Wreckage - Rise From Ruins

2015 is already spewing up a massive amount of new releases! I'm starting with Greek old-school death metallers Wreckage and the reissue of their 2013 EP Rise From Ruins, courtesy of cracking extreme metal label PRC Music. This reissue features three extra tracks from their 2011 demo and their four-way split with Head Cleaner, Grassroll and EnPsychro, alongside the original six from the EP.

Wreckage are another name to come out the of the country that's already given us Dephosphorus, Kvazar and more. They're Entombed fans and played alongside the band's newest incarnation, Entombed A.D in December 2014.

Tracklist:-

1. Enslave The Tyrants
2. Screaming Weeping Bleeding
3. Deadliest Tool
4. Escaping The Tomb
5. Evemaster (Entombed Cover)
6. Maggot
7. Crawl
8. Twisted Mass Of Burnt Decay (Autopsy Cover)

Wreckage make a pounding racket. Opening song Enslave The Tyrants is a heaving mass of blasting drums, heaving guitars and rasping screams. There’s subtle melody and guitar harmonies hidden in the song, but for the most part it’s just a full-on show of power from Wreckage. That pretty much sums up the Greek sound for me. No matter what sub-genre a band chooses, they always go for all out obliteration. Screaming Weeping Bleeding is no different. It’s wall of noise is only just punctuated by top-end metallic guitar, but when  it is there’s an edge to the music. I guess that’s the death n roll influence creeping in there!

With Wreckage, you’re not getting overtly complex rhythms or song-structures, just simple and straightforward heavy death. Deadliest Tool captures elements of thrash, especially in the drumming to help hammer their point home. For a first EP, Rise From Ruins must have been a real statement of intent and this reissued version is no different. As the riffs of Escaping The Tomb ring out, Wreckage remind me of fellow Greek black metallers Dodsferd. They possess that same maniacal intensity. Walls Of Hate, like the songs before it, is played with passion and fervour. There’s a modern edge peeking through in Wreckage’s sound but the production thankfully keeps it in check with a constant feedback-ridden buzz. The final bars are full of glorious wailing tones that give way to a classy, high-pitched solo. 

At the end of the original version of Rise from Ruins, there was a cover of Evemaster (Entombed), which is thankfully included here. Wreckage make it their own and continue their wrecking-ball approach to tuneful yet deadly death metal. Blinding stuff! Fist bonus track Maggot initially appeared on their four-way split. The split with a live-rehearsal recording that found it’s way onto CD. It gives you a clue as to how huge Wreckage sound in a live setting. The production job on the song stops it from sounding tinny, which can sometimes hurt live songs.

Original 2011 demo song Crawl also got the live-recording treatment and the noise levels on it are insane! The more you listen to this album, the better both it and Wreckage get and there’s still the small matter of an Autopsy cover to come! That cover is Twisted Mass Of Burnt Decay. Autopsy has influenced so many bands over the years, but capturing their intensity it hard. Wreckage don’t try and mimic them, they just play in their own way. It’s that honesty and integrity that makes them such a great listen.

If you’re after some raging death metal that’s still fun to listen to, you could do a lot worse than this. 

Stream Rise From Ruins here:-



You can order the expanded version of the EP from PRC Music here - http://www.prcmusic.com/store/

Wreckage Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thebandwreckage
PRC Music Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/prcmusiccanada