Furious and Bleak
Cave Bastard are a death metal band from my home town of San Diego, California. They are all veterans of metal bands, and the experience shows in Wrath of the Bastard. The album starts out with the short intro titled “Contaminate-Annihilate” that seamlessly goes right into “Anti-Vaxxtermination” with it’s melancholic ringing guitars and sweeping drum fills. This is only to set you up for a much faster song once the vocals kick in. The song gave me some very anxious feelings and the time-changes always keep it interesting. The riffs are memorable, but seem to be constantly evolving.
“Chaos Unearthed” starts out mid-paced but speeds up around the 1:30 mark. It contains probably my favorite guitar solo in the album, and slows way down around the half-way point of the song, for a heavy, doomy section. This song has the most variety, and is my favorite song on the album. If you are going to listen to one song from Wrath of the Bastard, make it “Chaos Unearthed.”
Beauty and Chaos
“A Horrible Light” is a wonderful 2-minute instrumental. I miss these from metal bands. Think “Desolate Ways” from Morbid Angel, or “Inquisition Symphony” from Sepultura. They are placed in the middle of an album, to break things up. Not to be confused as an intro or outro. I really wish more death metal bands did this. Kudos to Cave Bastard.
Clarity and Distinct
Wrath of the Bastard has a clear, yet punchy production. The bass from Troy Oftedal cut through the mix. The vocals by Steve Pearce are just compressed enough as to not sound flat, and are still dynamic. The drums are just loud enough to be distinct, but not overwhelming. Production, mixing and mastering was all done by Dave Otero (Cattle Decapitation, Primitive Man), and has done another knockout job with this one.
Futility and Oblivion
Cave Bastard really brought an album of mixed emotion. It has a hopeless, bleak feel with the slower doomy parts. Then the album will hit you with furious speedy rage that often reminds me of black metal bands like Marduk and Satanic Warmaster. At times there is also a psychedelic feel, that conjures up melodic, yet furious mid-era Enslaved. This is not an easy album to dissect. There is a lot of variance, but somehow… it still flows. Every song seems to lead into the next, very naturally.
Wrath of the Bastard doesn’t stack all the best songs in the beginning, like we see so much these days. The melodic moments are done well, and they are memorable. The complexity will lead you to hear new things in this album over many listens. If I am to give this album some criticism, it would be to have more straight forward, repeating, catchy riffs. I really enjoy Wrath of the Bastard, and I recommend you give it a few listens.
Standout tracks: Anti-Vaxxtermination, A Horrible Light, The Kreist, Chaos Unearthed
Cave Bastard: Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram
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