Album Review: WVRM – Colony Collapse

Named after the phenomenon of worker bees fleeing a hive, leading to its eventual demise, Colony Collapse is a furious call to arms. Pummelling their way through 14 tracks in just 27 minutes, Greenville noisemongers WVRM unleash a hellish cacophony of grind embellished with death metal and sludge shrapnel, embracing the crushing power of a murky riff.

The poetic lyrics juxtapose the apocalyptic sounds, almost romanticising the violence of their subjects, littering the songs with imagery of decay but also religious ideas of martyrdom, crucifixion and the mark of Cain. No choruses, no respite, just getting from A to B in as brutal a way as possible, accelerated by sledgehammer guitars ducking and diving between guttural growls and venomous snarls.

Where some bands throw the kitchen sink against the wall, WVRM have drawn precise battle plans for their dissonance, not wasting a single second in the resulting bloodshed.

Verdict: 4/5