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The latest album from Flaming Wrekage comes after more than a decade of grinding away, a trail of three previous albums and a long list of former members in their wake. Still, the band has been solid now for quite a few years and Terra Inferna is a strong sign of a group that may be about to go places, and recent live showings – like their slot with Katatonia in Sydney where they probably outshone the headliners – have been impressive indeed.
Terra Inferna enters immediately onto Dave Lupton’s dry rasp, savage riffing and pounding grooves, with Nightmare Architect showing off the band’s thrashier side. Hell on Earth opens things up further with staccato rhythms and a hint of deathcore and No Gods introduces the ghost of synths to their already heady sound. Four tracks in and Terra Infirma has been a relentless onslaught of groove-ridden thrash and melodic death metal.
Blood and Bone changes things up a little, opening on more prominent and darker synths and pulling in some twelve-string guitars while leaning into 90s groove metal when the track kicks in. Ghosts adds a sludge element as if Flaming Wrekage aren’t already working through enough genres. There’s certainly plenty of diversity in the band’s ceaseless attack, especially when they close out with more acoustic guitars and furious kicks into the final track. Terra Inferna’s downside, however, is that Lupton’s parched-throat vocals are rather one-note to the point of being grating, making it a bit of a slog after the first few tracks. If you can get over that mountain, though, it’s well worth the climb.
