Wrong - Pessimistic Outcomes
“In a world consumed by ashes, where there’s only misery and despair, pessimism has seized the human race… Hate has aroused, accompanied by a general delirium, only survival and immediate satisfaction is looked for. There’s no judgment, no punishment, no sensibleness… neither sanity. Humanity has become an aberration, tainted and perverse, condemned to misfortune and decadence, wandering in a desolate environment without resources, weakening slowly until the breath leaves them.”
This is the concept behind Wrong’s second full-length. I chose to print it here because I wish I had written it. Truer words never spoken, just ask anyone who deals with the general public for a “living.” That’s why I say we ought to change the term Depressive Black Metal to Working Man’s Black Metal. Not only would that serve to identify the genre’s fan base, but also to expose its detractors. Anyone who doesn’t appreciate, nay, crave the sadness, pain, and unaffectedness that Black Metal bands like Deafheaven, An Autumn for Crippled Children, and Madrid’s Wrong bring to the table is enjoying life a bit too much. Should happy people be listening to extreme music? I certainly don’t think so. For me, extreme music is one of very few sources of happiness. That said, if it’s a lack of extremity and/or technical skill that has the underground masses so butthurt over DBM, Wrong might be just right to soothe the manginal burn. They are far more intense than most. After all, this is one of the dudes from Wormed. Pessimistic Outcomes is a slightly different beast than last year’s masterful debut. While Memories of Sorrow was more… well… sorrowful, this follow-up is angrier and considerably more demented. At about the 2:40 mark, leadoff cut “Thru the Grey Path to Nowhere” bursts through the gate with bereaved blasting and Phlegeton’s hideous snarl, while “His Hatred Breathes” follows with even faster frostbitten kingdoms. But where there’s anger and dementia, sadness is never far behind, and this duo always keeps Brave Murder Day in its back pocket. Dejected melody is a constant throughout, tying everything together tighter than a noose. Even the awkwardly-moving schizophrenic title track is graced with melancholy, not to mention a vocal attack sure to have Anti fans raising the horns. “Dragging My Soul Until the Sunset” has multiple personalities also, as the track leapfrogs from ambient to dreary to experimental to furious and back, with Phlegeton sounding absolutely possessed all the while. “I Thought I’d Woken” closes the LP out on a downcast note, as somber tones prepare the stage for a near-Lifelover level of vocal insanity by song’s end.
Overall, Pessimistic Outcomes does lack the immediate memorability of Memories to some degree, but both records capture the true essence of misery in remarkable fashion. What Wrong is doing here borders on hypnotism. Long songs that feel short, as the listener gets lost in dystopian soundscapes that are equal parts abstract and focused. Long live WMBM. Praise Negativity. Hail and kill (yourself).
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