Oozing Wound – Whatever Forever (Thrill Jockey)

Appearing on the agreeably iconoclastic Thrill Jockey, this fifth album by Chicago’s Oozing Wound is a thoroughly raucous affair. Having got the label all excited by being called the “Nirvana of thrash” – “It can only mean one thing: Oozing Wound will make us a lot of money and die and then make us even more!” – the ten tracks clearly have a level to live up to. For the accounts department, if nothing else. Do they? Well, up to a point, yes.

Whatever Forever is perhaps unlikely to win new recruits to the genre. Those seduced by the droning, moody and melodic opening chords of opener ‘Rambo 5 (Pre-Emptive Strike)‘ are swiftly disavowed of any misapprehension about what lies ahead. Ditch that and straight to the battering-ram of thunderous percussion and guitar. Toss in some demonic vocals from Zack Weil and we’re off. Make no mistake, this is thrash, through and through.

What perhaps separates it from some others in the genre is its affinity with a kind of groove. Tracks like ‘Diver‘ have a bassy funk underneath all the mayhem. Not funk in any real, recognisable sense but it’s not as flatly nihilistic as things can sometimes be when everything is turned up to 11.

Recorded over a lofty four days – take note, studio botherers – Whatever Forever never lets up. That familiar trope of deceptive intro, sod that, let’s go, crops up a few times but it doesn’t exist to seduce you. It’s there to smack you over the head with raw power. The drums by new member Casey Marnocha are particularly intimidating. Again, they give things that three-dimensional groove by allowing space. Across the whole record, those gaps allowing things to breathe are what most appeal. Flat walls of noise are all well and good but the odd moment of down time before round two, three and four always helps things along. That is the case here. I wouldn’t play it to the vicar but it’s not simply going to blow your windows out and leave it at that.

All in, quality stuff with just enough to make it stand out from the sweaty throng. Whatever Forever doesn’t say anything vastly new but what it does spit in your face is riotous fun. It doesn’t descend into simple, million miles an hour guitar playing which is so often a problem with thrash and its satellites. Such aggressive noodling appeals to many but is a fairly self-limiting approach. Oozing Wound themselves recommend it for car journeys and bong-sessions. A faintly alarming prospect but worth a try nonetheless. Whatever the circumstances, tracks like the tribal ‘Weather Tamer‘ smack of a band begging to be heard live. Down the front or from a safe distance, depending on your will to survive.