Arson Cafe: Whoredom Rife - Winds of Wrath (2021)

Tuesday, November 16, 2021

Whoredom Rife - Winds of Wrath (2021)

Genre: Black Metal

Location: Trondheim, Norway

Release date: 15.11.2021

Label: Terratur Possessions

Listen: Bandcamp

Website: Instagram

The first two Whoredom Rife albums were released with only short in-between period in 2017 and 2018, but the band has been busy with a few smaller scale releases since then before putting their third full length together. Apart from the split with Taake, two EPs that include, among a lot of acoustics, a Manes cover, show how much ingrained the band is to its scene and especially its origin. I can't say I didn't enjoy their first steps, as both Dommedagskvad and Nid - Hymner av hat have a load of great moments in them, but I wasn't bought by the rest of their material, so I had to be in the waiting for the next record.

And as far as it seems, once again they come along extremely photogenic. These covers are just a pleasure to watch, there's no grimness but only apocalyptic beauty in the designs, which goes along with the crystal clear sound Whoredom Rife maintains from the beginning. Winds of Wrath is also the first title, apart from the self-titled first EP in 2016, that has an English title, even though the band usually chooses Norwegian & English for the songs themselves, a tradition that is kept with this release as well. If I haven't given enough key words already, Winds of Wrath is all you imagine it to be and quite efficient as well. Whoredom Rife are good with heaviness, fast-paced ferocity with solid injections of melodies and a few background synths for the atmosphere.

Nothing less that a fine example of modern Norwegian black metal, this record almost feels too professional. Everything works properly and it's been designed to quench your thirst for this music. If we somehow agree that this accessibility has turned this genre to a walk in the park compared to a narrow path between a cliff and a mountain that it once was, Winds of Wrath is well-made but not so dangerous art, at least to the ears of the seasoned black metaller. Maybe I have this wrong impression of this kind of Scandinavian black metal now, yet I have always enjoyed an album that doesn't ruin it, and Winds of Wrath certainly doesn't.

Therefore, Whoredom Rife's strongpoint, as it has always been, is the melodic variety in their albums. The epic element is always present, and they frequently speed up to more intense parts, all of them nicely flowing into each other. I can't get into these vocals, to me they sound too distorted or with too much studio effect, yet the main body of work is on point. I'm afraid Winds of Wrath's case will be the same as the previous two albums, a great listen but never gets memorable. Yet for today, it's a solid record.

Tracklist:

1. Curse of the Moon

2. A Thousand Graves Endured

3. Gospel of Hate

4. Hav av Sykdoms Blod

5. Winds of Wrath

6. Einride

Damage: 3.5/5 [Great]

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Reckoning

From all the hills came screams. A piece of sky beside the crescent sun was detaching. It was a loosened circle of evening sky, suddenly lighted from the back. It was an abrupt black body out of nowhere; it was a flat disk; it was almost over the sun. That is when there were screams. At once this disk of sky slid over the sun like a lid. The sky snapped over the sun like a lens cover. The hatch in the brain slammed. Abruptly it was dark night, on the land and in the sky. In the night sky was a tiny ring of light. The hole where the sun belongs is very small. A thin ring of light marked its place. There was no sound. The eyes dried, the arteries drained, the lungs hushed. There was no world. We were the world’s dead people rotating and orbiting around and around, embedded in the planet’s crust, while the earth rolled down. Our minds were light-years distant, forgetful of almost everything.