Ward XVI – Metamorphosis
Album review by; Myk
Metamorphosis is part 2 of a planned ambitious 3 album trilogy telling the twisted story of Psychoberrie, a notorious serial killer.
Ward XVI are definitely not short of confidence but are they brave or foolhardy with this approach. I was impressed with their first album The Art of Manipulation, would this be more of the same.
Retrogression starts the album off with a spoken word introduction, setting the scene, think Operation Mindcrime but darker, much darker. The Cradle Song continues introducing the story with added atmospheric music before launching into a repeating theme of accordion accompaniment reminiscent of a fairground ride, then the clear vocals kick in relating the story punctuated with an epic guitar solo.
Mister Babadook starts with piano, strings and a child reciting a prayer then understated vocals build on the slow start before drums and guitar with powerful riffs drive the song along.
Daisy Chains sees the return of the accordion and some nice distorted guitars and the vocals continuing to tell the dark tale. The accordion continues with Broken Toys, the whole theatrical approach is reminiscent of Avatar or In This Moment but with cleaner vocals, like on Imago. Strings herald the start of A Goodnight Shot with its harsher vocal delivery to match the songs content.
Burn The Witch climbs and swoops like a rollercoaster with an infectious chorus. Catch me If You Can starts like a manic fairground ride before calming down and settling into a steady groove. Spoken word The Verdict continues the story line before the closing number Shadows with its muted guitar intro builds slowly to a crescendo before finishing where it started with a calm guitar outro.
The whole album would be ridiculous if it wasn’t so well put together and executed. I may have name checked a few artists but Ward XVI are truly unique, with epic storytelling that can only be improved in a live environment, the guitar work is sublime with killer riffs and soaring solos, the use of accordion, piano and strings to such great effect is bordering on genius filling out the sound giving great depth and on top of all that are the superb vocals.
I can’t wait to see them live.
5/5
Ward XVI are;
Psychoberrie - vocals
Doktor Von Stottenstein - Guitars/vocals
Wolfy Huntsman - bass/vocals
Bam Bam Bedlam - drums
Rico Rameres - actor
Mother
Album available through Bandcamp;
https://wardxvi.bandcamp.com/album/metamorphosis-digital-download
Social Media Links;
https://www.facebook.com/WardXVI
https://www.facebook.com/groups/895724337571244
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