Wrought Iron – Rejoice and Transcend [US, Black / Death / Grind] (2014)

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Grimoire Records | 6-24-14

Grimoire Records | 6-24-14

By any means necessary. Grimoire Records has already shown themselves to be a label who has sympathies for non traditional extreme metal. Though the label sports a number of black, death, and doom bands, the tendency for most of the music they support is to go in different yet interesting directions. Wrought Iron is from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, which isn’t a place known for a legacy in heavy metal. From the brief amount of time I spent there, I have to assume that this western Pennsylvania hub is a gate to nowhere: filled with high hills, overcast clouds, and abandoned factories. Wait. Hold on. This may be perfect.

“By any means necessary” is an ethos I apply to certain bands who seem less concerned with genre distinction rather than utilizing any resource possible. Though Wrought Iron is based with black metal, there are times when the vocals fall through the trapdoor of brutal death with an air of slight doom. This contrast may seem odd at first but Wrought Iron is interested in pummeling its listeners by hammer, pickaxe, rope, or sheet of glass. Once it ceases to be anything, it can truly be everything that you do not want in your eye. Rejoice and Transcend is a nasty record that drives with the force of a thousand bulldozers.

Grimoire Records is among the new labels putting together a roster of misfits that are in the business of making non traditional bastard noise. Above all else, I appreciate a fresh approach to extreme metal that isn’t held to any expectations, rather an ethic of complete annihilation. Rejoice and Transcend has a literal theme of transformation through revelry. I have not reveled in a while but something tells me Wrought Iron’s celebration is going to involve many bruises and missing teeth.