23rd October 2020

Review: “Delirium” by Wyrmhaven

A quote from Andy Warhol in 1968 who said “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes” which lead to the concept of “15 minutes of fame“, the idea that celebrity, from media scandals to memes, will almost always be fleeting is something we’re hoping doesn’t apply to Tucson, Arizona Melodic Death Metal quintet Wyrmhaven, for that is the length of their debut EP “Delirium“. Ryan Daily (lead guitar), Keith Huffman (bass, also in Decayer) and Nick Cowan (guitar) have been friends for 10 plus years and having been in bands with each other through out that time, the trio got together circa 2018 with some pizza and beer and wanted to write some metal that people would bang their head too, something mean and heavy with melody. Later getting together with friend Stephen Majalca (drums, also in Annarbor) who used to jam in a band with them well, before founding Alex Parra (vocals) about a year and half after the songs were written. Recorded in house with guitarist Daily at first before moving Ty at Engle Studios in who also handled mixing and mastering, “Delirium” was born…

…The gates of hell open with “Hysteric“, a power play that grabs your attention as it roars from beyond the grave with Parra’s savage vocals offering a level of introspection that we can all resonate with lyrically but crutially not being over the top. He saves that for his delivery, blending a Death Metal growls neatly with controlled pitching giving him several different angles of attack. The guitars are key, falling into the space between Melodic Death Metal, Deathcore and Metalcore with blistering leads on “Enough” lighting the blue touch paper while the rhythm section sand blasts the flesh from bone. Taking a moment for atmosphere building before bringing the gavel down for the slick skull crushing groove of “Exhume The Unholy” shows the craftsmanship of this collection of musicians and they certainly have the ability to work some longer cuts if they so choose. This one also as a dark spoken word and a tight solo in amongst some downtempo groove that is immense. Increasing the urgency with the frenetic energy of “Neurosis” which has another brilliant lead part in the Trivium vein, while losing none of the momentum that the band have created with the earlier cuts. When something is this good, the words “saving the best until last” aren’t usually ones we’d use but in “Exuviate” somehow they’ve done exactly that, squeezing from nowhere an extra 10% into a ravenous beast of a track that begs for a music video to go along with it. Do your ears a favour and check this out, they will thank you for it [8.5/10]

Track listing