Wiegedood – There’s Always Blood At The End Of The Road
Wiegedood – There’s Always Blood At The End Of The Road
Century Media Records
Release Date: 14/01/22
Running Time: 44:24
Review by Rick Eaglestone
9/10
Belgium’s visceral Black Metal trio return with their fourth studio album, ‘There’s Always Blood at The End of The Road’. OK, admission time straight from the off – until this release, I was unfamiliar with the band. I was literally drawn in by the album’s artwork and well, honestly – it turned out to be a fabulous introduction. I challenge anybody to listen to ‘FN SCAR 16’ and not be completely swept up by the combination of savage vocals and entrancing riffs running throughout, which seems to spill over into ‘And in Old Salamanos Room, The Dog Whimpered Softly’ effortlessly.
There is a slight Akercocke sounding shift with ‘Noblesse Oblige Richesse Oblige’, but the visceral nature of the previous tracks still lingers. Leading the charge into ‘Until It Is Not’ is a really commanding drum pattern that if it was included in the recent Try Not to Headbang Challenge videos making the rounds, would have everyone failing – guaranteed. Coming in at over eight minutes ‘Now Will Always Be’ has some wonderful throat singing style vocals that really add a new dynamic to the album, with relentless drumming and looping guitar parts making this the highlight of the album for me. This is then followed by the short but sinister instrumental ‘Wade’, which fits the artwork aesthetic perfectly.
‘Nuages’ brings back the fury and the end part of the track sounds like a death scene from the movie House of 1000 Corpses. The chugging riff that accompanies that part just adds to the uneasiness, which I’m all for. Now I honestly thought this album couldn’t get any more brutal, but then ‘Theft and Begging’ lands and at this point I feel like I should call my mum and get her to sing ‘Soft Kitty’ to me … I’m 43 this April.
Taking up the mantle from the album’s very first track, ‘Carousel’ left me with almost the same feeling but the throat singing style is back and it’s an element that I could listen to over and over again. It’s such a perfect way to end an album – so much so that it immediately ended up going on another five times in full at least; the physical copy was ordered and the cycle started again.
I’m now off to familiarise myself with the previous three albums, that is if I can tear myself away from this one for that length of time, as I know this will feature highly in my Album of the Year list and the end of 2022.
‘FN Scar 16’ (Official Video)
TRACKLISTING:
01. FN Scar 16
02. And in Old Salamanos Room, The Dog Whimpered Softly
03. Noblesse Oblige Richesse Oblige
04. Until It Is Not
05. Now Will Always Be
06. Wade
07. Nuages
08. Theft and Begging
09. Carousel
LINE-UP:
Levy Seynaeve – Guitars & Vocals
Gilles Demolder – Guitars
Wim Coppers – Drums
LINKS:
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