Music from this release

The best bands to come from the “thrash revival” of the mid-to-late 00s could never really be associated with the original movement—they just happened to be active when thrash became in vogue again. Most modern thrash is sickeningly indebted to the patterns of the 80s: the familiar riffs, the familiar tempos, the familiar denim-and-bullet-belt ensembles, even the same fucking Ed Repka album covers. “You used to do the monkey, but now it's not cool” may be cool again, but you want to know why Metallica, “sell-outs” or “falses” they may be, remain more relevant than Exodus? Metallica wanted more than every one of their contemporaries. First, it was better songs, then it became bigger venues, then it became something we'll never know, but their ambition paid off. Even if commercial success isn't a goal, thrash bands that stand out now do so because of some sort of similar artistic determination. Vektor want to be weirder than Voivod, Iron Age imagined themselves as living Conan posters, and Power Trip simply play harder than the competition.

Chicago's Oozing Wound could be one of those vaulted bands to transcend flatterers, and their debut full-length Retrash is certainly more original than the Warbringers and Bonded by Bloods of the world. None of the band members come from thrash backgrounds, and Thrill Jockey doesn't release conventional metal albums. Retrash has been called crossover due to its punk influence, but it's also got grittiness and snottiness more thrash bands could use. The album's first three songs, “Everyone I Hate Should Be Killed”, “New York Bands”, and “Call Your Guy” focus on the band's acerbic humor. It's fitting that a Chicago band would have a song titled “New York Bands”—Chicago's a great city, certainly more manageable than New York, but it's not always seen as a place to go and “make it.” Cliques are annoying in all cities, but they're intolerable in New York, because as Oozing Wound rightfully point out, “New York bands, they ain't your friends, they just want your cocaine.” Despite its name, “New York” could also easily be about Los Angeles bands who form themselves around fashion and the hopes of a Century Media deal, rather than standing out and making halfway memorable songs. “Everyone I Hate” has all of the metal's bloodlust with a refreshing sense of candor. Many of us have thought that same thing, even though we won't go as far as to declare “Morality is bad for your health.” There's no fat in the riffage either, which empowers the song's message further.

“Call Your Guy” deals with the perils of scoring drugs, but more importantly, it follows a similar song structure to “New York.” For the first half, guitarist and vocalist Zach Weil will yell his contempt over the band and then he shuts up and lets his riffs do the talking. Most bands would want to repeat verses over those second halves, but Oozing Wound already got their point across, so they proceed to lash out with every riff too punk for Megadeth and too metal for D.R.I. From “Welcome to the Spaceship, Motherfuckers” until closer “Spirit Manimal”, Oozing Wound show how weird they can get, lyrically. “Spaceship” in particular details the cosmic voyage of a baby Jesus, sent into the howling void and never to be heard from again. It's the 2013 version of Florida death metal oddballs Nocturnus' “Destroying the Manger”, a tale of going back into time and killing the newborn Christ. With few exceptions, most notably the aforementioned Vektor, you won't see many groups going out on a limb quite like this. Then again, most thrash bands don't have members who've played in various bands in punk houses on the South Side, where experimentation runs free and pretensions get smashed. While it's no Manifest Decimation, Retrash is still one of the year's most notable mutations of thrash, and Oozing Wound show a lot of promise to get even weirder.

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