Review: Bleached Cross – Wrath
Oppressive post-punk to dance and mosh about
There’ve been a lot of interesting post-punk and goth-adjacent bands coming out of the woodwork over the years, and what’s infinitely cool is how it’s never come off as a trend or fad; the bands themselves have a good balance of sticking to fundamentals and pushing the style forward. And today we have a case of the latter.
Bleached Cross is a Chicago band that describes their style as oppressive post-punk, and when I first heard their debut album and subsequent split with Philly act True Faith, that was certainly the case. The most surprising element of Bleached Cross’ music is the intensity. This band’s style combines the heightened emotion of post-punk with almost metal-like intensity, down to featuring backing growls and screams along with elements of industrial music. Naturally, with such a specific style, I was very impressed and interested in what they did next, and that day arrived with their sophomore LP, Wrath.
Everything I mentioned above about Bleached Cross’ music applies for the sophomore record, but what’s interesting is how they’ve doubled down on both the metal-like intensity—track 7, “Torment,” ends in complete black metal fashion, with blast beats and discordant guitars wailing away—and on their post-punk sound. The cool thing about post-punk is how versatile it is; how you can incorporate a lot of seemingly bizarre sounds and noises and still have danceable and catchy hooks.
And for Bleached Cross that somehow works; the intrinsic rhythm and groove of post-punk music is something they do well, even in the context of their own style which is so overwhelming and even claustrophobic. Moreover, the melodies and hooks they create make the album all the more cinematic through a combination of a crisp production and how well the band swerves from aggression into melancholy for the choruses.
As a whole package the record is great from start to finish, very consistent and with each song being distinct from the others as well. I recognize this record and band might not be for everyone; given how they incorporate so many elements and execute them in such a maximalist way, if you’re not familiar with the noisier side of post-punk or versed in extreme metal it may be too much, but I’d say it’s still worth the growing pains of calibrating into intense music to get it. As of this moment, Wrath is my favorite album of the year so far.
5/5 Flaming Toilets ov Hell
Wrath is out now via New Morality Zine and available on Bandcamp.
