Humanity seems to have a brain injury. We have so much history at our disposal to show us where those who preceded us failed, why, and how to avoid such a fate. And we never seem to learn. The cycles always repeat. The hubris prevents people from embracing what’s sensible and what would be better for those around us because the words of grifters, almost always transparent fools, are just too attractive.
Long-running black metal force Woe never shied away from digging into the seamy underbelly of humanity, and they do it yet again on “Legacies of Frailty,” the first since 2008 debut “A Spell for the Death of Man” solely helmed by founder Chris Grigg (Lev Weinstein does play drums on 3 tracks though). Over 6 tracks and 48 minutes, Grigg rolls out a conceptual piece about how humankind’s selfish nature always leads to ignoring history’s lessons for today’s rewards that often are falsehoods. We watch things rot and burn, we watch people die, we watch fascism get platformed and clap stupidly, slobbering all over the place. Grigg sounds as angry and channeled as ever, his shrieks turning into a growled bark, the music blunt and confrontational, the type that comes from a creator who has long since seen enough and wants us to wake the fuck up already.
“Fresh Chaos Greets the Dawn” starts chillingly, alien synth moving over your brain before the track tears open, Grigg’s death-like roars rippling down your spine. “The brazen sycophants, the spineless drones emerge, to sway in craven veneration, drawn to its pure vacuous dirge,” Grigg howls as melodies swell amid the fury, vicious and channeled playing aiming for throats. Warmer sound trickles as the growls continue to carve, riffs encircle as the oncoming storm lands, and everything is engulfed in flames before the synth returns and soothes your wounds. “Scavenger Prophets” has the howls tearing at flesh, clubbing with violence and savagery, the heaviness in both the music and words eating into your heart. The growls strangle as a fiery dialog lashes back with, “Resurrect the esoteric words, liar’s tongue, benighted reason, a fist against the weakness of the world.” The playing batters and makes the earth beneath you crumble, the guitars tingling as mangling wails choke you out. “The Justice of Gnashing Teeth” fires up with cyclone force, mean growls sounding like the cries of humanity desperate for relief. “Hatred, the reliable refrain raze the rags of civilization,” Grigg taunts as keys chill flesh, and powerful soloing explodes, lashing back with clobbering energy, the emotions exploding in the sky. Suddenly, everything goes faster, pounding away as Grigg stabs, “Every era thinks that it is different until it sees the broken bodies at its feet.”
“Distant Epitaphs” lights up immediately, igniting as the drums thoroughly punish, the growls ruthlessly carving tributaries. The playing trudges and actually finds a way to turn darker, sinister threads woven into your psyche, throaty wails feeling like a closed fist to the throat, the fires slowly subsiding, its thick smoke left behind. “Shores of Extinction” grills with black metal-style riffs that make way for sorrowful melodies that weigh down any positivity you’ve fooled yourself into feeling. “Heavy eyes spare no glances, a haze descends to still the world,” Grigg calls, a sentiment that repeats itself throughout this song, feeling more daunting every time. The playing then disorients as thick, poisonous fogs increase, the guitars make it feel like the room is spinning, and everything churns into a pit of despair. Closer “Far Beyond the Fracture of the Sky” opens with Grigg howling, “Every parent dreams of peace in wartime, gentle reason that yawns throughout the day,” and as the song goes on, that hope turns to relentless anxiety and existential despair. The force is furious as the thrashy force increases, destroying the light, the guitars racing to flex its bloody muscle. Things frost over as synth arrives, increasing the chill, making your bones shiver before the drums round back in and scorch the earth. A huge deluge swallows chaos, the playing hits a sinister glory that makes you feel both invincible and wholly defeated, sending shockwaves and drawing whatever blood is left, Grigg wailing, “Every parent dreams of peace and driven to lie to those wondrous gazes somehow sentenced to life,” ending everything in pain.
It’s a shame we still need records the nature of “Legacies of Frailty,” but humankind has shown its inability to learn, to self-reflect, to consider they might be wrong, misled by forces that intend to reap reward from their lies. Grigg zeroes in on this expertly and soberly on this record, and the harshness of the music, the guttural approach to the vocals, are necessary for expressing this multi-pronged view that we’re continually duped and always happy to fall for the grift. It’s Woe’s harshest record yet, one that has to exist because a wake-up call is absolutely needed, one delivered with a knife, though the ears that need to absorb the call likely will be distracted by bullshit.
For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/woeunholy/
To buy the album, go here: https://vendetta-records.bandcamp.com/album/legacies-of-frailty
For more on the label, go here: https://vendetta-records.com/
Meat Mead Metal 