Reviewed by Peter John Willoughby

Connecticut-based Wrench In The Works seem to have found their feet. I wasn't overly impressed with their debut album 'Lost Art Of Heaping Coal' which had a similar sound to many of their Facedown label-mates. However, both the technical ability of the band and the production values are far better on this outing. It all combines to give a brutal intensity that spits in your face, before trampling you underfoot. Typically the songs feature 100mph drumming with frenzied double bass, metalcore riffs and raspy vocals. The lyrical content is equally tough. For example, "Project AK-47" is inspired by a ministry to save former child soldiers in Southeast Asia; "The face of war has never looked so young/Armies of enslaved daughters and sons denied existence so the world may never know/Tiny foot solders of the dope machine/Underground evil regimes/Mistreating children, creating killers". The latter half of "A Desert Voice" features melodic tones and a spoken word section by well-known rapper Levi The Poet. There is not much to distinguish the following songs until you get to "Vows (I Must Decrease)" which is woefully short at just over one minute long and is a wasted opportunity as it has an original structure that should have been made into a full-blown song. "Walk Amongst The Tombstones" is about the loss of a friend through heroin addiction. Wrench In The Works are still classed as "contempo-noise" and "savagely majestic", whilst being compared to Converge, Deadguy and Zao. The main problem that I have is that they are being marketed as being progressive in the metalcore scene. Progressive normally means songs that clock in over the seven minute mark. The whole album ends in less than 30 minutes and I'm left wanting more!

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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