Wrath of Killenstein
M M V I

September 2006
Released: 2006, Inner Sanctum Entertainment Group
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: Luxi Lahtinen

These extremely bizarre-looking New Yorkers, Wrath of Killenstein, have been labeled by Gothic Metal by many, but I think labeling them simply as a Gothic –act, just doesn´t do much justice for their whole musical approach. How they look like – sure, this Gothic –element is surely strongly there, but I would say musically Wrath of Killenstein still moves on a quite different metal ground. Namely the music of them, in fact, hasn´t that much to do with Gothic style of metal at all, but more with Black Metal mixed with bits from both traditional - and Thrash Metal - added with some horror elements for good measure which all make an interesting yet relatively unique journey through their music on this recently re-released debut album of W.o.K., which they have baptized to MMVI (originally released in 2000 already, for all of you who are after for some trivia type of info).



I gotta say this very weird-looking bunch named Wrath of Killenstein from the gloomiest and most thick, fog-filled streets of New York, have managed to create an interesting concept for their creepy and spooky sounding metal. The closest comparisons that I could come up with, to their very distinctive sound, could probably be bands like old Mercyful Fate, and After Death (a relatively new band created by Mike Browning, that ex-Incubus, ex-Morbid Angel, ex-Nocturnus -fame). “Bits and Pieces”, which is an instrumental tune, resembles more than just once the old M.F. stuff whereas “Spell to Raise the Dead” reminds me heavily of some eerie and spooky sounds of After Death – added with one particular guitar part which brings some certain Infernäl Mäjesty song to my mind even if I cannot pinpoint that song by name right now...



The strength of the band´s material is simply based on catchy, carefully built and well thought-out song structures, and every single song on MMVI sounds like the band has really taken their time when composing and rehearsing these songs for the album. This is actually a surprisingly addictive stuff; all 10 songs on the album. Instead of judging how they look like (surely corny for some of you, but for me, they look actually rather cool with their bizarre-looking costumes), rather listen to the album and make your opinion out of the songs – and just don´t give much a thought for their imago if it disturbs you somehow. Let the music speak for itself instead...