Review: Wasted Death ‘Ugly As Hell’ EP

APF Records latest assault on our ears, and wallets, comes on the form of Wasted Death’s debut Ugly As Hell EP. A project born of lockdown frustration and limbo that sees Wayne Adams (Big Lad/Petbrick), Charlie Davis (Beggar) and Tom Brewins (USA Nails) join forces to create a raw, visceral, but gleeful celebration of raw punk influenced, down and dirty metal that looks to jolt you out of any furlough addicted funk you may have slipped into this past year.

Recorded by Adams himself, this is a special project that brims with the sound of people overjoyed to be creating and playing music in these stark times. The noise that the three piece creates is exactly what it says on the tin, ugly as hell. This five track EP is a short sharp shock to the system, comprising of a sonic battering and some of the darkest grooves committed to tape in recent times.

Opening track Thickened Skulls starts off channeling the unhinged visceral hardcore madness of New Orleans sluggers EyeHateGod or Converge, but with an added cold and calculating precision giving off an air of knowing exactly what they’re doing. With dynamic breakdowns and pauses between the fury, this track is made to light the blue touch paper in the pit despite just scraping over the minute mark.

for people who like their punk to have blood and rust on its safety pin and metal that gives you a black eye…

Spat Out starts off with a similar aggressive take on heavy blues rock, but as the track progresses it devolves into almost Entombed like death and roll groove. Vocalist Charlie has a biting snap in his delivery recalling some of the finest moments of Lord Mantis. The EP is not a soundtrack for philosophical musings; lasting approximately my journey to work this is a bitter, oral assault on the listener that never lets up.

I’ll Feed It To You’s unhinged hunk assault teeters on the edge of madness and falling apart before huge death metal bull roar vocals dominate the second half. As well as sounding like the hellhounds have finished with Roger Johnson and are coming down the speakers to rip you a new one, the fat, fuzz heavy production makes the whole thing sound as gritty as the songwriting.

Rounding out with the savage one-two combination of Bumfuck Nowhere and May As Well Not, Ugly As Hell ends sounding like it was found in the tape deck (yes tape deck) of an abandoned van used in a ram raid, deliciously depraved and grimy, for people who like their punk to have blood and rust on its safety pin and metal that gives you a black eye. Wasted Death have distilled the perfect microcosm of extreme brutality in a very short space.

Label: APF Records
Band Links: Bandcamp

Scribed by: Mark Hunt-Bryden