Wickeds End – Wickeds End

Wickeds End is back! After returning to the faith and music several years ago, I have always wondered if Glenn Rowlands would resurrect the band that introduced most of us got to him. If you wondered the same thing, we now have that answer. This is probably the heaviest Wickeds End to date, residing generally in the “experimental crossover thrash” realm as their BandCamp site describes it. While this is a live demo recording, the sound quality is still really good. I’m hearing elements of classic thrash, death, black, and speed metal all nicely mixed together. Even a few nods to older Wickeds End songs (see the intro to “Theories of Lies” and the cover of their own “Truth Hurts”). I should note that this is technically a new band formed around Rowlands, but he seems to have found some talented metalheads to work with. Which is no small feat – that is a dying breed these days. Lyrically, this is straight up Christian extreme metal with conservative lyrics (so the more liberal readers should just be ready for that). Someone like Sky Burns Black should sign these guys right away.

[2015 Independent | Purchase: wickedsend.bandcamp.com]