I’m going to do my best to word this the right way so people can get my point without seeming like I’m insulting the artist here. I’m not looking to have a Jane Campion moment here after all. I’ve listened to Wrack’s Repulsive Gravity, and I did enjoy it, but it seems like money was left on the table. Allow me to explain.
First, we must salute the talents of one Tyler Cox who’s plied his trade in Thought Leaders, Totimoshi and The Mass, but is tackling Repulsive Gravity all on his own. A bit of a showoff, as I can barely play the lottery. There’s a boat load of potential on Repulsive Gravity, but I don’t think it’s as fully fleshed out and explored as it could be. I reckon a proper follow up or full-length LP will show us what Cox can really do. And that’s not a bad thing. It makes you think of releases like Metallica’s Kill ‘Em All or Between the Buried and Me’s The Silent Circus. Lots of pf promise on display that would be fully unleashed soon after. This is the same argument I made for Oceans of Slumber’s Winter when I reviewed it for this fair magazine in 2016.
https://wrack.bandcamp.com/album/repulsive-gravity
For example, you have to admire Cox’s willingness to open the EP with a near twelve-minute title- track that has as much fun demolishing as it does with acoustic interludes. The light and shade dynamics here may initially make you think Opeth, but upon further inspection this closer to latter career Gorguts. ‘No Body’ gets closer to Doom Metal, but isn’t afraid to inject some Neurosis weirdness with its cold samples and foreboding mood. That said, I can’t help myself but to think how ‘No Body’ or the rest of the EP as a whole would have benefited from better production and a punchier mix. I can see how some folks will like the grimier aesthetic, but all I can think of is how Repulsive Gravity could shatter skulls if it had someone like an Erik Rutan behind the board.
If Repulsive Gravity is a solid appetizer of what’s to come, I look forward to it’s best of the year successor.
Buy the EP here: https://wrack.bandcamp.com/album/repulsive-gravity
7 / 10
HANS LOPEZ