A WEREWOLF! – Wonderful Sound, Strange Shape (2017)

Grindcore is a brilliant genre; in fact, just generally, aggressive-tech-metal can be a very rewarding style of music – there’s a furious, electrifying energy captured in the violence of the music, which can ultimately prove tangibly cathartic. However, it’s such that, most often, that same energy is pumped into the creation of darker, angrier music which, without wanting to criticise, is not what listeners seeking a fix of intense, aggressive music always want.

This is where Worcester-based, mathy-grindy duo A Werewolf! come into play – The twosome thrashes out a fantastically raucous goulash of frenzied, dissonant grinds mixed with angular, mathcore riffage and subtly infused with a bizarre humour. It’s fast-paced, technical music that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and for that I commend it.

On their new LP, Wonderful Sound, Strange Shape, the follow up to a pair of 7 track Eps, the band follow a similar formula: semi-instrumental, riff-after-riff, barrages of noise with dexterous guitar-work and frantic, punching drums occasionally adorned with a wee bit of screaming. Each track is opened by a hilarious, obscure sample ranging from the musings of Alan Partridge, some cultish accusations about Justin Bieber worshipping a duck and, my personal favourite, the amazing Chinese businessman-cum-keyboard-drum virtuoso opening the song ‘GG’s back and He’s angry’.

So yeah, if you’re looking for an album which will both make you smile and knock you round the head with its sheer musical force, in equal proportion, look no further; A Werewolf deliver a great record, providing mental music with a little bit of fun thrown in too.