Review: “Ulter Praefinitum” by Wretched Tongues

Adorned in the superb artwork of Caelan Stokkermans (Vesperian Sorrow, Vomit The Soul, Abiotic) and tracked, mixed and mastered at Key Recordings (I The Breather, Reflections, False Images) “Ulter Praefinitum”, ‘beyond the end’, is the full length debut album from Manchester New Hampshire’s Wretched Tongues who, after a trio of well received EPs in 2020’s “The Absence Of Light“, 2018’s “Burial Grounds” and 2017’s “Death Eater” have to be considered a rising force in the modern Deathcore scene. The quintet now comprise vocalist Adam Spencer, bassist Josh Manha, guitarist duo Brad Bolser and Jeff Key who stand alongside drummer Matty Gardner as a force to be reckoned with, the only curiosity in this one the absence of any guest vocalists…

Anyone unfamiliar with the apocalyptic World of Wretched Tongues needs to check the sanity clause on their contract before climbing aboard the rollercoaster ride because things are about to reach the brutal end of the Deathcore extreme faster than you can blink. The New Hampshire quintet welcome the discerning listener with open arms and symphonic tinged grandeur before pulverising your ear drums to oblivion with a sonic soundscape built upon a backbone of beyond human level of percussive onslaught from Gardner, a man whose work makes blast beats from the average Black Metal band’s drummer look like a three year old tapping a plastic drum with a pencil in comparison. From that underpinning, each element layered on top takes things to not only another level but to another dimension entirely, from the dirty chugging staccato riff breaks of “Brain Itch” to the blistering leads of “Into The Nothing“, guitars are left like smoking guns in the rack for fretboards to cool before the next incendiary attack. The intelligence and craftsmanship of the record lay in how the Blackened and Symphonic touches have been carefully considered to create a white hot intensity and crushing atmospheric the accompany the breakneck speed of the technical riffing, showcasing a grasp of song writing fundamentals beyond what would normally be considered within the genre confines. That places them in the same territory as Lorna Shore with the caustic and throat shredding slam inspired vocals of Spencer a tough act to follow. His demonic performances here are nothing short of incredible as his fire breathing talents at times have him sounding like he has a split personality as he creates several different voices for his deranged rantings, from the bowel clenching lows to the paint stripping shriller tones, it all seems incredibly effortless. The bombastically less complex and yet still thunderously heavy “Mortality” that is probably the most Deathcore cut here and is firmly in the downright evil category, painting with extreme sound palettes and barbed hooks and the band formulate World domination once more. A compelling, commanding, dominant and punishing extreme Deathcore record, “Ulter Praefinitum” breathes new life in to a genre once considered dead and bloated because each time you get up and dust yourself off after one of these punches hits you, you find yourself floored by the next [8/10]

Track listing

1. Pendulum of Existence
2. Into The Nothing
3. The Gates of Oblivion
4. Call of the Chasm
5. Brain Itch
6. Sunder
7. Mortality
8. To Witness The Infinite
9. Ulter Praefinitum

“Ulter Praefinitum” by Wretched Tongues is out 18th March 2022 via Vicious Instinct Records