WRISTMEETRAZOR – Misery Never Forgets


It is pretty commonplace for the draw of music, especially heavy or extreme music, to be an integral part of the relationship that we have with hardship and the difficulties of life and of mental health. We more than likely have been through or know someone who has been through utter lows of mental health and perhaps have even considered or attempted suicide.

With this in mind, the name WRISTMEETRAZOR feels, at the very least, a bit of a clumsy moniker, and at worst, a damaging one. But they are a band who are borne, by their own admission, from trauma, so its clear they do not mean to be disparaging or meaning ill will in this sense; but it feels worthy of note. After all, it only takes one listen to debut album Misery Never Forgets (Prosthetic) to feel that they come from a genuinely pained place.

Misery Never Forgets is a dissident, aggressive and, at times, harrowing experience. In part an abrasive Screamo record, Misery Never Forgets also owes a debt to the emotive and impactful delivery through heaviness that the likes of Converge deliver in spades. It is an album that very rarely lets up in fury and pace, but after a couple of shorter releases, WRISTMEETRAZOR have adapted to a lengthier outing by widening their sound and delivery, whilst also not outstaying their welcome. Whilst album opener ‘Loathsome’ brings few surprises in this sense (bar its relentlessness), the likes of ‘Insecurity Checkpoint’ invoke the early Metalcore style of the likes of Vision Of Disorder, whilst ‘Come On In, The Water’s Pink’ drops in to unsettling ambience for the most part; adopting a slower pace whilst vocalist Jonah Thorne veers in to a pained, almost chant like drawl.

With songs averaging around the one minute mark for the most part, Misery Never Forgets manages to pack in a lot of diversity and off-kilter paths in to its songs which make this an unpredictable and rich effort. The closing track is more drawn out (in relation to the rest of the album) at around four minutes long and separates the abrasion with a near Post-Rock like passage to begin with, before it erupts once again.

As well as the reasoning eluded to earlier, the band name here perhaps does them a disservice as to how genuine and impactful Misery Never Forgets actually is, and how rich with ideas the album is. Surprisingly complex structures and diversity within its songs without detracting from the poignant emotion that also lies within, Misery Never Forgets is a welcome bolt from the blue.

7 / 10

CHRIS TIPPELL