The style of punk is one that I’ve always been able to recognize and appreciate, but oddly enough never something that I could ever really get into. Upon my discovery of crossover thrash (thrash + punk), I was pleasantly surprised. Bands like Iron Reagan have become essential to my collection, and I thought it was time to expand my taste in crossover. The underground has been all but instrumental in my history as a metal head, and today’s it has done me proud yet again as it has given me Wraith who has even furthered my interest in crossover.

New bands have always been the wildcards of the metal underground, and the universe in its infinite wisdom has dealt me a good hand with Wraith. This band out of Chicago is a clear product of many years of listening to volumes and heaps of thrash legends, absorbing every single piece that one could imagine. Then after many years of learning and becoming familiar with the right instruments, Wraith was formed and so was their debut self-titled record. To call “Wraith” a smashing success would be an honest overstatement, but this album has an odd charm to it as Wraith gives it their all. The ensuing material is eight tracks (including one tasteful Motörhead cover) are absolute ragers that take a very well done crossover attitude and infuses it with some black metal. Because you can never be too aggressive with their kind of shit, and Wraith executes it all quite well despite this being their debut. The whole of this record is strangely captivating as Wraith weaves in subtle rhythms amongst the aggression, and everything simply comes together amazingly well to allow Wraith to show that they’re not fucking around for a second. And while the quality could definitely be better, there’s no denying that Wraith knows exactly what they’re doing, what they want to do, and how to fucking do it!

Crossover has always has loads of potential in my eyes, and tonight that suspicion is only seeming more and more true as Wraith feels like an accurate representation of the style as a whole. Not many bands can do that, and I don’t believe that’s what these guys were going for but it still fucking works! Wraith manages to throw in some black metal into the mix to spice things up, and that brings this debut to a very pleasurable level. Such that I can easily see myself crawling back to, and such that I will definitely have to keep tabs on this promising act. I suggest you do the same.

LISTEN to “Wraith” on Bandcamp here or via YouTube below.

LIKE Wraith on Facebook here.