Wingless are a Polish metal band and this is their second album.
So strongly do I associate Poland with death metal, than upon seeing the album cover of The Blaze Within I immediately jumped to that conclusion with Wingless. Well, you know what they say about books and their covers…
Actually, what we have here is 40 minutes of metal inspired by something along the lines of Machine Head circa The Blackening. Now, before your eyes glaze over and you lose interest, (probably due to thinking that if this is the case then Wingless must be some copycat band), just bear with me on this; this is only a starting reference.
Okay, so add a European flavour to the songs, (particularly to the clean vocals when they appear), as well as a bit of melodic death/thrash metal, some dashes of restrained power/heavy metal, and some touches of something a bit more modern like Gojira, and you have a recipe for something that’s actually really, really good.
Yep, Wingless definitely have their own personality and character, much more than some of my potentially lazy comparisons above might lead you to believe. The Blaze Within is a well-conceived and well-delivered contemporary metal album that has a lot to recommend itself. With a balanced combination of heavy directness and song-based melody, the tracks on this album are much more enjoyable than I was expecting once I realised this wasn’t death metal.
These songs are very satisfying slabs of metal. I love that the band aren’t afraid to embrace a less belligerent approach for a large amount of the material on here, and they show a talent for producing nuanced and well-crafted metal songs. These are the qualities that make The Blaze Within stand out and will surely ensure that it stands the test of time.
This is somewhere between Machine Head, Pissing Razors, and Skinlab on one hand, and Soilwork, Nevermore, and Gojira on the other. Sounds good? You’re damn right it does.
Wingless have hugely impressed. Check this out.
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