EP Review - Host by Wren

London sludge doomsters Wren are about to unleash a truly devastating EP that all darkened fans of heavy, uncomfortable noise are going to love.  The four-piece like things to be down-tuned and brutally bleak, with riffs crushing your spine and vocals spewing down your throat; it’s not a record for the feint-hearted.

The record opens with ‘Stray’, an eight-minute series of world crushing riffs that follow no typical time pattern, constantly keeping you on your toes as the songs bounces from one riff to the next, all overshadowed by the barren aggressive vocals that will haunt you long after they’ve seemingly gone. The songs on Host often vary between moments of suffocating inclusion and total alienation, but you still become captivated by every riff. The harshness of the cacophony of riffs on the end of ‘Stray’ completely steals your soul, ‘No Séance’ reminds us of the brilliance of sludgers Rhoda with its chugging riffs completely destroyed by the angriest of scowls. ‘Ossuary’ is the highlight on the EP, as the gentle scales of the song act as a false safety before the core sound of the band brings you hurtling back towards the floor at full throttle with the most menacing of riffs they can muster, and it’s a sound which lets you thrash, before their post-rock/metal style vibes carry you along their story before ultimately fucking you over again: It’s a stunning listen.

Wren impose themselves on you like a hammer to the throat! Host is a deeply dark, menacing, brutal, heavy, and engaging listen, and our dark dank souls love it.

Host is being released on the ever exciting Holy Roar records and will be out at the end of April.

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