Maybe we haven’t mentioned it enough in this space, but there really is something going on where bands like Wristmeetrazor, Seeyouspacecowboy and Vein.fm are taking genres like post-hardcore and metalcore, oft-maligned and looked down upon by the trve kvlt pvrists, and turning them into something elegant and modern while simultaneously tapping into what made them ubiquitous in the aughts.  You could argue the same principles apply to the current wave of “old-school death metal” bands popping up left and right.  The genre is caught in the same liminal nostalgia/renaissance space, but on Degeneration, WMR push themselves into a wider pastures, staking a claim for a larger piece of the pie.

It’s only been three years since Replica of a Strange Love, but quite a lot has changed in the Wristmeetrazor camp.  Immediately following their aforementioned sophomore release, the band embarked on a heavy touring schedule, which allowed them to debut the restructuring of the band: frontman Justin Fornof has put his bass aside and passed the torch to new hire Userelaine, with Nate Billmyer also replacing founding member Jonah Thorne on guitar.  Now a quintet (up from a trio in their earliest incarnation), the reinvigorated outfit did what anyone would do in their place: with momentum on their side and new blood adding fuel to the fire they went into almost total seclusion. Locking themselves in a cabin in the dead of the New Jersey woods, leaving only three times over a thirty day period and recording for more than twelve hours at a time, WMR tore themselves apart and rebuilt the machine from the bolts up, refining their brand of metalcore to include more industrial and nu-metal influences, eschewing their philosophical and romantic lyrical leanings for more pointed misanthropy and apoplexy at the general state of the world.  The result is a WMR significantly more aggressive and intense than their previous body of work would imply.

Honestly, when I read that WMR were throwing industrial and nu-metal flourishes into their music, I got a little worried.  I would hate for a band who so singularly captures the precise feeling of my world fifteen years ago and brings it into the present day to turn into something generic and featureless, transforming from the kind of whiny I love to the kind of whiny I hate.  That’s not the case here.  The nu-metal grooves act as subtle backdrops to their signature metalcore riffing, the chugginess of which has been dialed up a hell of a lot.  I meant it when I said this is an aggressive album.  It’s heavy as shit, violent and angry, and does not mince words.  Most importantly, it still scratches that all important nostalgic itch for me, only now it’s a little less Atreyu and a little more August Burns Red.  Hell, “Dogday God” and “Negative Fix” are the most overtly industrial/nu-metal song on the album and they still sound more like old Fear Factory than, I dunno, Limp Bizkit or something.  And the breakdowns.  Oh lord, the breakdowns.  I’m too old to spin kick in my living room anymore (especially because if I break anything, I have to pay for it) but it’s good to know some things like a gut-churning low-string chug never go out of style.  Do I miss the melodrama and somber angst of Replica?  Of course I do, but bands have to move on and evolve, and Degeneration is a statement piece, a critique of modern society (even if that critique is hardly original) and an expansion of the band’s bag of tricks.

It’s an interesting pivot from the WMR camp.  I would have been perfectly happy to see them stay the course and double down, but I’m also not in the band and have no creative say in what they do.  I’m just along for the ride, and I’m still very happy with where the ride is going.  Degeneration hits all the right notes that Replica did, although in a different way that is going to turn heads for sure.  Oh, and speaking of turning heads, make sure you stick around for the very bit of the album.  Without spoiling anything, it seems that Wristmeetrazor could potentially fill a very specific Heartagram shaped hole in the metal world on their next release.

-Ian

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Degeneration is out now on Prosthetic Records.  For more information on Wristmeetrazor, visit their official website.