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WRECK-DEFY “Dissecting The Leech”
WRECK-DEFY “Dissecting The Leech”
By Dr. Abner Mality
I recall these Canadians putting out a pretty good thrash metal effort out a few years back. Here they are again and still thrashing like Jeebus, but I don’t think this is quite up to the standard of their last record.
There’s no problem with talent and the songwriting is good enough, but the production on this thing is so hot and dry, the guitars sound like meat sizzling on a grill. First two cuts “Under The Sun” and “Do It Again” blast away with furious rage, but that extra-crispy sound results in these tracks sounding like an overbaked mess. They prove they’ve got the aggression, but better sound is needed. And thankfully, WRECK-DEFY are smart enough to ease up on the gas and let the songs breathe on the rest of the album. “Millenial Dystopia” and “Revolt” come across a lot better, with measured speed and more catchiness in the riffs…there’s a certain resemblance to TESTAMENT and NEVERMORE in the song structures. Not a big surprise considering bassist Greg Christian was in TESTAMENT for many years.
Vocalist Wags Wagner tries to show his versatility, but he’s better at some things than others. He’s got a great high pitched scream which pops up on occasion and his “normal” singing voice flows pretty well, but on super-aggressive tracks like “Under The Sun” and “Apocalypse of Hope”, he just kind of adds to the noise. Moodier songs like “I Don’t Care” and the gloomy title track suit him best.
If the production was better on this thing, it would be right up there with recent TESTAMENT and FLOTSAM & JETSAM. It’s still worth checking out, but WRECK-DEFY really needs to have more attention to detail in the future.
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