The Dead Wretched – Anchors Down

The demise of bands though often disheartening at the time have led to the formation of some brilliant acts, after all, had Nirvana not imploded would there have been a Foo Fighters? If At The Drive-In hadn't disbanded then we wouldn't have had the brilliant Mars Volta, and so on, so forth. So here from Wales we have five piece band The Dead Wretched, seemingly springing out of the ashes of metal band Boys With X-Ray Eyes demise, with their full length debut album Anchors Down.

From the opening track Ain't Through With You By a Damn Sight The Dead Wretched make their intent clear with a brand of metalcore that is as furious and brutal as anything that you will have heard in the UK or across the pond in the states. Stand-out track Hammer Death is a culmination of all my favourite things about the genre, frenetic double bass, dischord guitar work and impassioned screaming, none of which ceases to let up even when your internal organs start shaking. The Hopeless recalls the kind of technical guitar that we've come to expect from cult favourites Dillinger Escape Plan but with a Norma Jean and Every Time I Die tinge to it and tracks like Heads Set To Roll are content with a dirty southern sound that unlike many fellow metalcore bands puts the bass guitar work at the forefront throughout the song.

Calling a band metalcore makes me feel dirty and I actually think it would be a disservice to The Dead Wretched just to write them off as another metalcore band. Anchors Down contains all the parts of Dillinger Escape Plan, From Autumn To Ashes, Norma Jean, Every Time I Die and Underoath that I love and moulds them into a fantastically hard-hitting, face melting debut album and if you are a fan of any form of metal then you can't really go wrong with that now can you?

4 / 5

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