Review Summary: Wrong one to fuck with? Perhaps not. Right one to listen to whilst bashing your worst enemy's face in? Probably.
Is there an edgier album title in the world of death metal than
Wrong One to *** With? The announcement of what the new Dying Fetus album would be named tickled quite a few ribs for sure, but when everybody heard first promotional song "Panic Amongst the Herd", it's safe to say that haters/jokers/trolls were shut up indefinitely. Of course, news on this band's radar has dropped in the last couple of years, mainly because the last actual album Dying Fetus had released was five years ago. That said, nobody could have expected the level of hype across social media when
Wrong One to *** With was announced.
Dying Fetus' latest album is energetic, consistently furious and certainly devoid of anything which would suit the terms "soppy" or "melodic". Dying Fetus have never been the sort of group to deviate from what they set out to initially, and if anything, this is what the latest album achieves with every song. Opener "Fixated on Devastation" unsurprisingly demonstrates the band's greatest strengths: a powerhouse of ever-changing riff work, aggressive vocal roars and an ultimately satisfying solo section. With its explosive delivery from the get-go, it's an introductory session which portrays Dying Fetus as a band rejuvenated and refined, despite not having deviated from what previous record
Reign Supreme had in spades. The band explore various differing paces but maintain the level of aggression from start to finish. Whilst more groove-inflected tunes such as "Reveling in the Abyss" and "Weaken the Structure" manage to bring the wide-eyed feelings of hate and disgust down a few notches, the speedier, thrashier moments in "Panic Amongst the Herd" and "Fallacy" make up for any loss of momentum.
That said, it's hard to escape the feeling that Dying Fetus, for all their instrumental strengths (and there are many), essentially prove the "one-trick pony" remark all too often to call
Wrong One to *** With a fresh piece of work. And of course, in a sub-genre which is rarely hailed for being original or unique, this remains Dying Fetus' sole flaw as it has with pretty much the rest of the band's back catalogue. Then again, if you've already listened to and enjoyed the band's previous material, this shouldn't really matter, because Dying Fetus' latest album is still a demonstrative masterclass in controlled sonic aggression.
