Wretched - MALUS INCARNATE (Full Band Play-through)

For the last two years, Charlotte, North Carolina’s lauded metal monsters WRETCHED worked on the songs that would populate their long-awaited fifth full-length, Decay. Set for release on October 17th on Metal Blade Records, the result is a conceptual masterpiece that blends haunting melodies with progressive complexity.

This fifth album, which is a prequel to 2010’s Beyond The Gate, delves into existential themes, D&D-inspired mythology, and personal loss. The record sees the boundary-pushing lineup breaking past defined walls of their four previous releases. Sonically, Decay may be WRETCHED’s most pristine-sounding recording, but it’s still raw with a live feeling in the performances. The band didn’t track the parts until they sounded like a computer. You hear guitarist Steven Funderburk pick through the strings and fret the instrument, bassist Andrew Grevey shines on bass with a potent musicality and movement, his parts as much a part of the sound and structure of the songs as the guitar. Vocally, Billy Powers went as raw as humanly possible, pushing himself and the instrumentals to their furthest for an uncompromisingly powerful performance on every track.

“We’ve had a lot of time to grow and reflect in the time between our last album and Decay,” says drummer Marshall Wieczorek. “WRETCHED is doing what WRETCHED always does, and that’s exploring our environment and leaving room for ourselves to try different things. To sum things up, the new album is dynamic. We go here, we go there, we go everywhere. There is no shortage of groove, heaviness, speed, melodicism, prettiness, and sadness.”

“Decay is 100% a concept album,” confirms Powers. “Beyond The Gate had an element this record shares, the talisman. I always knew there was more story there and was very excited to join up with the guys again to put that in motion. The first track I wrote was ‘The Golden Tide.’ I had no idea where I was going to take the story connection to Beyond The Gate until I typed the first line of the song. ‘They began in the dark.’ After that, the lyrics poured out of my mind and by the end of it I realized that this story takes place many years before the content of Beyond The Gate.”

The LP’s title track and first single contains the album’s main character, Malus, along with a character from Beyond The Gate named Elturiel. “In the song, ‘decay’ refers to Malus’ decaying existence, the feeling of loss, and helplessness/lack of control he has to influence anything outside of the darkness in which he has been cast.”

In broader terms, decay refers to many elements of the album’s story, “The decay of good intention, the loss of loved ones, the influence time and choices has upon our bodies and minds and the decay of the world around us due to the choices of those with ultimate power.”

Official WRETCHED YouTube channel. Wretched is a metal quintet established in 2005. Metal Blade Records & Unchained Management.
Billy Powers – vocals
Steven Funderburk – guitars
Andrew Grevey – bass
Marshall Wieczorek – drums

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Audio Produced by: Wretched

Engineered by: Marshall Wieczorek

Mixed by: Johann Meyer

Mastered by:: Alan Douches