Neither a sequel to Tiger King nor a thrash metal act usually associated with the region, Californian act Wolf King blasts their way out of the Bay Area with some seriously sick and abrasive blackened hardcore on their second album, The Path of Wrath (Prosthetic Records). 

Not a record for the faint of heart, the noisy four-piece merely ease you in gently with the slow grind of ‘River of Light’ before ‘Messenger of Death’ sticks its long, bony fingers into your eye sockets and jabs at your helpless brain. ‘Wandering Soul’ is pure fucking nihilistic aggression, its serpentine riffs uncoiling and striking venomously. ‘Triumph of the Slain’ and the blackened groove of ‘Sanctuary’ follow, while multi-faceted ‘The Oath’ begins quietly before exploding violently, making a mess of your underwear.

The title track is a mid-paced chugfest with brief bursts of energy, while ‘Incantation’ takes the slow and menacing approach. ‘Grief Portrait’ exudes the not altogether unpleasant smell of Bathory while the deeply unfriendly ‘Beholder’ and ‘Holy Serpent’ both slap you repeatedly around the face. Ending as it began, closer ‘Eternal Hunger’ expands on the record’s intro track, creating moments of pure fucking darkness and explosions of blinding light. 

A vicious combination of crust, hardcore, doom, death, and black metal, The Path of Wrath is not a happy experience, but certainly one you’ll remember. Sure, it’s a little one-dimensional in places with a few similar-sounding riffs here and there, but the chances are that Tim Wilson‘s glass-chewing, bile-vomiting vocals would have already stripped you of coherent thought long before you figured that out anyway.

7 / 10

GARY ALCOCK