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WRONG
Pessimistic Outcomes

Xtreem Music (2014)
Rating: 7.5/10

Oh, joy to the world. Here comes Wrong, and I’m already shaking in my blood-soaked boots!

As the genuinely creeping ‘Thru The Grey Path To Nowhere’ starts its rain-soaked journey via the peculiar, exasperated gasps of an unknown man, I really don’t know what to expect from this miserable Spanish duo who go by the names of Phlegeton (vocals, drums) and DP (guitars, bass, effects, piano).

However, once the band finally grinds itself from that ashen intro of dissonant guitars, I’m finding myself lost in another wiry labyrinth of dystopian black metal. The fuzzy, rancid guitars are a white noise rattle which complement those grey, rapid-fire drums, but it’s not just about breakneck speed. Vocally, Phlegeton has a peculiar industrialised, buzzing sneer which is accompanied by a melancholic, drifting piano and all round feel of despair and isolation, and it’s no surprise of course when one reads the album title.

But, Wrong (love the name guys) are not a back-to-basics, regressive black metal act relying on mimicry. Instead, they conjure weird images of maddening crowds boasting pale, gaunt faces – all framed within cold, cragged walls as if marched into their state of desolation by some unseen deity or overbearing master of sorrow.

This is extremely bleak stuff, driven constantly by a guitar sound and drum waffle that is as effective as a night of lashing rain. As dealers of the negative, Wrong want you to descend into darkness with them, hand in hand, shackled by despair and dirtied by those isolating blares they’ve constructed.

I’m surprised this duo made it past their debut album – 2013’s Memories Of Sorrow – as I imagine that their state of mind was hardly one of happiness, but with Pessimistic Outcomes they have once again rallied round and collected as much abandonment one can muster and channelled it through those disparaging vocals and pained guitars.

Make it through that opening nine minutes of horror and rejection, and you’ll be withered by the pummelling ‘His Hatred Breathes’ – another slice of the pained that just exists as a grey-veiled apparition so haunted by its depression. And that’s not to say that Wrong rely on thick, suffocating segments of slow paced doom to crush you. Instead, the tempo is always one that drives hard like sleet into the face and ears, burning with grey aplomb but so stark and weary that by the time the grim plod of the title track stands before you, you’ll no doubt be on your knees begging for mercy. It’s black metal in every sense of the word, but a din that expresses such a degree of sorrow through its stormy weight that after a few listens, you’ll feel as if Wrong have constructed a prison around your brain.

The unusual caress of the piano just adds to the desolation, and by the time ‘I Thought I’d Woken’ drags you to the last moan of the record you’ll be hoping and praying that Pessimistic Outcomes was just a nuclear nightmare. This closing song is one of the slowest tracks on the album, a coughing, choking yet seemingly lifeless slab of negativity that’ll have you reaching for the happy pills.

Wrong are my new chums of the glum and back with an album that’ll leave you numb! And that’s a wrap… or even a cold, stark rap!

Neil Arnold

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