3 out of 5

Label: Metropolis

Producer: Rudy Ratzinger

Wreath of Barbs has some incredible tracks on it, both from the ‘Embryodead’ school of pummeling aggression and some more experimental tracks that highlight how skilled Ratzinger is with his mixing and production.  But for some reason the album tanks after the midway point, the last six tracks not bad, but not particularly notable, either too subtle or repetitive to merit paying attention.

‘Opening the Gates of Hell’ is all sorts of appropriate as a beginning track.  Prior to this came the more mellow ‘Eevil’ EP, so returning to the harsh, marching industrial style with distorted vocals and a bitter mantra is a great way to kick things off.  ‘Deliverance’ seems to be more in the remix vein of things, a stripped down beat with repetitive lyrics, but it keeps the energy going for the incredible bundle of tracks that follow – title track ‘Wreath’ finds an appropriate balance between moody dance and production tinkling for Rudy, details upon details scattered around the beat and lyrics.  ‘Dr. Thodt’, featuring the vocals of Aleta Welling, matches the template of boring :wump:… repeated lyrics, a laid-back beat, but it is one of the richest tracks Rudy has ever committed, the repetition working in its favor to enhance its evolving nature.  And only this man could start a song with some samples about love and then sink into a driving chorus of the words ‘Christfuck’.  Nice.

But then… I don’t know what happens.  The mood totally shifts.  Aleta pops up on a couple more tracks, and ‘Bleed in Silence’ has some really fascinating background things happening, but none of it helps any of the tracks; they feel like outtakes, almost, sketches for songs that never happened.  As though the first 6 tracks were an EP and then the remaining are a bonus disc.  Even if the sequencing had been scattered, they don’t quite work as linking tracks because they’re about 5 minutes a piece, so it really would’ve slowed the whole affair down.  But – they’re not just dancefloor filler either, as some of the lyrics and knob-twiddling show definite effort and thought.  So it’s hard to say where they fit into the overall picture.

There are some absolutely required additions to a :wumpscut: catalogue on this album, but it’s a shame that you could shave off half the runtime and not feel like you’re missing anything.