Search - Wrathchild America :: Climbin' the Walls

Still holds up 20 years on

Tom P. the Underground Navigator | Park Forest, IL USA | 08/23/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It's been over 20 years now since April of 1989, when Atlantic released Wrathchild America's first (and best) LP "Climbin' the Walls." This album remained out of print for almost that long and was becoming hard to find until 2008, when Wounded Bird Records finally reissued it. Two decades on, this CD still holds up as one of the stronger metal releases to emerge at the very tail end of the '80s.



Having been only 14 in 1989 when this first came out, I did not actually get to hear it for the first time until years later, when I found the cassette used at a local record store. I actually got into the group that they would evolve into later on in the the '90s, the short lived Souls at Zero, first. (Please see my review for the latter's 1995 opus "A Taste for the Perverse" elsewhere on Amazon. It's another recommended release.)



As for the album being reviewed "Climbin' the Walls," I am listening to it now and am still struck by how strong most of the songs are. The band's sound fell somewhere between traditional power/heavy metal and the more modern thrash metal characteristic of the late '80s. Track number two "Hell's Gates" for instance, recalls more the latter, played at a tempo reminding me somewhat of Metallica's faster late '80s output.



But the real strength of the band's sound (which was unusual for its time and very distinctive) was the way it recalled the catchiness of traditional metal of the past (and the delivery is tighter than a noose at that). Not surprising, considering some of the influences these guys cite in the liner notes of the original pressing of the album (which along with the lyrics were sadly left off the reissue). These included Twisted Sister, Foghat, Anvil, Accept and Saxon. Unusual, when most of their peers at the time were more concerned with one dimensional speed and mimicking Slayer. That means that guitarists Jay Abbene and Terry Carter produce some truly classic metal riffs on standout tracks such as "No Deposit, No Return," "London After Midnight," and "Silent Darkness (Smothered Life)." The Baltimore, Maryland outfit was rounded out by vocalist/bassist and former Kix member Brad Divens, and future Ugly Kid Joe and Godsmack member and the only one here who wouldn't appear in the later Souls at Zero incarnation, drummer Shannon Larkin.



All in all, if in the late '80s climate of speed and thrash metal, you missed the essential catchiness of bands of the past, Wrathchild America were here on this 1989 release to change all that. (Final sidenote: this record features yet another classic Ed Repka album cover, and it's among his best.)"