WRUST — Soulless Machine (review)

Album · 2007 · Death Metal

3/5 · 2020-06-06
siLLy puPPy

When one thinks metal music Africa isn’t exactly what comes to mind but in the last couple decades the once white dominated musical scene has been joined by legions of headbangers from all over the world and while Africa still remains one of the least interested continents in metal music for some reason the Southern African nation of Botswana has fully embraced metal music and has become a hotbed of the scene. Despite a a population of just over 2 million, Botswana has produced some of Africa’s most popular metal bands which includes Amok, Skinflint, Overthrust, Alive N Bolder and perhaps the greatest import of all WRUST which formed in the nation’s capital city Gaborone.

WRUST goes all the way back to the year 2000 when it was formed by lead guitarist / vocalist Stux Daemon who has remained the only member to exist in the band since the beginning. In 2002 Dem Lord Master joined in as new drummer and the duo played together with other musicians in live settings but recorded the band’s first album SOULLESS MACHINE as a duo which was released in 2007. Botswana has embraced metal shows more than any other African nation with the possible exception of neighboring South Africa where the band took part in the Durban Battle of the Bands competition and came in second place. They also opened up for Sepultura in 2003 and have also shared the stage with Carcass and Entombed.

Musically speaking WRUST play an old school death metal inspired by classic bands such as Sepultura, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Death, Obituary, Metallica and Carcass but also include elements of groove metal from Pantera as well as slight inspiration from the more progressive side of death metal from the likes of Atheist. On SOULLESS MACHINE, the sound is more akin to the older melodic 90s death metal bands with the classic death metal guitar riff drive along with a stellar bass and drum rhythmic backing. Daemon’s vocals are rather unique for death metal though as they sound a bit raspier than normal and he sounds like he would be perfect for black metal but still manages to exist somewhere between guttural growls and raspy shrieks. The singing style often evokes Phil Anselmo from 90s Pantera.

SOULLESS MACHINE features eight tracks but only misses the 32 minute mark. The songs are short and to the point. While there are only two musicians given credit for this album, there are twin guitar attacks with rhythmic riffing accompanied by melodic guitar solos. Although in death metal turf, WRUST often sneaks into thrash metal and classic 80s metal moments. The entire album feels like that moment around 1989 where death metal was still becoming its own thing. Unfortunately despite WRUST proving to be competent as extreme metal musicians, the album tends to lack any original characteristics and is entirely dependent on European and American influences. Given that bands like WRUST were pioneers geographically speaking it’s understandable that they had not yet found their own sound which would be improved on the following “Intellectual Metamorphosis” which was released in 2013.

For diehard stalwarts of all things death metal, WRUST will hardly rise to the top of your favorite band list as the band suffers the fate of many newbies in that it lacks a distinct individual stamp that stands out from the now global pack of imitators however it does carry the novelty tag for emerging from a region of the world that has traditionally been of the metal radar map. After all is said and done, SOULLESS MACHINE is a competent death metal album with the extra influences of thrash metal and 80s heavy metal along with some groove offerings but due to the lack of originality suffers from a slightly generic feel. Definitely worthy of investigation to prove that native Africans can crank out extreme metal and perfectly nail down the sound but at the same time for those of us who have explored every nook and cranny of the death metal universe won’t get overly excited either.