Album Details

• Artist: Salt The Wound
• Album: Carnal Repercussions
• Label: Rotten
• Year of Release: 2008
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: solitaryman on 2008-05-29

Salt The Wound have a story often told within metal's ranks; forming not a long time ago, they've since battled lineup changes and all of the foes of an upstart band to get to this point, their debut full-length, Carnal Repercussions. They hail from Cleveland, Ohio and they play...metalcore. SHIT!

Okay, let's be fair; this reviewer doesn't care much for metalcore unless it has some distinguishing characteristics. Does Carnal Repercussions have any? Here and there. They fall in line with bands like Black Dahlia Murder and All Shall Perish, straight-ahead metal/hardcore fusion with touches of death metal and some attempts at DEP-like experimental fits. The end results are a bunch of decent metal songs that grow far too repetitive by the 2nd half of the album. Typical blastbeats, breakdowns and off-key guitar squeels permiate the entire affair. Songs don't really stand out, but moments do; "The Conformist" features some bare-boned dual-guitar melodies, "Gloves" has some of their best breakdown work and the always-appropriate gang-style chanting, and I particularly like the doomy atmosphere on "Peas and Carrots".

I hate to see bands put so much into an album only to have it fall on deaf ears, but this is more or less what's happened to Salt the Wound and me. Once upon a time I may have loved the hell out of this record; now, I can't give it time when I already have a host of favorites from this style of music who do it better or already did it as competently. There's nothing truly wrong with Carnal Repercussions beyond the tastes of the reviewer, so if you're a metalcore fan, definitely check it out.

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