Wrought Iron: Rejoice and Transcend
Stellar, spot on. There, review finished. We’ve been thinking about trying one-sentence reviews for some time, just haven’t decided the best approach for it yet, so bare with us as we continue to talk even though we’ve already told you what we think of this one. Grimoire Records is an on-the-rise label from out of Baltimore. We reviewed one of their releases by Torrid Husk some time ago, and dude has been pressuring us for more with constant PMs on Facebook. Listen to this one, he said, over and over again. Fine already, we responded. So, ripped the tracks onto the MP3 player and went to the gym to work on some chest. There’s only one way to get through the day of ‘National Chest Day’ (Monday, by the way), and that’s by crushing it with some serious black metal. All the nuubs about leaving crap lying on the floor, hording it, the improper form, the lack of legs, it’s horrifying. Only black metal can allow one to survive. But how about with a bit of thrash behind it? No, we’re not talking blackened thrash here, we’re talking, umm, how about thrashened black? That’ll do, and if someone uses that reference in the future make sure they remember where it came from. This one helped us rep out our max for the first time ever.
Wrought Iron is a currently unknown black metal outfit from Pittsburgh, PA. Having grown up in the area myself long ago, it’s a shame this wasn’t around the same time as some of the older venues, like the old Millvale Industrial Theater, because you better believe this guy would have been there every frikken time. But, since that never happened, primarily since they just formed in 2012, now we can get by saying “pffff, we knew those guys before Pitchfork, please.” That’ll do, pig. Rejoice and Transcend just dropped today, and is available in both digipak and cassette format, depending on whether you’re part of the new wave of analog fools, or still clinging to the format that makes the most sense for a variety of reasons. Trust us, it will again be cool, once it’s considered retro, or whatever, you know how that goes. Honestly, wasn’t expecting much out of another black metal submission, was expecting something typical, maybe even something banal. Forgive us, Wrought Iron.
Because Rejoice and Transcend shall make you do just that. The amazing thing is that it’s absolutely stellar in its classicism. That’s something you don’t see every day, a band that sounds like practically a thousand others, but does it better than every single one of them. Wrought Iron command the usual black metal riff attack, with some death and thrash. But the hooks, oh my the God damn hooks, they’re everywhere, and we mean everywhere in italics. There’s just the right amount of lo-fi for that gutter-dwelling feeling, that feeling of being alone in a roach-infested apartment covered in obscure black metal patches, thriving off of water you collect from the leaks in the ceiling. Absolutely dirty and filthy is the way, the greatest way. Think of it like this. If Darkthrone managed to pull this off on Transilvanian Hunger throughout every song without covering everything with the damn redundant vocals, Rejoice and Transcend would be the result after they released ten more albums that were progressively better. Everything is recorded at the nearly perfect level, which allows the lo-fi sound to, shall we say, transcend. The vocals layer and rip open your throat better than Craft ever managed, with the drums pounding and providing impetus. Really, this is damn perfect on so many levels a perfect score would never suffice, and for something that has no need in pretending to be more than it is, that’s God damn amazing.
Wrought Iron Official Facebook
Written by Stanley Stepanic
Wrought Iron: Rejoice and Transcend
Grimoire Records
5 / 5
