Titan’s Wrath – Will Of The Beast
Titan’s Wrath is a California-based Traditional Heavy Metal band formed in 2019 (as Leviathan). After releasing a demo in 2020 and their debut EP in 2021, they’re back with another EP, Will Of The Beast. There are a lot of other influences to this band, Thrash and NWOBHM with some of the guitar work, Power Metal for the vocals, and a little Death Metal for the melodies. You end up with a beautiful mixture of sonic textures and tones overlapping into pretty damn cool sounds.
https://titanswrath.bandcamp.com/releases
Band Members:
- Garret – Vocals
- Riley Phillips – Guitars
- Tito Lira – Guitars
- Dennis O’Hara – Bass
- Angel Gutierrez – Drums
December 9, 2022
Tracklist:
- Hell’s Gate
- Will Of The Beast
- Night Terror
- Crusader
- Changes
As a perfect example of outside influences, “Hell’s Gate” opens with a doom-laden intro before moving to the heavy riff. The sludgy intro dovetails beautifully into the main riff, transitioning seamlessly on a cool bend. The rhythm has a nice chugging pace with a killer tempo. The vocals are a combination of gritty and belting, always full of power and ready to blow you away in the process. The bass and drums match the tempo well, keeping a blistering pace without going overboard.
The title track is next, and it has a more NWOTHM phrasing on the guitars, though the drums go full blast beat on the intro, showing a bit of Thrash Metal under the guitar leads. The variable tempos work well on this track, keeping the theme intact while shifting gears between the verses and chorus a few times. There is s lot of melodic guitar work on this one, giving it more of a Traditional Metal sound and relying more on the bass and drums to give it a heavier feel.
“Night Terror” opens slower, using a measured high-hat tempo to introduce the rhythm before the guitars shift into high gear. Titan’s Wrath writes pretty complex shifts in their songs, showing an ability to cross over from genre to genre without any trouble. This leads to an excellent, complex sound that doesn’t just hang out in one style. Even the vocals shift from a mostly Power Metal theme to more of an NWOBHM style with some belted screams that are distinctly heavier than the standard Power Metal versions.
There is a melodic guitar intro over a doomy tone from the rhythm guitar for the introduction to “Crusader.” The slow, sludgy bass and drums accentuate the doom, and the vocals are measured and low, adding to the theme. The guitars stay consistent throughout the song, but the drums increase speed, giving the rhythm a more prominent role in this track. The underlying keys add a lot of ambiance to the song, giving it more of a haunted tone and making the theme darker and more menacing. The solos lead into the bridge, a wild phrasing shift from the main riff.
The record concludes with “Changes,” the shortest song on the EP. This one has a cool, melodic intro on the guitar, shifting to an excellent, heavy riff/rhythm combination. The dual lead runs into the lyric section is pretty well done. There is a powerful dual guitar feel to this whole song, more so than many of the other songs, with less individual lead work, making this the song that shows unity throughout, making the song a solid statement of solidarity and skill from all the musicians.
Titan’s Wrath is quickly establishing its identity as a band that can weave together various elements of multiple styles of Heavy Metal into a unique blend of tones and textures. Lyrically, they are more Heavy Metal than Power Metal, going more for individual tracks that stand alone rather than telling a story across a few songs. The tracks are more personal struggles than elusive concepts or fanciful tales. There is a bit of a theme, the songs all sound and feel like they belong together, and there’s a cohesive thread on the entire record. Overall, this is a good disc, and I look forward to what comes next for this band!
MZ Ratings:
- Musicianship
- Guitars – 8
- Rhythms – 8
- Vocals – 8
- Songwriting – 8
- Production – 8
- Overall – 8.00
