Wowod’s second album shows no shortage of ambition, though it often seems like they’re scrabbling to make sense of all their different ideas. Epic opener Rekviem begins with a hypnotic bass thrum before descending into familiar post-metal tropes, while Zhazhda cuts straight to the chase with a blindsiding blast of roiling mathsludge. These differences in pace and tone are very much two sides of the same warped coin, linked by gluey melodies and swirling clouds of ash-grey noise. However, if funnelling their grand vision into brisker, punkier blurts is the band’s most novel manoeuvre it’s not always successful, with things occasionally threatening to shake themselves apart thanks to so much being forced into such narrow confines. It’s a flawed record, but at least interestingly so – and, after all, wouldn’t you rather hear a band struggling with too much creativity rather than exhibiting a lack of it? ■■■■■■■■■■
FOR FANS OF: Isis, Wren, Meshuggah
ALEX DELLER