On July 26, 2019, Swedish band ADRESTIA released their second full-length album "The Wrath Of Euphrates." ADRESTIA plays crust punk mixed with a hint of death metal. Since their first full-length album "The Art Of Modern Warfare," the lineup has changed, with the previous drummer Fredrik replaced by their original drummer Jack and the previous second guitarist Niklas replaced by their current second guitarist Aleksei. The sound of this album is mainly punk due to the d-beat drumming, yelled vocals, and breakneck pace. However, to quote the band, they added elements of death metal to make the music dynamic and less predictable. In my opinion, ADRESTIA has managed to accomplish this. Just when I begin to find the fast pace and yelling tiring, a guitar solo or slower section is thrown in.

The album starts off with the titular track "The Wrath Of Euphrates." It begins with a menacing intro that wouldn't be out of place on a death metal record but quickly descends into chaos, only letting up briefly to introduce a short guitar solo. The second track "Rise Up" features the growling vocals of Nastya Palamar of Belarusian band EXIST M. This song stands out from the rest of the album due to the addition of her vocals and a slow riff that is crawling by comparison. The slow and heavy riff overlaid with Nastya's growling is a great example of how the band uses death metal sound to change it up. Another song that has a guest vocalist is "Fight Back," which features Brad Boatright of FROM ASHES RISE, an American hardcore punk band. This song also stands out, but due to the rock 'n' roll vibe, riffs, and licks. The guitar solo in this song is my favorite from this album for the same reason. I also love the shouting of the chorus "Fight Back," and I could see this being a crowd pleaser live.

In terms of album pacing, the placement of the track "Opsada" is well done, considering it is the shortest track on the album and leans towards metal more than the other tracks. Compared to the other songs, it is relatively slow and heavy, with a huge low-end. ADRESTIA uses a Kurdish string instrument called a saz on this album and it is the most noticeable on "Afrin." The track features a Middle Eastern inspired tune played on the saz. The track "The Message" features Tomas Jonsson of Swedish crust punk band ANTI CIMEX. As a result of the collaboration, this song is pure punk energy.

For punk, political commentary is a large part of the music, and that is no different with ADRESTIA. According to the band, this album, "The Wrath Of Euphrates," was named after a military operation launched by the Syrian Democratic Forces against ISIS. The goal of the operation was to capture the Islamic State's capital city Raqqa and it was accomplished in October 2017. In addition, the band states that most of the lyrics are about real events that took place while they were writing this album. For this reason, I recommend this album to anybody that is interested in their message and wants to support them. Aside from the political message, the album is good fun and good musically. That is why I recommend this album overall to fans of fast-paced death metal and crust punk.