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Track Listing: Birthing Sloth The Deed of Elturiel In the Marrow A Still Mantra Cimmerian Shamballa On the Horizon Part I - Aberration Part II - Beyond The Gate My Carrion The Guardians of Uraitahn The Talisman Eternal Translucence

Wretched's sophomore release, "Beyond the Gate", is an intense mixture of extreme riffs and amazing technicality.

The album begins with "Birthing Sloth", which opens in an incredibly in your face and aggressive riff, and explodes into a technical masterpiece. This song is both varied, and very repetitive. In some sections, the same riff is played over and over, and in other sections a totally different riff is played. It's pretty interesting, and keeps my attention. The musicianship on this track is mind-boggling. The musicians manage to cram so much in such a seemingly short time frame and they do it with the utmost skill. The guitarists, while I don't know their history at all, seem to be classically trained, and their drummer is blessed with an insane amount of talent. The vocals are a bit dry, but fit perfectly, and from the bits I can hear, the bass seems pretty creamy. The solo at the 2:38 mark is really the icing on the cake. It's not too short, but it doesn't drag on, either. Overall, this is a great track to open an album with.

The next track, "The Deed Of Elturiel", is pretty interesting. There seems to be a lot of influence culled from many different genres in this song. I sense a lot of traditional death metal and black metal here. This track, like the previous, includes a lot of technical guitar work that makes you wonder how these people do it. The only frustrating thing about this track is that the riffs repeat a bit and it gets kind of tedious after awhile. The solos in this song are absolutely superb, though. They definitely make up for the repetitive riffage. Overall, it's a decent track.

The best track on this album would have to be "Beyond the Gate Part II", which I can only describe as Metal Mozart. This track breaks the mold of the album in an amazing and almost breathtaking way. While it's a symphony of brutality, it holds many characteristics of music from the past. I don't mean classic Aerosmith, I mean Bach, Beethoven, Chopan; all the composing greats of the past. I'm never one to compare new music to the absolute classics, but Wretched have really blown me away with this track. As a lover of all things music, I must commend their work on this track. It has truly blown my mind. From the classical guitar work, to the absolutely ripping metal work on this track, Wretched have raised the bar on the term "neo-classical", and I think a lot of musicians need to take a good long listen to this track. This is the future of neo-classical metal right here.

The only bothersome track on this album is "In the Marrow" which is a lead in to the track after it, "A Still Mantra." While the musicianship on it is great, it's far too short, and ends abruptly, and has a huge seam where the transition to "A Still Mantra" should happen. They're both great tracks, but the sequencing could be a bit better.

Wretched have really raised the stakes on heavy metal. Their new breed of neo-classical technical death-metal has blown me away, and I hope you can give them a chance and really appreciate their new hybrid genre. I have a feeling Wretched is here to stay for a good, long while.

For more info, check out the band's official myspace.