing display of the band’s attributes as it surges with an explosive energy, lulling in dormancy to suddenly recoil violently. The understated cleans at the offset of the track evokes a creepy, haunting captivation that’s fiercely reminiscent of KORN‘s Jonathon Davies in the manner of a positive homage.

The group’s angst is vehemently laid out across the project and is augmented by the couple of more solemn cuts like the eerie Goodbye Sweet Betty that while retaining the characteristic unease, act as transitioning interludes allowing you to come to the surface for a welcome breather before you’re plunged asunder once again into the torrid depths of the venom seeping out of this record.

At just over twenty minutes, the succinct duration of Misery Never Forgets is perhaps the only detractor, however this does make it a rather non-committal listen and serves to bolster the replay value with no risk of overstaying their welcome. In fact, just as you feel you’ve gotten sufficiently acquainted the project is more or less at conclusion, having you wanting to dive back into the merciless carnage!

Rating: 7/10

Misery Never Forgets is set for release on January 18th via Prosthetic Records.

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