From their record label's website, "With "Decay," the decade-long wait for new WRETCHED music is finally over, the dozen songs worth every moment of anticipation. The new album sees the boundary-pushing lineup breaking past defined walls of their four previous releases. "We've had a lot of time to grow and reflect in the time between our last album our "Decay," says drummer Marshall Wieczorek. WRETCHED is doing what we always do, and that's exploring our environment and leaving room for ourselves to try different things. To sum things up, the new album is DYNAMIC. We go here, we go there, we go everywhere. There is no shortage of groove, heaviness, speed, melodicism, prettiness, and sadness."

The title track is first, and it comes out of the gates with a good deal of weight, and solemn tones among the deep aggression. The vocals vary from deep gutturals to tortured screams. Some of the guitar work is tricky, and this keeps the listener on their toes. "The Royal Body" is another slab of super heavy Death Metal, and the near constant presence of the vocals keeps the listener fixed on them. The rest of the instrumentation here is pretty standard. "The Crimson Sky" is another slow grind of Doom and Death Metal, and so far, the band isn't straying far from the formula they want on the album. I get it, but a little diversity could go a long way, and make the album more enjoyable. The lead breaks are nice in that regard.

"Clairvoyance" is shorter, and it provides some of that diversity in sound I talked about. The clean guitars and vocals are still very solemn, but they help to break up the previous intensity. "The Mortal Line" features the kind of vocals you might hear entering a church, although I doubt that the rest of the album might be welcomed there. The choirs are again, very solemn, and you get the sense someone is weeping. "Lights" is much heavier, and more emotionally impactful. In fact, it feels like the burden the band lays on the listener is a massive boulder on their back…one so large, it can't possibly be carried. "The Golden Tide" actually has some melody intertwined with the intense sound. These are exactly the type of songs that allow the band just a bit of experimentation in keeping with the core of their sound.

"Blackout" is an utterly dreadful affair, as the title suggests. The guitars create a thick, hard wall of sound, but some of the leads add a measure of doom to the sound. The vocals are absolutely tortured, and some of the notes are held for more effect. "The Golden Skyway" closes the album, and it's a final push of aggression and weight, but not without some somber melodies as well. Overall, this was a solid listen for me. It started off a little one sided, with one weighted, desolate song after another, but the band managed to keep me fixed, by adding in some diversity here and there. It was indeed a heavy and at times groovy album, with sadness in tow, as well as some melody, but I feel like they can take just a few more chances the next time around.