Review by Carl on July 7, 2022.

Does that artwork remind you of Nocturnus's "Thresholds" as well? It certainly does remind me of it. Seeing this artwork actually gives a pretty good idea of what to expect of Rude's most recent offering, presenting the listener with a cool dose of competent old school death metal with a technical edge to it.

Rude has never been a band that relied on velocity very much, and on this release faster parts only make some occasional appearances, leaving more room for the cool, at times even jazzy riffing and excellent musicianship. Their style reminds me of albums like "Human" by Death and the first two albums of Gorguts and Atheist. Another reference here is "Testimony of the Ancients" by Pestilence, not only because of the music, but the vocals of Yusef Wallace sure sound familiar, keeping the middle between Patrick Mameli and Martin Van Drunen. The music certainly has a technical edge to it, but the band knows well enough how to keep things accessible, and not let the music deteriorate into tiresome wank. The compositions are well-played offerings of early 90's mid-tempo death metal, and I would like to make a special mention of the bass player. His performance is a great contribution to the music, as he reminds me of Steve DiGiorgio's work on the aforementioned "Human". Together with the above-par performance of both guitarists, this makes for an interesting and enjoyable dose of death metal with a technical edge.

There is some critique I have though, and that is that the percussion has to take somewhat of a backseat to the guitar and bass parts, something that does make the whole sound a bit clinical. Also I have to admit that perhaps a bit more uptempo parts wouldn't have hurt as well. I get easily bored by music that moves at a primarily mid-tempo pace, but because of the good compositions, excellent playing and the short duration of this EP, boredom is kept out of the door. Although I don't think 45 minutes of this would have kept me interested.

To conclude: if you were into their previous stuff, this should be right up your alley, and that goes for those into the bands and albums mentioned above as well. A good offering by a good band, nothing more, nothing less.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review by Felix on December 27, 2021.

Many great albums trigger emotions just by their name. “At War With Satan”, “Ride The Lightning” or “Piece Of Mind”, to name but a few. Other releases miss this chance and have names like WW… What the hell – of course, we know what is meant and the artwork does not try to hide the topic of the album. Either way, Gehenna chose a pretty stupid title for their fifth full-length. Maybe they knew that their reputation had been heavily damaged due to the weak and uninspired Murder album and so they put the focus on the music exclusively?

Well, the material was better than that of their worst full-length, but it also left room for improvement and lacked the eerie atmosphere of their first releases. That’s the misfortune of WW – it does not reflect any sign of the original DNA of Gehenna. On the other hand, if we try to see this album that stands on its own feet, without band history and further non-musical aspects, one can enjoy the songs to a certain degree. Okay, the opener fails to spark emotions due to the lifeless drumming and the uninspired ending of the track also sucks. But this under-average appearance remains an exception. As the record progresses, things are getting better. There are dark riffs, the double bass increases the dynamic and intensity of the songs and the vocals are monotonous but powerful and hostile at the same time. The pieces do not lack substance and it is not only the sinister closer that convinces due to its expressive guitar lines. Already track no. 2, 'Death To Them All' offers mature guitar lines and highly intensive sequences. 'Silence Of The Earth' with its ominous guitar lines and death-announcing keyboards also leaves its footprints and the same can be said about 'Werewolf', inter alia due to its pronounced main riff at the beginning of the song.

Production-wise, the album can rely on a fundamental heaviness. Drums, guitars and vocals are well balanced. The only major flaw is, as indicated above, that the sound does not reflect the spirit of black metal. WW shows a rather sober approach – here we are, we play music, nothing else, and we do not care about emotions. But in my humble opinion, doing the main tasks of the job is okay, but sometimes not enough, at least not enough to reach the highest regions of the rating scale. And so it is an album that does not annoy, but it is no album you need to listen to again and again. Without connections to the great era of the band, WW appears like an orphan and we know that unfortunately orphans often have to struggle in order to find their place. I cannot say that I have found an adequate one for Gehenna’s work, although I like it to a certain degree.

Rating: 7.2 out of 10

Review by Felix on December 27, 2021.

Many great albums trigger emotions just by their name. “At War With Satan”, “Ride The Lightning” or “Piece Of Mind”, to name but a few. Other releases miss this chance and have names like WW… What the hell – of course, we know what is meant and the artwork does not try to hide the topic of the album. Either way, Gehenna chose a pretty stupid title for their fifth full-length. Maybe they knew that their reputation had been heavily damaged due to the weak and uninspired Murder album and so they put the focus on the music exclusively?

