Formed in 2018 under the Dead History moniker, Phoenix, Arizona’s Common Wounds’ respective members are drawn from the likes of Run With the Hunted, Landmine Marathon, Suicide Nation, Seas Will Rise, and War Tongue while All Night Blood their first full-length release follows on from last year’s S/T debut EP.
The album’s theme according to frontman Lanspeary “relates to the idea that the society and economic system we live in is unrelenting in what it takes from us to survive; as though we’re being constantly bled dry to live our lives”. Even more interestingly, Common Wounds label Protagonist Music is a broad church genre-wise featuring the likes of Gatecreeper, Leaving, Bleached Cross, Sexless Marriage, Hundreds of Au and Self Defense Family, to name but a few. In such esteemed company then it’ll be interesting to hear what Common Wounds have to offer.
“Cognition” is a slab of Post-Hardcore reminiscent of Buffalo, New York’s Snapcase and their angular, cerebral musical approach, with the barked Vocals definitely owing a debt to that of Daryl Taberski’s. Even the track’s title sounds like it might have been concocted by the Snapcase lads, an excellent punchy opener to the record. “Broken Hands” was the album’s first single and its easy to see why it was chosen. Coming across like Helmet’s “Unsung” with a spattering of Killing Joke’s apocalyptic vibe, this is an absolutely excellent track that were MTV still focused on music as opposed to grotty reality TV shows would be on steady rotation there. “Vainglory” taps into 1990’s Emo back when that particular genre had some level of credibility attached to it, so if bands such as lowercase and On the Might of Princes rock your world then you should be all over this. Heartfelt Vocals and an expansive yet melodic musical attack make for an excellent combo indeed.
Bands such as Unwound and Chokebore were mentioned in the promotional notes and there’s some truth to that especially with such a track as “Mile Marker”. Its muscular Indie Rock recalls bands such as Arlington, Virginia’s underrated Tsunami. A nostalgic trip for sure but a wholly enjoyable one. “All Night Blood” is a little dirtier sounding, one might hasten to venture even Grungy and even invested with a darker Metallic Hardcore hue that betrays the band’s hardcore-inspired roots ala Integrity, Earth Crisis et al. A superb change-up in tempo and style. “Parochial” captures the urgency of bands such as At The Drive-In to startling effect while still managing to remain brutally heavy and “Lost Voices” betrays a Screamo influence with some tasty Sludgy Post-Metal tidbits thrown in for good measure ala Made Out of Babies. It would be interesting to see whether “So It Goes” was inspired by the repeated refrain in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five that was used to evoke a sense of resigned inevitability and hopelessness. Musically the track takes you down a more Noise-Rock/Amphetamine Reptile and Jesus Lizard inspired route with spectacular results. At over six minutes “The Diplomat” is the both the album’s longest track and its mellowest. It demonstrates the band’s musical versatility with a sound that recalls the finest that Post-Doom has to offer and its addition of beautifully sung Vocals affords for a wonderful conclusion to the album.
Considering this is only Common Wounds second ever release, its impressive that they’ve manage to sound so accomplished and confident. This certainly bodes well for the future.
Buy the album here:
https://linktr.ee/commonwounds
8 / 10
REZA MILLS
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