Album Reviews

Album Review: WEDNESDAY 13 – Necrophaze

Nuclear Blast Records | 27 September 2019

Necrophaze - Wednesday 13In the current world of music, it has become almost impossible for artists to maintain their unique musical identity when it comes to what their studio releases sound like. A musician or a band walk into a recording studio with definite ideas of what they want their music to sound like only to have it scrambled and reborn by a producer. (I blame T.Swift, but that is just me). Fear not, my fellow Industrial Metal lovers, there are still artists that do not resign themselves to the mediocre standards of popular opinion. One such artist is Wednesday 13, and his latest studio album, Necrophaze, is proof positive that he refuses to conform.

The album opens with the robust title track, “Necrophaze”, setting a lofty bar of expectation. A creepy-crawly spoken-word intro bleeds into a deliciously depraved pairing of aggressively brutal guitar power chords and thunderous double kick drum. Frontman, Wednesday 13‘s vocals drip with malicious depravity as the instrumental lines twist chaotically.

The second track, “Bring Your Own Blood” slithered its way into my little Skullgurl cranium with its incessant lyrical hook, which happens to be the title of the song. It was during the second replay of this track that I started hearing the heavy influence of one of my favorite artists of all time, Alice Cooper, mainly his 1992 mega-hit “Feed My Frankenstein”. Now, If I would have read the album bio for Necrophaze, I would have seen that Alice Cooper actually is a guest vocalist on the album. Either way, this track is infectious, to say the least.

I want to jump to the fifth track, “Decompose” with its melancholy demeanor and haunting guitar hook. Lyrically, this song is evilly erotic with tantalizing lines like “I love it when you stop living” and “I hope you suffer, you will never ever rest in peace”.

Track nine, “Life will Kill Us All”, features a mesmerizing, evocative guitar hook that seems to float in an almost ethereal state above the other instrumental lines. This track immediately burrowed its way into my temporal lobe. Seriously folks, the guitar line in the intro to this song that repeats throughout the song (aka the guitar hook) is the very definition of what an earworm is.

I want to make sure to veer your focus to the last two tracks of the album, so pay attention!  “Bury The Hatchet” and “Animal (Fuck Like A Beast) ” both possess a lighter tongue-in-cheek aura. “Bury The Hatchet” is a fun little up-tempo romp pregnant with contemptuous lyrics. The band’s cover of W.A.S.P.’s “Animal ” reeks of 1980’s hair metal (no, I am NOT kidding), featuring heavy-handed guitar power chords, and a virtuoso lead guitar solo. Both tracks showcase Wednesday 13‘s morosely insidious sense of humor.

Simply put, Necrophaze is delightfully morbid and wickedly entertaining. I encourage you, no, I demand that you click on the provided links immediately and invite Wednesday 13 and Necrophaze into your life.

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