W.I.L.D have, despite having only released a single album, have been a part of the European Death and Thrash Metal scene for a while. The band, who initially formed under the name of WILD KARNIVOR in 2000, putting out two full lengths and a couple of demos under that name before switching to their current moniker. As you would expect, this has allowed them not only to master their craft, but also make friends within the wide and extensive European Extreme Metal scene. On their latest EP, "Happiness Not Allowed", the band have brought in many of their friends from across that scene to create some great new music, as well as celebrate their influences.

The opener, "Inside", slowly builds up, until we get to some fierce sounding, groovy Death Metal. It's got a lot of cool, melodic riffs and some great vocals. At points, the bass becomes more prominent in the mix, but unfortunately not as much as I'd like. The bass lines are great, but are barely audible for large sections of the track, which is a shame. Nonetheless, it's a solid opening effort for this EP. The second track, "A Buried Memory", is a vast improvement; the music altogether sounds thicker and more powerful, and sounds a lot more aggressive than the song that came before it. It's got a technical edge to it that really brings the track to life, and the bass parts are much more noticeable when the song calls on them to add another element to the track.

"QI Type X" sees the Thrash aspect of the bands sound come to the fore a lot more, with great, chugging rhythms, catchy leads and vicious drumming. It's a song that's driven by speed and sharp guitar lines, and it stands out well from most of the other tracks on the record. "Eternal Cycle" opens on a great, technical riff that turns into a much darker, heavier track with plenty of great leads and varied vocals. and it manages to balance the Thrash and Death Metal parts of its sound very well. "Erinyes" is a fast piece of melo-death that is pretty good, but doesn't stand out particularly from the rest of the songs on the album. The penultimate track on here, "Paranoid Schizophrenia" is another razor sharp modern Thrash song with some awesome guitar parts and some great vocals. This is a really good song to bring this record to a climax, and proves to be one of the best songs on the record. The albums final song, a cover of MACHINE HEAD's "Davidian" manages to stick the bands own mark on the track, whilst staying true to the original. The vocals on this track are varied, from some cleaner sections through to deep, throaty Death Metal growls. It's a decent rendition of a classic track, and a great way to close this EP.

Overall, this is a pretty good record. The music on offer sounds great and the vocals sound amazing. It's a powerful, modern piece of Death/Thrash Metal that showcases a band with plenty of great ideas and talent. This could likely be a breakthrough record for this band and give them a much wider audience. If you like Death and Thrash Metal, this is worth checking out.