Review by chrisc7249 on April 2, 2022.

I listen to a lot of technical death metal; it's my favorite type of death metal, and admittedly, I'm not too picky with it either. I understand the complaints of it being more of just a showboating competition rather than an actual song, but throw in a lot of notes, a clean production and some pompous lyrics screamed by what sounds like a maniac, and I'm all for it. Despite this, I knew when I had first heard this EP, this was truly something special.

Firstly, I'm not one to talk much about production, but the sound on this is absolutely spot on. Everything is audible and clean, but not too clean to where it sounds plasticy. The guitars have a nice crunch to them, the bass is devastatingly low and rumbles away like an 8.0 magnitude earthquake. The drums and vocals are balanced nicely as well, and everything comes together very well, with not one party outdoing the other at any point.

Musically, it's a tech death album by the numbers; changing tempos, switching time signatures, blistering speed and a drummer that pummels away at his kit like it's a contest to see how fast he can go. What makes this album special for me are the absolutely obliterating grooves that they hit you with. Sure, all the tech is fun and cool, but if you can't kick me in the balls with a monstrous riff that has me headbanging until my vertebrae disintegrate, it tends to lose the "death metal" part of it. Thankfully, Wounds understands this. Every song on this EP has that one crushing riff that becomes a "try not to headbang" challenge. And for me, I've failed every single time I've listened to this EP. And, thankfully again, they're not slam breakdowns. These are genuine, meaty riffs that will knock your socks off and get your whole body moving. The solos are really nice too, very melodic and memorable. The gorgeous solo at the end of 'Metamorphosis' is the best on the album for sure. The bass player is a beast as well. I commented on how nice the bass sounds in the mix, and his playing style mixes nicely fits the music. He mostly just follows the guitar players, but I can't say in this case I really care, because he adds that extra layer of punch to the riffs.

And wow, do I need another paragraph dedicated to this vocalist. The absolute cream of the crop is this mad lad. His lows are pretty intelligible, there's some "BREE" parts in his lows for an added touch. But, my God, this guys highs! It sounds like someone stuck him in an isolation room, tied him up and set him on fire and recorded his screams of anguish for the record. They're insane! I always love me some highs in a death metal vocalist, and you really won't find much better than this guy.

There's really nothing I can complain about with this EP. It's been a constant of mine ever since it dropped, and it has yet to lose its initial touch for me. Every time I throw it on, its a pure rush of adrenaline that makes me want to get in my car and just rip it down the highway and start a high speed police chase with this blasting from my speakers. I've not come across anything this explosive and impressive in a long time, and to think that this is a debut has me super excited for this band's future. I'd recommend this to not only tech death fans, but I'd urge fans of regular death metal to give this one a try too. It could be a bit overwhelming at first, but the hooks will grab you in very quickly. Very enjoyable from start to finish.

Rating: 10 out of 10