In this day and age, there are so many sub-genres of rock and metal. Probably more than you are able to count in your lifetime. There’s nothing wrong with bands fusing different influences together to create something different, and for the most part it’s a good thing. Sometimes you just want to hear a band that rocks like an absolute motherfucker. Enter Miami’ quartet, WRONG, who do exactly that on their new self-titled album.
With former members of noisemakers Torche and Kylesa among their ranks, WRONG’s debut full-length was never going to be a quiet affair. They have been worshiping at the altar of the legendary Helmet, added the driving rhythms of Handsome, the noise-rock of Unsane, and ran it through their own bastardised filter to create half an hour of unhinged cacophony.
The down-tuned, bottom end riffing of ‘More Like’, and the crust-punk infused ‘Turn In’ have been dragged straight from the dirtiest swamps. Sludge influenced time signatures provide headbanging anthems, before giving way to screeching, lightning-quick solos. It is an unrelenting theme that continues throughout the duration of the record.
When he isn’t spitting bile from the pit of his stomach, vocalist/guitarist Eric Hernandez adds an unexpected aspect of melody during ‘Entourage’. It doesn’t happen all that often, but even over the stop/start rhythms of ‘Stasis’, it becomes hypnotic, making the album more inviting than if it was just constantly chaotic.
WRONG clearly wear the aforementioned influences proudly on their sleeve. In fact, you would be forgiven if you thought it was Page Hamilton himself providing both vocals and instrumentation on the soaring album closer, ’High Chair’. However their self-titled debut is far from a carbon copy of the past, and carries more depth than your average hard rock album to be a nostalgia trip.
If you are looking for virtuoso guitar wizardry, or an amalgamation of every style of rock and metal thrown into the mix, then WRONG probably aren’t going to be the band for you. If you want some well-executed, heavy, abrasive, yet utterly engaging rock music, this record has all of that and more. While most debut LPs are a stepping stone for a band to find their feet, WRONG have come out with the confidence to kick the stones away and dive in head first.
GLEN BUSHELL