Catharsis
Flaming Wrekage
A rough ride into a unaccustomed state of mind never felt before, seeing all red, running berserk, burning with violent and aggressive urges and the tour begins without reaching a peak point. The Aussie modern Metal dependents of FLAMING WREKAGE's mind set led them into the mixture of several types of contemporary Metal affiliations, whether New Wave Of American Metal, nowadays Thrash Metal, semi melodic Death Metal and Metalcore, which an overall is potentially an expressive aspect. With the demonstrations revealed on their debut "Catharsis", that spoken prospective began its first steps with a few neat descendants. Nonetheless, as the journey continued, FLAMING WREKAGE, with conviction, kept their formula solid as stone, steady, motionless, quite routine for this type of musical direction and something that has been around and heard countless of times.
Treading the fields with a sonic studio engineering, complimenting the drum set and the guitar lines, "Catharsis", respectfully, had nothing overly exciting whatsoever. I agree that infusing the music directive of bands such as LAMB OF GOD, later IN FLAMES, AS I LAY DYING, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, DEVILDRIVER, SLAYER and METALLICA, isn't that undemanding to achieve, yet it has been quite common for plenty of other Metal groups around the globe, whether with the riffing, drumming techniques and the overall arrangements of the tracks. Although, every other band, like FLAMING WREKAGE themselves, have their own tweak. Adam Tripodi's lead guitar efforts including the various melodic stints, even if a bit minimalistic in numbers, have been quite decent. Here and there I could distinguish a few spontaneous guitar riffs out of the common focus. Nonetheless, as I mentioned earlier, FLAMING WREKAGE have been peeking in the same pond as many, without bring anything exhilarating or fresh to the table. Furthermore, Dave Lupton's one dimensional vocal pattern hasn't been that easy to accumulate or bear. His screamo technique annoyed rather than just being there at the front as an integral part of the music. In time I got used to it, but it was a hard digest.
FLAMING WREKAGE's common zest, even without being closer to a thrill, shared a few niceties like "Verge Of Disintegration" that appeared as atmospheric rather than melodic, displaying a good lead guitar solo amplifying the vibe, decent rhythm harmonized guitaring under an ordinary type riffery. "Dawn Of Time", the album's closer, turned out to be an epic instrumental. On the other hand, I found it to be the release's crown jewel, proving that FLAMING WREKAGE has the ability to come up with great musical arrangements harbouring varied ethereal feels with engrossing and impressive riffs, especially the ones featured through the midway of the track, great rhythm section skills of both drums and bass. I would have tweaked several of the grey flatline areas with additional harmonies, but maybe next time around. Without being special at all, "Catharsis" should still be heard and receive your own judgement.
5 / 10
Mediocre
"Catharsis" Track-listing:
1. Fallen One
2. It Burns Before Your Eyes
3. Summoned
4. Verge Of Disintegration
5. Threats of Revolt
6. In the Dark
7. Saboteur
8. Dawn Of Time
Flaming Wrekage Lineup:
Dave Lupton - Lead Vocals / Guitars
Grant Lloyd - Bass
Zac Stewart - Drums
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