Well, the material was better than that of their worst full-length, but it also left room for improvement and lacked the eerie atmosphere of their first releases. That’s the misfortune of WW – it does not reflect any sign of the original DNA of Gehenna. On the other hand, if we try to see this album that stands on its own feet, without band history and further non-musical aspects, one can enjoy the songs to a certain degree. Okay, the opener fails to spark emotions due to the lifeless drumming and the uninspired ending of the track also sucks. But this under-average appearance remains an exception. As the record progresses, things are getting better. There are dark riffs, the double bass increases the dynamic and intensity of the songs and the vocals are monotonous but powerful and hostile at the same time. The pieces do not lack substance and it is not only the sinister closer that convinces due to its expressive guitar lines. Already track no. 2, 'Death To Them All' offers mature guitar lines and highly intensive sequences. 'Silence Of The Earth' with its ominous guitar lines and death-announcing keyboards also leaves its footprints and the same can be said about 'Werewolf', inter alia due to its pronounced main riff at the beginning of the song.

Production-wise, the album can rely on a fundamental heaviness. Drums, guitars and vocals are well balanced. The only major flaw is, as indicated above, that the sound does not reflect the spirit of black metal. WW shows a rather sober approach – here we are, we play music, nothing else, and we do not care about emotions. But in my humble opinion, doing the main tasks of the job is okay, but sometimes not enough, at least not enough to reach the highest regions of the rating scale. And so it is an album that does not annoy, but it is no album you need to listen to again and again. Without connections to the great era of the band, WW appears like an orphan and we know that unfortunately orphans often have to struggle in order to find their place. I cannot say that I have found an adequate one for Gehenna’s work, although I like it to a certain degree.

Rating: 7.2 out of 10

Review by Felix on December 27, 2021.

Many great albums trigger emotions just by their name. “At War With Satan”, “Ride The Lightning” or “Piece Of Mind”, to name but a few. Other releases miss this chance and have names like WW… What the hell – of course, we know what is meant and the artwork does not try to hide the topic of the album. Either way, Gehenna chose a pretty stupid title for their fifth full-length. Maybe they knew that their reputation had been heavily damaged due to the weak and uninspired Murder album and so they put the focus on the music exclusively?

Well, the material was better than that of their worst full-length, but it also left room for improvement and lacked the eerie atmosphere of their first releases. That’s the misfortune of WW – it does not reflect any sign of the original DNA of Gehenna. On the other hand, if we try to see this album that stands on its own feet, without band history and further non-musical aspects, one can enjoy the songs to a certain degree. Okay, the opener fails to spark emotions due to the lifeless drumming and the uninspired ending of the track also sucks. But this under-average appearance remains an exception. As the record progresses, things are getting better. There are dark riffs, the double bass increases the dynamic and intensity of the songs and the vocals are monotonous but powerful and hostile at the same time. The pieces do not lack substance and it is not only the sinister closer that convinces due to its expressive guitar lines. Already track no. 2, 'Death To Them All' offers mature guitar lines and highly intensive sequences. 'Silence Of The Earth' with its ominous guitar lines and death-announcing keyboards also leaves its footprints and the same can be said about 'Werewolf', inter alia due to its pronounced main riff at the beginning of the song.

Production-wise, the album can rely on a fundamental heaviness. Drums, guitars and vocals are well balanced. The only major flaw is, as indicated above, that the sound does not reflect the spirit of black metal. WW shows a rather sober approach – here we are, we play music, nothing else, and we do not care about emotions. But in my humble opinion, doing the main tasks of the job is okay, but sometimes not enough, at least not enough to reach the highest regions of the rating scale. And so it is an album that does not annoy, but it is no album you need to listen to again and again. Without connections to the great era of the band, WW appears like an orphan and we know that unfortunately orphans often have to struggle in order to find their place. I cannot say that I have found an adequate one for Gehenna’s work, although I like it to a certain degree.

Rating: 7.2 out of 10

Review by Felix on December 27, 2021.

