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Wake - Devouring Ruin review




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Reviewer:
8.0

56 users:
7.73
Band: Wake
Album: Devouring Ruin
Release date: March 2020


01. Dissolve And Release
02. Kana Tevoro (Kania! Kania!)
03. This Abyssal Plain
04. Elegy
05. Mouth Of Abolition
06. Paean
07. Torchbearer
08. In The Lair Of The Rat Kings
09. Monuments To Impiety
10. The Procession (Death March To Eternity)

Wake may have started as a grindcore band but they have been expanding their sound with every release to the point where, on Devouring Ruin, the grind element is far from being the dominant one on display.

Things had already started to seriously move away from the 'strictly grindcore' tag since 2018's Misery Rites (have you listened to "Burial Ground"?) but with this one Wake manifest a blackened death metal approach that at times even pulls into the realm of tech-death brutality. What is even more striking is their talent to weave delicate threads of melody into the sturdy black/death framework and one of the great strengths of this album is how melodic it is at times. This fascinating contrast is palpable during the last two minutes of "Mouth Of Abolition", and also in the atmospheric segments of "This Abyssal Plain" that allow breathing room for the deathgrind intensity of the rest of the song. On the same note, another surprising feature is the inclusion of a slow and mood-setting intro and also of a couple of instrumental interludes in between the main tracks that create a certain antithesis to the chaotic blasting, as well as anticipation for what will follow.

Aside from the two aforementioned tracks, the ones that stand out for me are "Torchbearer" and "The Procession (Death March To Eternity)". While the former blends death doom heaviness with atmospheric black metal soundscapes, some chuggy groove and dissonant death metal, the latter is a progressive beast boasting excellent riffage and inventive drumming that builds up to a dramatic crescendo which closes both the song and the album.

In a way, Devouring Ruin marks a similarly important shift in sound for Wake to the one that Cattle Decapitation and Full Of Hell attempted last year; pure grindcore will only get you so far. And, to me, this album is superior to both Death Atlas and Weeping Choir, and comparably ambitious to Ulcerate's latest release. In around 45 minutes of runtime it comes across as a fairly expansive and modern death metal record that touches on various extreme styles with great success. It's not a unique sound but it is certainly unexpected for a formerly grindcore band to have evolved so much that their longer compositions are now their most riveting ones.

"Put your remorse
In the barrel of a gun
There is no refuge
There is no forgiveness"





Written on 26.05.2020 by Only way to feel the noise is when it's good and loud!


Comments

Comments: 11   Visited by: 85 users
26.05.2020 - 11:26
Rating: 8
RaduP
CertifiedHipster
Quote:

superior to Weeping Choir

That's a bold statement.
----
Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking
One day there will be no heart at all?
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26.05.2020 - 11:29
nikarg

Written by RaduP on 26.05.2020 at 11:26

That's a bold statement.

You can imagine how much I like this one then
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26.05.2020 - 16:24
Rating: 8
OpethFlames

"Torchbearer" is quite an impressive tune even at the 10 minute length, probably my favorite on the album. Great album overall and been listening to this quite a bit lately.
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26.05.2020 - 18:49
Rating: 10
silenius

Frikkin love this album
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26.05.2020 - 22:58
nikarg

Written by OpethFlames on 26.05.2020 at 16:24

"Torchbearer" is quite an impressive tune even at the 10 minute length, probably my favorite on the album. Great album overall and been listening to this quite a bit lately.

Yes, it makes sense, I think "Torchbearer" is the most 'complete' song on the album. Tbh, there is no track on here I would omit and I have listened to the whole thing a lot as well. In fact, I found myself istening to it so much that I decided to review it.
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27.05.2020 - 10:19
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Are you drunk, grind core band, next i hope you will review folk metal and power
----
Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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27.05.2020 - 23:40
nikarg

Written by Bad English on 27.05.2020 at 10:19

Are you drunk, grind core band, next i hope you will review folk metal and power

You never know what the future holds.
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28.05.2020 - 10:07
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Written by nikarg on 27.05.2020 at 23:40

Written by Bad English on 27.05.2020 at 10:19

Are you drunk, grind core band, next i hope you will review folk metal and power

You never know what the future holds.

Yes same as i love so much one nu metal album, guess witch
----
Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
Loading...
09.12.2020 - 23:46
Rating: 8
musclassia

Revisiting this, it's such a damn good album; honestly not sure whether I prefer Devouring Ruin or Confluence, but either way, Wake killed it in 2020
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09.12.2020 - 23:50
Rating: 8
Troy Killjoy
perfunctionist
Better than Death Atlas? Okay I listen tonight.
----
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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12.12.2020 - 14:23
nikarg

Written by musclassia on 09.12.2020 at 23:46

Revisiting this, it's such a damn good album; honestly not sure whether I prefer Devouring Ruin or Confluence, but either way, Wake killed it in 2020

They are definitely a band to keep in the radar.
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