(written by Islander)
The cover painting chosen by the Dutch band Wrang for their new album Verwording isn’t conventional imagery for a black metal band — and Wrang is unmistakably a black metal band. But it’s a choice that connects to both the album’s music and its lyrical themes. Here’s some information provided on behalf of Dominance of Darkness Records, which (along with Korpituli Productions) will release Verwording on April 24th:
Wrang’s themes here differ from those prior, ranging from societal critiques to more abstract themes, such as the inner need for strife, leaving behind home and what you know in a longing for something else. But, like most of the band’s music, these lyrics can also be a bit contradictory: on one hand, always looking for something, yet never at ease once it’s reached. Always restless, defiant, yet always torn – such is Wrang, to the bitter end.
And so that cover art offers an apt metaphor for the album’s sonic and lyrical themes: “always drifting on stormy waters, always searching, never settling, desperate yet defiant.” How does the music represent such themes? We have an example today in our premiere of a video for the album’s second single, “Voor ons de zee” (The sea before us).
Wrang’s last album, 2022’s De vaendrig, displayed a more rock ‘n’ rolling style of black metal as compared to their previous works, and that aspect of their music persists in “Voor ons de zee“, but it’s not the entire tale.
The persistence is reflected in rocking grooves in this mostly mid-paced mover — muscle-throbbing grooves created by big booming bass lines and skull-smacking beats. At moments of extreme intensity, the band inject blast-beat bursts and startling double-bass cannonades, but it’s those rocking grooves that provide the main line.
And make no mistake, the song does become emotionally very intense. At the outset it’s a swaggering and kind of feral and very dark experience, though even then the guitars swirl and soar, and the vocals expel cut-throat snarls and rabid howls. Gradually, the music expands and washes over the listener like the waves in the video, channeling moods of yearning and loss.
The gleaming guitars swirl and elevate even more vibrantly, causing the music to sound even more desperate, and the vocals sound like they’re being strangled and coming apart at their bloody seams. When the drums erupt in blasts, the riffing maniacally roils and boils, even more intensely distressed in their moods; even the return of the drums to more measured beats doesn’t quell the soul-splintering madness of the riffing, the unhinged outbursts of the vocals, or the sea-spanning scope of the music, which is driven to even greater heights by both trilling guitar-leads and symphonic strings.
And so: “Voor ons de zee” proves to be a multi-faceted affair and captivating in more ways than one. Not only is the song a visceral head-nodder, it also thrives on memorable melodies that carry the song to panoramic zeniths of torment and anguish — and the vocals are devastating.
Wrang are: Valr and Galgenvot. The album includes guest vocals by Revenant and Carchost of Helleruin.
Verwording was mixed and mastered by Carchost. Guitars were engineered by S. Korpituli, and drums engineered by M.vdW. The cover artwork is by Dofzwart.
The new album will be released by Dominance of Darkness on CD and vinyl LP formats, and by Korpituli Productions on cassette tape. For more info about the album and Wrang, visit the locations linked below. We’re also including a stream of the first single released from the album, “Nachten in Walheim“.
DOMINANCE OF DARKNESS:
https://www.facebook.com/dominanceofdarkness
https://www.instagram.com/dodrecords
https://www.dod-records.de/
https://dod-records.bandcamp.com/
KORPITULI:
https://korpituli.bandcamp.com
korpituliATgmail.com
WRANG:
https://www.facebook.com/wrangblackmetal
https://www.instagram.com/domstad_swart_metael
https://wrang.bandcamp.com/