It has been six years since we last saw new material from Chris Grigg’s Black Metal outfit Woe, and on a global scale it has certainly been an eventful and ultimately catastrophic time in which humanity seems consciously hell-bent on self-destruction and that of the world itself. It is pretty easy to see therefore just where Grigg’s inspiration comes from in the overarching narrative of Legacies of Frailty (Vendetta Records), an album that holds the anguish of such at its forefront alongside a sound of striking ferocity.

As the atmospheric opening bars of “Fresh Chaos Greets The Dawn” make way for blasting instrumentation, the tone is set for an affair that shows little in the way of hope about events and instead brims with pure rage and anguish; not easing on intensity across its eight-minute duration. The proceeding “Scavenger Prophets” follows in a similar suit of pace, replete with increased desperation in the vocals before a slight reprieve in pace in a more subtle melodic aspect.

Ultimately Legacies of Frailty doesn’t provide many surprises across its run time and gives as is expected for a Black Metal album, but it does this hugely well and with sheer sincerity in its message about the chaos of the world. Even as the likes of “Distant Epitaphs” and “Shores of Extinction” dwell in a more mid-pace than the album’s opening salvos, this is familiar territory that is executed exceptionally and feels bleak as a result.

As the closing “Far Beyond the Fracture of the Sky” expectedly offers variation in synth led atmospherics and climaxing speed once again, Legacies of Frailty further cements not an attempt at reinventing the wheel but instead delivering a high standard of a familiar sound. A target it certainly achieves with aplomb. A bleak and disheartening look at humanity, but a thrilling reminder of the doggedness and quality of Woe.

Buy the album here:

https://woeunholy.bandcamp.com/album/legacies-of-frailty

7 / 10

CHRIS TIPPELL