It’s here. It’s finally here. However long in the making and a big, successful crowdfunding campaign later, on Friday the third album from the UK goth metallers is finally out. The conclusion to the psychoberrie trilogy, I cannot wait to hear where the band goes and how it all ends. And, miraculously, we managed to get an early copy. I’ve been a fan of this band for years now, so of course we were going to dive in deep and let y’all know what we thought!
The album starts with a bang with ‘Regeneration’. Setting the scene of the tale with some new broadcasts, it feels very Ice Nine Kills from the offset, and definitely in a good way. The buildup of percussion and sounds around the bass-line also gave vague Tool vibes, which was awesome. Then the chunky riff explodes in, Psychoberrie’s vocals soon coming in over the top perfectly. The chorus is pretty catchy too, the instrumentation keeping it plenty heavy behind the melody. The lyrics are awesome too, fitting the tone of the story perfectly. I also LOVE the Egyptian feel in the bridge, and the solo keeps that vibe fantastically. Especially when it builds back into the heavier stuff but keeps the same style. The Doctor is one of the most criminally underrated guitarists in the scene right now. It’s an amazing way to open up the album, and a definite early highlight!
More of a gothic/black metal vibe runs through ‘Into the Wilderness’, the choir vocals that run through it helping with that. Berrie’s vocals around them are awesome, and her melodies are amazing. It may be one of her strongest vocal performances, honestly. It all builds to a massive, catchy chorus, one made to be played to huge festival crowds. Everything just sounds so massive, the mix on this thing being incredible and it all stands out and works together perfectly. It has another awesome solo in the middle, this one a lot more traditional rock, and the bridge with the play between the demon (?) voice and Berrie’s was a fantastic touch that added so much to the story. What would you know, another phenomenal song!
The Brad Pitt song opens exactly how you’d expect if you’ve heard ‘Toy Box’, and when the instrumentation kicks in it has a surprising folk metal sound to it. The folk vibes continue through the verse, it having a great swinging beat and very much feeling like a continuation of the aforementioned track. It also has a slight modern Maiden feel to it, which is sick. Another amazingly catchy chorus will surely go down a storm live, and I love it taking a turn after the first into more of a modern metal style. It somehow feels so different from the two previous songs, yet all three of them feel somehow so distinctively Ward XVI. I loved this, and think the folky style fits them just as much as anything else. Yet another highlight track on an album so far packed full of them!
The cleverly titled ‘Macabaret’ is a faster paced, high-energy romp that is just as fun as the previous song, but yet again completely differently! The horns were a fantastic touch, adding yet another layer on top of an already brilliantly arranged song, and fitting the theme perfectly. It’s another song I am already desperate to see live! The Doctor once again kills it with an awesome solo, and the almost breakdown riffing behind it sounds incredible. It’s a hugely fun song and one that I’d recommend to absolutely anyone reading this!
After a brief spoken-word interlude, again telling the tale of the album perfectly, we launch into the lead single of the album, ‘Blood is the New Black’. I am very familiar with this track, having done a reaction video to it when it released, and have been a little obsessed ever since! I shan’t gush over it too much more than I already did in that video, but this is an INCREDIBLE song and such a good choice for the lead single. One of my favourite tracks the band have ever put out, in this writers humble opinion. Another to check out immediately!
Following that up is the most recent single, ‘At the Window’. After an ominous, slow-build intro, a slow, epic chorus explodes in. It dropping down for the verses, coupled with the fast vocal delivery, was a nice touch and kept things yet again fresh. It’s essentially rap, like a dark, gothic version of Delilah Bon, and I loved it! The lyrics are fantastic and the vocals and heavy instrumentation build perfectly into that catchy chorus again. The epic feel continues throughout, and it’s another truly fantastic vocal performance from Berrie. The extended second chorus is incredible, it building more and more into something truly massive and special. It gave me goosebumps on track, so I can only imagine how hard it’d hit live! It’s another track that you have to really hear, my words aren’t doing it anywhere near enough justice. Damn, this album is amazing so far!
‘Spit on Your Grave’ has a late 90s industrial/nu-metal intro to it, though when it explodes in it almost feels uplifting in an odd way. The closest thing I can compare the riffing to is Muse, which is sick! Then it drops down to the low bass and ominous guitaring, immediately turning more towards ‘Prosthetics’ or ‘Scissors’ or ‘Gently’ by Slipknot. The band again do a brilliant job of building in the instrumentation and tension slowly until another infectiously catchy chorus comes in. The dynamics on this track, and the album as a whole, are amazing. I loved the story of the track too, the vocal delivery being incredible throughout. And I feel like a broken record at this point, but the guitar solo tucked away in the middle is also awesome! Shock horror, it’s another incredible song!
Another brief, talky interlude that once again adds perfectly to the story sets ‘Darkest Desire’ up perfectly. I hate to play it off as it is a damn good song, but it doesn’t feel like anything we haven’t heard on the album to this point. Especially when compared to the beautiful, dark acoustic/piano ballad that follows it. It’s a track that the album very much needed, and is executed to perfection. It still brings the heaviness too later on, but there is no denying this is the ballad-track of the album. And we still get an awesome, slower solo too, showing off the Doctor’s versatility yet again. And once again, it feels fresh and different while distinctively Ward XVI. It’s an awesome song, and placed perfectly on the album!
The final dark interlude ties the story together perfectly, and leads into the final track and massive single, ‘We Are Legion’. It’s another song I’m pretty familiar with at this point, and of course love. It’s heavy, gothic and really catchy, another one that will go over amazingly live. It also ties together the album excellently, feeling like it combines elements of each song that preceded it. It’s another amazing song and another great choice for a single.
Overall: This met and somehow exceeded my hype for it! Every song is amazing and it acts as the perfect conclusion to everything the band have built since they started. It’s packed full of massive highlights and I want to hear just about every song of this live. I know they’re doing so at their album launch that we sadly can’t make, so this is my plea to do full album shows at least a few times, please! If you are at all into metal in any way, this is very much an album for you. For the years of hype and rumbling, it was worth every second, and this will surely be high on our albums of the year come December!
The Score: 9.5/10