Review by Alex on June 14, 2019.

I understand Obliterhate is currently on hold, that's disappointing to hear because Multiple Counts of Murder is a promising debut record despite an unwanted factor. It lies somewhere between mid-90s and early 00s death metal sonically, the only drawback about this record for me is the programmed drumming. Usually if I discover the drums are programmed on a record I avoid it by all means, but in Obilterhate's case, I was willing to look past that because of the cartoon artwork on the album. What I found buried amidst the cardboard programmed drumming is a sincere aim at establishing Multiple Counts of Murder and the name of the band as a serious undertaking. Obliterhate showed that despite the lack of a real drummer, they were compelled to make an album that possessed most of the necessary ingredients to be a competing force amidst recognized names of the genre. 

The vocals and guitars play their roles so well that the absence of a drummer rarely ever crosses the mind of the listener; the manual music does a considerably good job of hiding that missing element. Songs like “Broken Arm of Mortality”, “Gutten” and "Cannibal” reveal a purpose hidden below the computerized drums as though knowing there is something not favorable with the music but still managing to play with a straight face. Decent vocals (in the form of throaty grunts), good guitar leads, and solos give the music some amount of depth, though not the best organization of lyrics as they sometimes sound crammed into the music and off-beat/out-of-sync at times, a sense of genuine care still manifests throughout the 33 minutes on Multiple Counts of Murder. 

Commendable song structure and variation that equally rivals the thrashing also makes its presence evident further giving Obliterhate credibility in the midst of the unfavorable but necessary drum programming. More about the automated drumming; it's nothing a decent extreme metal drummer can't play; I say this because I’ve heard computerized drums on records that are noticeably challenging to play live and is often the case with many bands. I'm glad they did not go crazy and create an overly technical album that would make it even harder to find a capable drummer. Fortunately, the mechanical drums don’t obstruct the music as much as I thought it would, all thanks to the heavy emphasis on the guitar distortion on the songs that drown a fair amount of that clappy double bass. 

As mentioned earlier, Obliterhate is currently in some form of hiatus, as all of the musicians involved are active participants of other extreme metal groups such as Devilpriest (fantastic band), Imperial Sin and Izurus; therefore, exclusive commitment to the project is currently not a possibility. However, if they do decide to reactivate their engines for new Obliterhate material, I hope they do so with the aid of a real drummer. Multiple Counts of Murder shows good prospect for a debut release and begs to be challenged by future efforts under the Obliterhate moniker. Multiple Counts of Murder is much of a presence alerting album that leaves room for a subsequent body of music.

Rating: 7 out of 10   

Review by JD on May 15, 2012.

Unsigned bands are the backbone of metal, I have said that -and stand behind it one hundred percent. Many bands have come along, fuelled my imagination - and they then go on to become major influences on the next batches of bands. That is how you keep music growing and advancing to the next level.

Undead Pandemic is a one man Gore/Grind band from the UK. It is a work of sonic destruction that has this not-too-subtle Black Metal vibe going through it. With all of this going, you think this band has some great possibilities ... in truth, it is a project that fails to deliver on every aspect. It is pure noise, and not the good Noisecore or others, it is purely noise.

With fourteen tracks on the album - it was fourteen purely uninspired attempts at making Extreme Metal which falls into the category of just being plainly shit. Listening to the album, you can't ignore the non existent recording values, the absurd use of over amounts of synthesisers and the over usage of sampling. Let us talk about the bad arrangements which slaps Extreme Metal, as well as all other Extreme styles in the face. I like heavy noisy music, but this is like sitting down and listening to a garbage disposal for three days straight.

Whoever this Ben Murphy is... a word to you. Either learn how to write music, or simply stop. Do the metal world a service, and get a job digging ditches or something - leave the music to people who have talent and drive to make it all happen. You make metal look like just noise, you make the underground music scene look that way too. Let us who know what we are doing do the work.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship:1
Atmosphere: 0
Production: 0
Originality: 0
Overall: 1

Rating: 0.4 out of 10

Review by JD on May 15, 2012.

Unsigned bands are the backbone of metal, I have said that -and stand behind it one hundred percent. Many bands have come along, fuelled my imagination - and they then go on to become major influences on the next batches of bands. That is how you keep music growing and advancing to the next level.

Undead Pandemic is a one man Gore/Grind band from the UK. It is a work of sonic destruction that has this not-too-subtle Black Metal vibe going through it. With all of this going, you think this band has some great possibilities ... in truth, it is a project that fails to deliver on every aspect. It is pure noise, and not the good Noisecore or others, it is purely noise.

With fourteen tracks on the album - it was fourteen purely uninspired attempts at making Extreme Metal which falls into the category of just being plainly shit. Listening to the album, you can't ignore the non existent recording values, the absurd use of over amounts of synthesisers and the over usage of sampling. Let us talk about the bad arrangements which slaps Extreme Metal, as well as all other Extreme styles in the face. I like heavy noisy music, but this is like sitting down and listening to a garbage disposal for three days straight.

Whoever this Ben Murphy is... a word to you. Either learn how to write music, or simply stop. Do the metal world a service, and get a job digging ditches or something - leave the music to people who have talent and drive to make it all happen. You make metal look like just noise, you make the underground music scene look that way too. Let us who know what we are doing do the work.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship:1
Atmosphere: 0
Production: 0
Originality: 0
Overall: 1

Rating: 0.4 out of 10

Review by JD on May 15, 2012.

