Very rarely does Alternative Press send me an email that I actually enjoy, it's become more of a spam nowadays, but for once they introduced me to a diamond in the digital rough: Wristmeetrazor.
Besides the name that caught my curiosity, the single being featured on AP was “Last Tango In Paris” featuring Isaac Hale of Knocked Loose. It was not yet released on Spotify for streaming but only as a music video on YouTube and from this one single, I already knew this band would be a breakout artist for the year.
“Last Tango In Paris” took me back to a time where 2000’s core had disgusting riffs, squeals, breakdowns and haunting lyrics. It is the best versions of Atreyu, Bullet For My Valentine, and Eighteen Visions presented to you in one perfect song.
This recipe for 2000’s core greatness, lives up to the hype in their sophomore album Replica Of A Strange Love . In this digital age of thoughtless streaming, playlists and shuffle mode are a second hand, natural habit now for listeners. Listening to an album from front to back is almost an elderly idea. However, this album should not fall into this habit.
Replica Of A Strange Love is a 33 minute 57 second journey, that you will find yourself keeping on repeat finding new parts to fall in love with. Normally I have a distaste when a band uses filler tracks in their album, these are typically a minute in length and filled with negative space of ambient noise, where you add them all together, a whole song or even multiple could have been added in. This is not the case for this album.
“Nietzsche Is Dead” and “99 & 44/100“ provide beautiful transitions into the art of this album. “99 & 44/100” is actually one of my favorite parts in the album as it resembles a Nine Inch Nails, gothic vibe, as if it was made for the vampire Lestat in Queen Of The Damned.
Replica Of A Strange Love is an absolute work of art. Songs such as “Sycophant”, “Dies Irae”, and A” Fractured Dovetail Romance” are an endless gorge of riffs and breakdowns. Lead singer Justin Fornof, truly pushes the extent of his vocals and gives you a baptism in metal core.
For their sophomore album, Replica Of A Strange Love is already a contender for metal album of the year, and perhaps even the revival of 2000’s core golden years.
