Thursday, January 22, 2015

Winds of Genocide - Usurping the Throne of Disease


Winds of Genocide is a crust punk band playing something roughly like death/black metal. They have a high-distortion aesthetic, throw in a blast beat here and there, and have an incomprehensible roaring vocalist. While there are some thrash/death riffs scattered throughout the album, nearly every song seems unable to find where to go with them - everything simply transitions back to the churning storm of noisy crust. The strongest moment on the album is the title track, which builds an ominous, brooding melody in true Bolt Thrower fashion, building up for their best minute, then awkwardly transitioning through two more different buildups, both faster, and eventually settling into what feels like a completely different song with a hopping beat alternating with a blast. It feels like they put Bolt Thrower songs in a blender and pulled out mismatched parts. Sure, the intros from "Embers" and "This Time It's War" are great, but it sounds weird that they tried to fit both into one song.

Enough about that one track, simply because it is the standout. The rest of the music suffers similarly from poor structuring: charging forward with a powerful riff but falling back on their habits of plodding along in a crusty grind. Not a single song feels like a complete statement from beginning to end, they either trail off or simply shift back into the mundane. Very poor songwriting and structuring are the band's foremost problem. The abrasive production gives everything a feeling like it is grating and grinding along, and perhaps it is intended to wear the listener down through attrition. It feels like the same unsuccessful steps are taken over and over again in every song. Despite having some good riffs mixed throughout, they feel like chrome rims and a shiny muffler on a beater car.


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