Review Summary: No illusions here, just 10 ripping death metal tracks
This album doesn’t give a damn. In fact, it gives less of a damn than most all death metal albums I’ve ever heard.
Wretched Illusions is ruthless in an almost unashamedly way. A cavalier attitude pervades the album, as if Creeping Death is fully aware, and don’t care, that they haven’t created anything entirely new or original - but instead opted to make something that’s just badass.
And oh boy did they.
Similar to death metal icons Suffocation, Creeping Death’s Wretched Illusions trades in blisteringly fast blast beats in favor of brutal slam after brutal slam. Which normally would get tiring, but Creeping Death proves that their palm mutes can chug and groove right alongside the big boys of death metal.
Because of this, the album’s tempo is a bit slower than what you’d normally expect for a modern death metal record. So throughout the duration of the record you won't feel that traditional coked up sensation paired with the desire to punch a hole through the nearest wall. Rather, you’ll feel pissed off and desire to punch a hole through the nearest wall.
In a good way, of course.
This is actually an accurate way to sum up the overall gist of Wretched Illusions, in fact. It is similar - but different.
Musically the album is fairly simple for the genre and won’t wow you with its technical prowess or any complex rhythms the way Morbid Angel or Nile might. This however isn’t a detriment to the music in any way. Wretched Illusions plays to its strengths of producing riffs and breakdowns that consistently crush the listener.
Stylistically and structurally, nothing is going to catch you off guard here. The album opener, “Ripping Through Flesh”, displays every trick Creeping Death uses on the following 9 tracks. Driving riffs, syncopated double bass drum, shrieking and guttural vocals, involuntary headbang inducing slams, sparse blast beats, and even a shredding solo buried underneath the riffage sneaks in there.
Don’t expect the formula to change, because it isn’t going to. But why would you want it to? Each song feels fresh and the replay value is incredibly high, because the standout moments on the album are so extraordinary. Wretched Illusions forces the listener onto the edge of their seat in anticipation of the next head turning or attention demanding moment. Akin to how a great horror film keeps its viewers uneasy in between each jump scare.
These sonic jump scares are consistent to the point that each track on the album contains at least 1, and oftentimes up to 3.
You know that one Christian Bale in American Psycho meme? The one where he’s protruding his lips and squinting, as if he’s thinking “Damn, that’s good!”? Well, upon first listen you’re going to make that exact face about 15 times. Once for each moment that Wretched Illusions gets down and dirty and grabs you by the throat.
Most notably at the 3 minute mark of “World of Decay”, the one minute mark of “Captivity”, and the 3 and a half minute mark of “Bloodlust Contamination”. These slams are guaranteed to make you feel as though you could run straight through a wall.
Something else that should be mentioned is the album’s high production value. Wretched Illusions is a dramatic leap forward in sound clarity and quality in comparison to their previous releases, 2016’s Sacrament of Death and 2018’s Specter of War. Wretched Illusions sounds clear, full, punchy, and layered.
Immediately the cannon shot snare with all of its reverb and power jumps out of the mix, sounding as though the drums were recorded in the very cave on the album cover.
The bass too seems to have been a point of emphasis during the mixing process. It is unusually loud and audible for the death metal genre, which far too often finds bands burying their bass or cutting the lows entirely on the instrument. Fortunately, Wretched Illusions proudly places the bass up high in the mix, as thick and creamy as can be, to emphasize the heaviness of the riffs.
The vocals on Wretched Illusions, while interestingly being distorted, are fairly standard for the death metal genre with nothing too exciting to write home about. They at times sound a bit shouted, more so than grunted or sang gutter-ally, being somewhat reminiscent of modern sludge/hardcore band Yautja’s approach.
Lyrically, the same run-of-the-mill or nothing special sentiments can be said. I mean, they are death metal lyrics. They’re vaguely evil, they’re violent, and they seem pissed off at something. They certainly work or fit the bill.
However, it is always nice to hear some more suggestive or offensive lyrics in death metal. While every band can’t be as grotesque or sexually violent as Cannibal Corpse, that aspect made and continues to make their lyrics and music much more interesting. Because of Wretched Illusions’ pedestrian lyrics, you’ll almost entirely tune out the words.
At the end of the day, Wretched Illusions is a damn fine death metal record. Its strong influences help it as much as it hampers it. Impressively, Creeping Death were able to take a genre that was perhaps pushed to its limits well over a decade ago and make an interesting album within it that has staying power. Creeping Death used what they’ve gleaned from past death metal giants to form something that’s more familiar than it is derivative, while being infinitely badass.
It may not blow your mind, but it will rock your socks off.
