Review: Wraithstorm – Revenant
I think Alicia Cordisco may be a witch
A good witch, mind you. But still a witch.
How else can you explain the fact that she has so many projects spanning multiple metal genres and every single one of them is good? Between her solo stuff, Transgressive, Judicator, Justicar, The Recreant, Project: Rowenwolfe, and Wraithstorm she spans all the metals: heavy, funeral doom, thrash, melodic death, black, speed, power, symphonic, gothic, crossover, progressive, grindcore, and probably some that haven’t even been invented yet.
Wraithstorm’s second album, Revenant, is another jewel in Cordisco’s crown (she’s both a witch and a queen). It is a very different animal from Wraithstorm’s first album, 2022’s Unseen & Unfound. While Revenant is melodic death metal, Unseen & Unfound is funeral death/doom. Revenant has 11 tracks, Unseen & Unfound is split into two sections but is a single track that is 37 minutes long. Oh, and Unseen & Unfound has no guitar. Just bass (Cordisco), drums (Michael Goodrich), and vocals (Lux Edwards).
It’s not that both albums don’t have plenty in common. Both have deeply introspective lyrics that explore identity and grief while railing against bigotry and ostracism. The liner notes for Unseen & Unfound call it “a shared experience for [Cordisco and Edwards],” who are both transgender. The lyrics refer to “a messenger of fear” who “speaks forbidden knowledge” in the album’s first section. The lyrics continue: “And into the night his words will fall / The flesh is all you ever are / Nature provides the only find / Your body is one with your mind.”
The shared experience continues on Revenant, most explicitly via the song “Cataclysm System,” which the liner notes say is “based in feelings of frustration with living under the rule of theocratic fascism and careless liberalism, from the perspective of a transgender person.” Edwards sings, “Crush to dust the corpse of hope I held / Let the pestilence take all that’s left behind / None remain with the strength to stand and fight / So weak they look away as the other dies.”
It’s a damning assessment of how transgender people are being used as a political football by both the right and the left. While the right does everything possible to eradicate trans existence, much of the left is silent and/or complicit. Transgender rights are human rights. Abandoning trans people and fighting against fascism are mutually exclusive. The anger and anguish in Wraithstorm’s lyrics are palpable.
What makes Cordisco’s many projects so good is not just her extraordinary talent, it’s that she surrounds herself with other incredible musicians. Revenant shares the same three artists as Unseen & Unfound, except with Cordisco on guitar this time and Leona Hayward (Transgressive, Owlbear) on bass. Another difference is that Edwards (Soulmass) is credited for lyrics this time around instead of Cordisco.
If you’ve ever listened to Soulmass, you know that Edwards has vocals that will tear open the earth and pull you face first under the dirt. They are at their vocal peak on Revenant. One thing I love about this album is the balance between Edwards’s bellowing growls and the brightness and intricacy of Cordisco’s guitar, a good example of which can be heard on “Indifferent Stars.” And I know that bassists and drummers often don’t get the recognition they deserve, so let me give Hayward and Goodrich props for being a rock solid foundation for the pure heft that is Wraithstorm.
To my ears, the most beautiful sound in the world is an electric guitar. I love the crunch of a massive riff, but it’s a clean melodic lick that grabs me by my soul. A good guitar solo gives me life, and by that measure, Cordisco has written and played enough of them to keep my heart ticking for a very long time. And a slew of them appear on Revenant.
I can’t remember how I was introduced to Cordisco and her guitar sorcery (I think it was Project: Rowenwolfe), but it’s clear to me that it was literally bound to happen. For anyone who lives and breathes metal, she’s impossible to miss. And we are all damn lucky for that.
5/5 Flaming Toilets ov Hell
Revenant releases October 2 through Bandcamp.
