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Wrathprayer: The sun of Moloch - The sublimation of sulphur's essence which spawns death and life
11/05/14 || Habakuk
With Maryland Deathfest upon us, I decided to check out some bands surrounding the ones I already know and value. And lo and behold, fittingly positioned on a bill next to Inquisition and Pseudogod lay Wrathprayer.
I initially confused them with Voidhanger I have to admit (go and read their album’s title before you judge me!), who wouldn’t sound out of place amidst those bands either. Yet lucky I was that Wrathprayer sound even better than said Infernal War spin-off which is as easily confused with them as with an ordinary coathanger.
What about Wrathprayer then, you might ask. And I reply: They bring brooding brutality, hypnotically creating a straight, ropy flow. Sure Incantation come to mind with such a comparison, but the somewhat sloppy feel of much of those guys’ (older) material is completely absent here. The strings definitely have more than enough room to breathe, but there is a certain edge retained that never lets the audio become a mere humming. Some might call that a “blackened” sound. Yet while I understand where that’s coming from, still this clearly is a death metal album, albeit a sinister one.
The production nicely helps provide some aural wireframing to the inclined listener, with treble high on the otherwise muddy drums and subdued, hollow-sounding vocals reminiscent of Portal giving the album its menacing, dark vibe. “Sun of Moloch” is dense as all hell, but you’ll notice that it is not just atmospheric, thick death metal fog, but that there actually is a lot of song- and riffwriting prowess on display as well.
It really depends on the level of focus you want to provide this album with. Either way – if you mainly want to drone out your surroundings and focus on something else, or rather raise imaginary grapes into a bleak winter sky – “The sun of Moloch” offers a certainly different, but equally superb death metal experience in both contexts from front to ba…-hold up. The outro sucks. Yet the rest is as fantastic as the album title long and the drummer angry.
- Information
- Released: 1987
- Label: Nuclear War Now!
- Website: Wrathprayer BandCamp
- Band
- Pestifer Fides: vocals
- God of Torment: guitars, vocals
- J.M. Retsiela: bass
- Tracklist
- 1. Prayer I (Rev X:VII)
- 2. In Visceribus Bestiæ
- 3. From the Depths of the Phlegethon
- 4. Ritualization (Rev XIII)
- 5. The Darkest Fyre
- 6. The Annunciation I:I (Vermis Precatus)
- 7. Devourers of Light
- 8. Sun of Moloch
- 9. Prayer II (lmlk)