Many great albums trigger emotions just by their name. “At War With Satan”, “Ride The Lightning” or “Piece Of Mind”, to name but a few. Other releases miss this chance and have names like WW… What the hell – of course, we know what is meant and the artwork does not try to hide the topic of the album. Either way, Gehenna chose a pretty stupid title for their fifth full-length. Maybe they knew that their reputation had been heavily damaged due to the weak and uninspired Murder album and so they put the focus on the music exclusively?

Well, the material was better than that of their worst full-length, but it also left room for improvement and lacked the eerie atmosphere of their first releases. That’s the misfortune of WW – it does not reflect any sign of the original DNA of Gehenna. On the other hand, if we try to see this album that stands on its own feet, without band history and further non-musical aspects, one can enjoy the songs to a certain degree. Okay, the opener fails to spark emotions due to the lifeless drumming and the uninspired ending of the track also sucks. But this under-average appearance remains an exception. As the record progresses, things are getting better. There are dark riffs, the double bass increases the dynamic and intensity of the songs and the vocals are monotonous but powerful and hostile at the same time. The pieces do not lack substance and it is not only the sinister closer that convinces due to its expressive guitar lines. Already track no. 2, 'Death To Them All' offers mature guitar lines and highly intensive sequences. 'Silence Of The Earth' with its ominous guitar lines and death-announcing keyboards also leaves its footprints and the same can be said about 'Werewolf', inter alia due to its pronounced main riff at the beginning of the song.

Production-wise, the album can rely on a fundamental heaviness. Drums, guitars and vocals are well balanced. The only major flaw is, as indicated above, that the sound does not reflect the spirit of black metal. WW shows a rather sober approach – here we are, we play music, nothing else, and we do not care about emotions. But in my humble opinion, doing the main tasks of the job is okay, but sometimes not enough, at least not enough to reach the highest regions of the rating scale. And so it is an album that does not annoy, but it is no album you need to listen to again and again. Without connections to the great era of the band, WW appears like an orphan and we know that unfortunately orphans often have to struggle in order to find their place. I cannot say that I have found an adequate one for Gehenna’s work, although I like it to a certain degree.

Rating: 7.2 out of 10

Review by Felix on December 27, 2021.

Many great albums trigger emotions just by their name. “At War With Satan”, “Ride The Lightning” or “Piece Of Mind”, to name but a few. Other releases miss this chance and have names like WW… What the hell – of course, we know what is meant and the artwork does not try to hide the topic of the album. Either way, Gehenna chose a pretty stupid title for their fifth full-length. Maybe they knew that their reputation had been heavily damaged due to the weak and uninspired Murder album and so they put the focus on the music exclusively?

Well, the material was better than that of their worst full-length, but it also left room for improvement and lacked the eerie atmosphere of their first releases. That’s the misfortune of WW – it does not reflect any sign of the original DNA of Gehenna. On the other hand, if we try to see this album that stands on its own feet, without band history and further non-musical aspects, one can enjoy the songs to a certain degree. Okay, the opener fails to spark emotions due to the lifeless drumming and the uninspired ending of the track also sucks. But this under-average appearance remains an exception. As the record progresses, things are getting better. There are dark riffs, the double bass increases the dynamic and intensity of the songs and the vocals are monotonous but powerful and hostile at the same time. The pieces do not lack substance and it is not only the sinister closer that convinces due to its expressive guitar lines. Already track no. 2, 'Death To Them All' offers mature guitar lines and highly intensive sequences. 'Silence Of The Earth' with its ominous guitar lines and death-announcing keyboards also leaves its footprints and the same can be said about 'Werewolf', inter alia due to its pronounced main riff at the beginning of the song.

Production-wise, the album can rely on a fundamental heaviness. Drums, guitars and vocals are well balanced. The only major flaw is, as indicated above, that the sound does not reflect the spirit of black metal. WW shows a rather sober approach – here we are, we play music, nothing else, and we do not care about emotions. But in my humble opinion, doing the main tasks of the job is okay, but sometimes not enough, at least not enough to reach the highest regions of the rating scale. And so it is an album that does not annoy, but it is no album you need to listen to again and again. Without connections to the great era of the band, WW appears like an orphan and we know that unfortunately orphans often have to struggle in order to find their place. I cannot say that I have found an adequate one for Gehenna’s work, although I like it to a certain degree.

Rating: 7.2 out of 10