Unsigned bands are the backbone of metal, I have said that -and stand behind it one hundred percent. Many bands have come along, fuelled my imagination - and they then go on to become major influences on the next batches of bands. That is how you keep music growing and advancing to the next level.

Undead Pandemic is a one man Gore/Grind band from the UK. It is a work of sonic destruction that has this not-too-subtle Black Metal vibe going through it. With all of this going, you think this band has some great possibilities ... in truth, it is a project that fails to deliver on every aspect. It is pure noise, and not the good Noisecore or others, it is purely noise.

With fourteen tracks on the album - it was fourteen purely uninspired attempts at making Extreme Metal which falls into the category of just being plainly shit. Listening to the album, you can't ignore the non existent recording values, the absurd use of over amounts of synthesisers and the over usage of sampling. Let us talk about the bad arrangements which slaps Extreme Metal, as well as all other Extreme styles in the face. I like heavy noisy music, but this is like sitting down and listening to a garbage disposal for three days straight.

Whoever this Ben Murphy is... a word to you. Either learn how to write music, or simply stop. Do the metal world a service, and get a job digging ditches or something - leave the music to people who have talent and drive to make it all happen. You make metal look like just noise, you make the underground music scene look that way too. Let us who know what we are doing do the work.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship:1
Atmosphere: 0
Production: 0
Originality: 0
Overall: 1

Rating: 0.4 out of 10

Review by Rosh on March 19, 2021.

Maryland is quite literally the traditional doom metal capital of the world - it has to be with so many gems to unearth, mostly signed to Hellhound Records in the 1990's. Unfortunately, many of these very inspired and musically talented bands faded into obscurity after the label went bankrupt and closed by the end of the decade, screwing over many of their bands in the process. Wretched is a way lesser known outfit than The Obsessed, Iron Man, Count Raven, or Saint Vitus, all of whom made up the Sabbath-loving Hellhound roster back then, but their main claim to fame might be the vocalist Dave Sherman who formed the better known (but still largely overlooked) Maryland doom band Earthride. At any rate, Wretched (though their name isn't unique from numerous other bands) deliver hook-based, grooving, and somewhat eclectic classic doom metal on their debut.

This is The Obsessed-circa "Lunar Womb/Church Within" style doom, so don't expect anything too slow, but do expect there to be a curiously jammed-out feel to the music. This is a tendency that actually makes this album feel approachable to many kinds of heavy rock fans other than true doom metalllers. Anyone into Alice in Chains (who, fight me, have a lot of doom metal in their sound) could easily appreciate this stuff, especially the stoner-rockish guitar melodies accenting the Sabbathy metal riffs. In fact, the riffing in songs like 'Verbal Suicide' and 'The One I Seek' make me feel a lot less blue about The Obsessed only having a few albums in the 90's. No doubt Wino himself is in good standing with the surviving members of Wretched.

Albums like Life Out There really highlight the variety offered in a style like traditional doom. Many people wouldn't necessarily realize this is true doom music, in fact they might think it's grunge or stoner rock, but as it turns out, the Sabbath influence of traditional doom metal is so far-reaching that it unifies many of the bands playing these respective styles. The result is that Wretched feels like an excellent gateway into classic doom from better known kinds of rock and metal, despite this album being entirely overlooked. All the right elements are here, ultimately. A warm guitar tone that blends cozily with the just-overdriven-enough bass (see the opening bassline in the title track) makes for the right amount of heaviness to suit both the wistful lead melodies and the chunky rhythm guitar progressions. One need look no further than the bridge of 'Standing Down' or the unexpectedly foreboding hooks of 'Unknown Soul' and 'The Fight' for a sense of doom metal melodicism coupled with beefy riffs that doesn't sound like a basic Trouble clone.

This is definitely one of those 90's "CD" albums, too - the time when albums started getting longer because they could fit more stuff on the media format. Sure, it's under 45 minutes while a lot of other albums in this league are well over an hour (see Count Raven's "High On Infinity"), but the way this album is structured, that is, 10 tracks with no interludes, it still lends the album the feel of being longer than it actually is. That's actually a good thing, though, because the music is damn good, so by time you finish the album, you feel like a satisfied doomaholic. Really, I could listen to the riffs on Life Out There all day, both the groovier ones and the more mysteriously doomy ones. This is the type of album that doesn't need any instrumental tracks, because riffing is already such a strong focus, which is one of the best things you can say about the Maryland doom scene. On top of that, the vocals feel gruff enough to grab your attention but not so much that they feel out of place with the chilled, grooving metal music on display, so it lets you focus on the instrumentation.

Lastly, the cover art for this album is so damn cool, I really like it! It's... wacky but it fits the music perfectly! Who is the figure we see a silhouette of juxtaposed against a colorful Dr. Seuss-esque background? Totally has a 90's stoner or grunge feel but it's just pure doom with loads of diverse influences! I'm not sure if that artwork is photography or a painting or a hybrid, but it is ART!

This is ultimately the type of album the average metal listener needs more of in their musical diet, even if it is by and large not something most people into heavy music would listen to that often unless their favorite bands are without doubt Black Sabbath, The Obsessed, and Alice in Chains. Then, this might be your favorite album ever.

Rating: 9.4 out of 10