Review Summary: Even more feverish and dreamlike
How is Drain STH’s first album, “Horror Wrestling”? It’s even heavier, darker and quirkier, with the distorted guitars, deep monotone vocals and cryptic lyrics making it feel even more like a fever dream. It’s their least accessible album, and often their most meandering and uneven effort, but it’s also a great example of grungy metal.
To give you an idea of how dark this album is, it has two obvious hit singles, “I Don’t Mind” and “Crack the Liar’s Smile”. Musically, “Crack” is the most “normal” song on the album, not as heavy as the rest, with an acoustic guitar intro and a catchy riff. However, it has the kind of lyrics whose meaning just seems right out of my reach, but they sound cool and you will quickly find yourself singing them because the whole song is the biggest earworm Drain STH has ever created. “I” has one of the heaviest riffs of the album. It’s the kind of really heavy and groovy riffs that really hooks you in the album.
How about the rest of the album? Most of it is similar to “Smile”, with nice, catchy but somewhat eerie vocal melodies, and a storm of heavy riffs, always keeping a mysterious and dark undertone. The vocals often sound distant and distorted, adding to the mysterious and eerie feel. “Mirror’s Eyes” is an even more obvious example of that, with distorted, album unintelligible vocals and this eerie but memorable chorus “Reaping the seed you sowed, left alone to grow, where do we go, I don’t know”. It’s one of the most mysterious songs on the album. “Someone” is more melodic, with the eerie, often repeated line about how “someone has to die”. It’s the kind of song you will find yourself humming even if you end up creeping people out.
“Crucified” is another heavy, distorted and mysterious track, so basically, the typical sound of the album. Similarly, “Mind Over Body” is one of the more sinister, with a dark and slow instrumentation and lyrics like “My body’s alive, but I’m not inside”, but its slow and not particularly chorus kind of ruin my enjoyment of it. “Unforgiving Hours” is a slightly sinister sort of ballad, but it’s not particularly memorable either. This is where the album starts getting a little repetitive, while “Freaks of Nature” has more variety.
Of course, there are variations on the formula. “Serve the Shame” has somewhat clearer vocals, simple but catchy riffs and lyrics as cryptic as ever, but they seem to condemn someone more clearly for “serving the shame”, whatever that might mean. “Stench” is also very heavy but less distorted, with lyrics expressing guilt more clearly. “Unreal” is a more interesting version of “Unforgiving Hours”, being slow, strange and tormented, occasionally soaring to a dark and distorted chorus. It doesn’t sound exactly like other tracks, but in a way, it’s the ultimate Drain STH song. And the second biggest earworm of the album is “Klotera”, with groove metal riffs and a “I don’t know and I don’t care, I ain’t going anywhere” chorus. Again, I’m not sure what the title could mean. Drain STH’s songs are fascinating like that, because you’re never sure what they mean, but something about their mysterious lyrics sticks in your mind and makes you imagine all sorts of interpretations of their meaning.
As I’ve detailed above, “Horror Wrestling” has a few flaws, mostly the repetition and the fact that not every song is as memorable as “Klotera”, “Crack the Liar’s Smile”, “Unreal” and “Serve the Shame”. As a whole, “Freaks of Nature” has more variety and better songs. But the best songs I’ve already mentioned are a must-hear, and the dark, dreamy and feverish mood of this album is something I’ll always enjoy losing myself into. It’s an album you listen to for its overall mood rather than its songs. On this first album, Drain STH established a true identity, with tons of personality and talent. I’d say they made some serious competition for Alice in Chains and Soundgarden in the field of metal-leaning grunge bands, but I feel like comparing this album to its obvious influences downplays how unique it is, and how damn enjoyable. They may have only released two albums, but I’ll always be grateful to Drain STH for making them.
