CoC : Wumpscut - Wreath of Barbs : Review

Wumpscut - _Wreath of Barbs_
(Metropolis, 2001)
by: Aaron McKay (3 out of 10)

My not liking a :wumpscut: release should be like the sounding of the second trumpet in Revelations. I hope this isn't the case in any way shape or form, but the fact of the matter is this release is not what I would expect from the superior band I reviewed in CoC #49. Please take a look at that write-up, as I would very much like to remember this band for its efforts on _Bloodchild_ and not _Wreath of Barbs_. However, starting off this release with "Opening the Gates of Hell" was very promising indeed. The more pneumatic "Deliverance" and "Wreath of Barbs" come next; not at all ill-fated, and the latter track utilizing some very, very cool fuzzed-out computer vocals, but not up to the beginning song by any stretch of the imagination. Here is where things go South like a drug runner from the police. Holy shit! What is it with the female vocals on "Dr. Thodt"? I almost haven't the articulation about me to communicate to you the sheer, overt and alarmingly horrendous factors making up this track's insipid repulsion(s). What's more, :wumpscut: blasts the listener again with "Troops Under Fire", a boring ding-ding-ding-ding cut sounding more like a railroad crossing gate than an industrial track from a mostly respectable outfit. "Troops Under Fire" follows the most attractive song on the disc after the opening cut -- it is called "Christfuck". The title is astoundingly infantile in every sense of the word and then some, but the music behind the song is as solid as one has a right to expect from :wumpscut:. The vocals and repetitious nature on "Line of Corpses" threaten to diminish the track beyond repair, but with "Hate Is Mine" as the next track, "Line of Corpses" might as well be something off of killer _Bloodchild_ album. "Bleed in Silence" and "Eclipse" are nearly unspeakable in their atrocity, so seek out _Bloodchild_ and forget _Wreath of Barbs_ even exists; Heaven knows I'll try. Do us all a mighty big favor and lose Aleta Welling, Rudy (Ratzinger -- founder); the female vocals almost destroyed this otherwise mediocre effort.

(article published 14/1/2002)

ALBUMS
10/25/2000	A McKay	9	Wumpscut - Bloodchild