ALBUM REVIEW: Wretch – Anti-God Hand
Mysterious Canadians ANTI-GOD HAND are a band that have definitely got a unique sound. Their debut demo, Endless Excavated Earth, showcases a band that definitely knows how to craft an eerie, low-fi form of black metal with a few jarring twists and a bass heavy sound giving them a distinct sound that is far removed from many of the more melody-driven and folky black metal that many of their contemporaries have been mastering over the last decade or so. Hot on the heels of that demo comes their first full length, Wretch, an album that sees the band’s dark and morose sound shift into a surprising and intriguing direction.
Forest Outpost opens on an ominous, droning bassline, accompanied by melancholic guitars and tight drums, slowly building to what is a fairly dark piece of music with incredibly harsh vocals clashing with soaring, melodic leads, a contrast that works well and gives this song a solid DSBM feel, before launching into a relatively polished and musically intricate interplay between the guitar and bass that shifts the tone of the music drastically, making it far denser, and starting the album off on a very interesting note. Zero-Harm Environment, with its more ethereal guitars and almost bass heavy undercurrent, proves to be a very groove-laden and catchy take on black metal with an almost post-punk twist at points, making this short offering an incredibly memorable one.
Threshold Magic proves to be far more frenetic, with jarring guitars, acerbic, shrieking vocals and precise, unrelenting drumming that grabs the listener’s attention, again making every second of its fleetingly short running time count. Sacred Cannon shifts once again, and replaces the aggressive, unpredictable nature of the last track with a slicker riff-orientated affair with only blast beats, occasional tremolo picked passages and hellish, howling vocals to anchor it within black metal, the guitar work being far more progressive than on earlier numbers.
Snowblade has a fantastic cavernous bass sound that is incredibly minimalist, but still leaves an impression on the listener. Where the previous track was technical and speed-driven, this one moves at an almost dirge-like pace and does a lot with the most spartan of musical elements, being all the more engrossing and enduring for that fact. Each song up until now has been pretty blunt and to the point, not sticking around for too long. Moss Golem changes that, launching into a monolithic piece of rhythmic, grating black metal with a monstrous bass and guitar sound that contrasts extremely well with the acidic snarls of the vocals and the subtle melodic flourishes that rear their head intermittently throughout the song. The final two minutes of the song comprise of ethereal ambience, a stark lurch into a completely different musical direction that pays dividends, and helps set the listener up for the final track on the album, The Axe That Splits The Cedar. Intricate tapping on the guitar, similarly focused drumming and sludgy bass hooks immediately draw the listener in, pushing the music to perhaps its furthest from traditional black metal as it can, before shifting back towards the more DSBM-esque sound that the album opened on, bringing things full circle.
There’s not a lot of occasions where an album or band within black metal can be genuinely described as unpredictable, but this is certainly one of them. The musicianship on here is great, there is no doubt about that, and the bass in particular is fairly prominent and sounds great every time, adding a weighty depth to the album that many black metal acts lack. Likewise, the inspired, technical flourishes, especially on the guitar, that are spread throughout this album give it a different feel more akin to classic 80s metal than extreme metal, and although there are points where these jarring shifts don’t work too well, it often gives the songs an intriguing edge that definitely grabs the listener’s attention. This feels like a band that are experimenting with their formula, working towards broadening the solid sound laid down on their demo, with impressive, but mixed, results.
Rating: 7/10
Wretch is out now via American Decline Records.