Wrath And Rapture - Wrath And Rapture
Tragic Hero Records
Progressive Melodeath / Power Metal / Metalcore
10 songs (30:25)
Release year: 2010
Myspace, Tragic Hero Records
Reviewed by Kyle
Surprise of the month

So before you even started reading this review, you more than likely took a glance at the genres Wrath And Rapture is classified in, and said “Ew”. Why not? I mean, no two music fans have the same taste, and out of all the subgenres this band splits itself into, there’s bound to be at least one you dislike or even loathe. And even if you don’t have a problem with any of these styles, the combination of them is almost certain to make you a little wary; as my colleague Boris said after I described Wrath And Rapture’s sound to him for the first time, “That sounds like it could either be really good or really, really bad”. But whether you love or loathe W&R’s sound (or fall somewhere in between), you can’t deny that there has simply never been another band like this.

An intro track can often set the tone of an album and give you a good idea of what it’ll sound like, but that’s not the case with Wrath And Rapture’s debut self-titled EP. What you hear first with album opener The Black Gate Open sounds like fairly straightforward epic power metal, albeit with a slight metalcore influence in the one-note riffing and an incredibly thick production that crushes anything in its lumbering path. Then, you arrive at The Dirge Of Fallen Warriors, where you’ll be shown all of the key facets of W&R’s signature style: There’s slow metalcore parts with bright keys shining in the background, a folksy power metal break in the middle (Think Wintersun!), and eventually a quick-fire melotechdeath segment that shows a more progressive side to the band. Unfortunately, the individual parts don’t quite flow together as well as they could, and it almost sounds like a different band takes the reigns of the track with every switch in style, but there is enough cohesion here to fully immerse you in the music if you enjoy it; Wrath And Rapture has a very cosmic atmosphere to it.

EP’s normally don’t have more than five or six tracks, so it may surprise you to learn that there are, in fact, ten songs present here. But half of the tracks are actually instrumental interludes that show the power metal side of the band hinted on other songs in its truest form; not a Destroy Destroy Destroy-style power metal / melodeath fusion, but full on flower metal, with influences showing from early Sonata Arctica (Interlude II), Rhapsody (Interlude I), Wintersun (The Temple At Dusk) and even role-playing games (Out Of Darkness). There’s also a cover of Cold by At The Gates at the end of the EP; I’m not the biggest At The Gates fan, but this is a fine cover nonetheless, and Wrath And Rapture adds their own ornamentations to it to keep it a bit fresh, such as their bombastic keyboard sound.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that there is, literally, something for everyone to enjoy in Wrath And Rapture’s expansive collection of sounds. A very rough description of them would be that they are a mix of Skyfire, Wintersun, and The Faceless, but even that simply can’t be justified when you have metalcore moments strewn about (Particularly on A Breathtaking Tragedy), a jazz fusion section on Disembodiment, and various progressive flavorings throughout, like complex tempo changes. It takes a certain kind of music fan to really enjoy this – the kind that is willing to tolerate nearly ever single corner of the metal universe, including metalcore – But for those with diverse taste, Wrath And Rapture is highly recommended.

Killing Songs :
The whole album
Kyle quoted no quote
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