Four records into a reasonably successful career, Wretched are pretty much a known quantity at this point: technically rendered death metal that has gradually aspired more and more toward a uniform deathcore sound over the years, with little variation otherwise… basically what you've got here is a band that is content to live and die on the strength of their riffs as well as the appeal of their clean, tightly played musicianship.
Which does in fact work for the most part. "To the Flies" bobs and weaves through a ridiculous number of lightning riffs, Adam Cody's plainly shouted metalcore vocals balancing the melodic with occasional bouts of raw intensity. "Thin Skinned" mixes it up with a crushing riff straight out of the Trey Azagthoth songbook. The title track, "Cannibal", sprawls out over 7.5 minutes of instrumental dexterity like a cross between melodic death bands like Carcass and the more prog sensibilities of Scale the Summit.
What you have here is the most complete, the most realized, record of Wretched's career, and yet their singular focus on tech death makes this something you really have to be in a specific mood for. The fact that they aren't the most virtuosic of the nu school shredders dictates that the songwriting itself is largely going to be front and center. It's to the band's credit that, given those limitations, they refuse to leave anything on the table. Cannibal is no masterpiece, but it scratches a very specific itch that even the most battle hardened headbangers get every now and then.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmJHRSHi250[/youtube]
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