(Neseblod Records)

Waklis overcome digital to break in a Norwegian thrash metal classic

Waklevören’s short, snarling and lowly production on the follow up to their Brutal Agenda EP is a blatant ‘fuck you’ to the well-groomed sound that remains a trend in international metal. Formed in 2002 after a series of drunken phone calls, these Norwegian thrash metal horrors manage to take the guts of 1980s underground thrash and hardcore into a post-thrash generation. The title track translates to Time Heals Every Wound, which is fittingly ironic as the band’s booze-drenched and displacing metal approach truly contrasts with how tame most recent metal recordings sound, with the digital process confusing machine precision for human musicianship (nearly every album I’ve heard over the past 12 months has sounded masterfully contrived). Waklevören’s kind of disrespectful chaos is like being pushed into the dirt after months of suburban monotony. Grav Uten Navn is a wonderful reminder of low budget studios and shredded jackets, and other mid-tracks like Glitrer Ett Lys showcase the backbeat violence so sadly missed by metalheads like myself. The entire CD blasts right by you, considering the shortest track Advarsel times in at a minute – it’s 60 seconds of filth your ears deserve to hear. The Waklevören members have enough musical sensibility to understand that heaviness does not necessarily equal tension, and they’ll make you squirm. Forget what it’s like to feel mutinous? Import this recording – you’re from a Blank Generation, you’re not waiting for the next high; you’re waiting for the genuine high. Here it is. 

*****

ASH JONES

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