Worignition
Embrace the Apocalypse

February 2010
Released: 2009, Self Released
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: Aaron Yurkiewicz

EMBRACE THE APOCALYPSE is the first professional demo from Montreal’s Worignition. Delivering an engaging brand of technical death metal that’s balanced with some progressive and thrash influences, the four songs on EMBRACE THE APOCALYPSE are high caliber compositions that will appeal to fans of the genre, even if they can’t pronounce the band’s name.



The song selection for this first release does a good job of showing the different sides of the band. The title track opens with a rumbling bass line and a solid death n’ roll crunch that settles into an old school thrash groove. “Shot in the Face” follows and is a more manic tune, with some Cryptopsy-esque chord phrasing, complete with choppy, start/stop riffs and some wild lead work. “Judgement Day” is probably my favorite tune of the four, featuring an acoustic guitar line that anchors the song in a spacey, ethereal vibe, while keeping in the context of a mid-paced death metal opus. “Wasteland” concludes in a suitably angry fashion and is reminiscent of Lamb of God/Shadows Fall territory (in a good way).



Performance wise, the band is top-notch. The guitar team of Marc Favreau and Julien Rousseau does a great job of building layers within layers with and incorporating different key structures. Vocalist Michel Lussier reminds me a lot of Carcass’ Jeff Walker, with his sharp, guttural rasp that’s still kinda, sorta intelligible. Bass player James McCallum can actually be heard in the mix (often a rarity for self released efforts) and adds a lot to the mix, especially with the title track and “Judgement Day.” Drummer Jonathan Drolet also gets plenty of the spotlight here, as his constant fills and double bass work do plenty to keep things interesting. Production wise, the four songs come across fantastic. The mix is spot on and the balance of the various moving makes the EP that much better.



Though Worignition has only been active for a couple of years, you’d never know it listening to the four songs here. The songs are tight and the band has obviously put a lot of hard work into their craft. There’s a lot to like, and the material on EMBRACE THE APOCALYPSE is diverse enough to appeal to a broad metal audience. The EP is available for digital download through i-Tunes.