Band:	Wrathage
Album:	Black Light Zodiac
Style:	Black metal, Death metal
Release date:	August 19, 2005
A review by:	KwonVerge

01. Sadicum
02. Glory Black
03. Freezing Fire
04. The Nation's Demons

Wrathage is a band coming from Finland and, despite the fact that Finland is, mainly, giving birth to bands with a melancholic or mourning approach in their music, they have chosen to move in extreme metal soundscapes, balancing between black and death metal and in the corner you may notice here and there some thrash references.

During 2005, after their first promo, "anNihil[N]ation", Wrathage returns with a brand new promo cd, "Black Light Zodiac", consisting of four compositions of well-played fiery extreme metal.

From the moment you listen to Wrathage what is easily noticeable is the fact that the members of this band are very good players. The guitar solos are not melodic and are they have an unorthodox approach, sounding twisted and well put in the compositions. The rhythm section, with the unerring very fast or just rhythmic drumming and the pulsating bass lines, creates in the most appropriate way an imposing feeling, the guitars have a raw sound and the riffing balances somewhere between black metal intensity and death metal groove. The black metal riffing passages are very good and they have that razorblade sound that flows in such a wonderful way. The vocals move, mainly, in black metal soundscapes, having a thrash metal approach at times, and they make the overall atmosphere more sinister, but there are moments when the vocals have a more death metal oriented sound, sounding good as well. What is worth mentioning is the slight use of keyboards at times, but don't expect them to be the main instrument of Wrathage's music, they just help into evoking a darker atmosphere on "Freezing Fire" and some other passages.

The overall atmosphere of the album has an imposing war-like feeling at times, where at others it sounds more twisted and evil, with the band unleashing their disharmonic melodies in the air. In the sound of the band someone may notice at times some Immortal references, mainly in the way some passages are built, having that war-like feeling of dismay, whereas some Slayer influences can be seen in part of the riffing, but in a more violent way. Of course, I shouldn't forget the fact that death metal references are obvious, mainly in the first two compositions of "Black Light Zodiac", "Sadicum" and "Glory Black".

So as to conclude, Wrathage offer well-played extreme metal and I use the term "extreme" because they don't imply only to black metal or only to a specific part of the extreme sound of metal. Sure, they have a black metal approach, but they have enriched it with death and thrash metal references making it, obviously, not jut black metal. So, if you want to listen to a good underground extreme, mainly black/death, metal band with good production, Wrathage could be a good offer.