Music

Album Review: Wrath & Rapture ‘Wrath & Rapture’

Published

14 years ago

April 9, 2010

Winston Salem, NC based Wrath & Rapture released their debut self-titled album earlier this year and it’s a difficult album to review, to say the least. On the one hand, these guys know their instruments up and down and their performances are impeccable. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have the feel yet to offer a jaw-dropping experience. It’s a bit hard to explain, but here we go.

The album starts off with ‘The Black Gate Opens’, which showcases grand synths and driving guitar chugging that is reminiscent of older Dream Theater (a la Awake), all while changing tempos effortlessly. This opener shows that the production on the album is truly wonderful as each instrument, while not necessarily being in-your-face, is present in the grand scheme of things. The opener bleeds perfectly into the next track, ‘The Dirge of Fallen Warriors’, which starts off with some hauntingly beautiful synth melodies overlaid with extreme guitar tones. The vocals come in with thick growls and piercing shrieks while the song shifts from solid footing to progressive runs and heavy chording that keep you on your ‘listening’ toes.

Like I just wrote, the production is wonderful making it a very easy album to listen to. There are no frequencies that pierce the ear and no muddiness in the low end. The other joy in listening to this album is when the band changes tones completely, such as in ‘Disembodiment’, the tones don’t sound false. When they start playing progressive fusion jazz, they are using actual jazz tones instead of trying to make metal tones fit their sound. As great as these tones are, the changes leave something to be desired. It feels like most of the time, these changes are there just to be there. There is no real emotion or sense in these changes. In a way, it almost feels like Wrath & Rapture are trying to show off, which judging by their skill, they don’t need to do: I’m already impressed.

Wrath & Rapture include a cover of ‘Cold’ by At The Gates as the closer to their album. It’s an interesting cover as Wrath & Rapture definitely make it their own. There are interesting guitar harmonizations and the addition of the keys add a symphonic flavor to the piece. Being a huge fan of the original, however, I feel that Wrath & Rapture lost some of the ‘sledgehammer-to-the-face’ feeling that the original had.

Overall, Wrath & Rapture have put out a debut that lands them solidly on my ‘bands to watch’ list. Technically, they have a 5 out of 5 album. However, the lack of feel and the confusing, almost misguided style changes would rank as a 2 out of 5 album. Together, I’ll split the difference and hope that with their sophomore release, Wrath & Rapture find a way to make everything work together.

3.5 out of 5 skulls

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JonathanBarkan

Managing editor/music guy/social media fella of Bloody-Disgusting

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Music

“He Walks By Night” – Listen to a Brand New John Carpenter Song NOW!

Published

2 weeks ago

April 9, 2024

John Squires

It’s a new day, and you’ve got new John Carpenter to listen to. John Carpenter, Daniel Davies and Cody Carpenter have released the new track He Walks By Night this morning, the second single off their upcoming album Lost Themes IV: Noir, out May 3 on Sacred Bones Records.

Lost Themes IV: Noir is the latest installment in a series that sees Carpenter releasing new music for John Carpenter movies that don’t actually exist. The first Lost Themes was released in 2015, followed by Lost Themes II in 2016 and Lost Themes III: Alive After Death in 2021.

Sacred Bones previews, “It’s been a decade since John Carpenter recorded the material that would become Lost Themes, his debut album of non-film music and the opening salvo in one of Hollywood’s great second acts. Those vibrant, synth-driven songs, made in collaboration with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, kickstarted a musical renaissance for the pioneering composer and director. With Lost Themes IV: Noir, they’ve struck gold again, this time mining the rich history of the film noir genre for inspiration.

“Since the first Lost Themes, John has referred to these compositions as “soundtracks for the movies in your mind.” On the fourth installment in the series, those movies are noirs. Like the film genre they were influenced by, what makes these songs “noirish” is sometimes slippery and hard to define, and not merely reducible to a collection of tropes. The scores for the great American noir pictures were largely orchestral, while the Carpenters and Davies work off a sturdy synth-and-guitar backbone.

“The trio’s free-flowing chemistry means Lost Themes IV: Noir runs like a well-oiled machine—the 1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster from Kiss Me Deadly, perhaps, or the 1958 Plymouth Fury from John’s own Christine. It’s a chemistry that’s helped power one of the most productive stretches of John’s creative life, and Noir proves that it’s nowhere near done yielding brilliant results.”

You can pre-save Lost Themes IV: Noir right now! And listen to the new track below…