THE WRING’s last album, Spectra, was a genuine delight and immediately put this Canadian power trio on my radar. A fun and engaging piece of progressive metal that was more than a little reminiscent of a certain other progressive power trio from Canada. In fact, it was a tremendous mixture of Permanent Waves / Moving Pictures era RUSH and the early days of DREAM THEATER.
With Nemesis, not much has really changed…including my enjoyment. The RUSH and DREAM THEATER comparisons remain, but THE WRING also have injected their own personality into things. The songs are punchy and to the point, with none of the bloat that sometimes could be found in other prog metal purveyors. Longest song here, ‘The Sword’, is less than six minutes and yet it goes through a whole plethora of changes, from quirky fusion up to aggressive metallic onslaught. A little bit of MASTODON finds its way in there as well. The basswork of Reggie Hache is remarkably juicy and nimble throughout, actually propelling many of the songs more than lead guitar. It melds very smoothly with Kyle Abbott’s equally adept drum work. Hate to beat a dead horse, but the RUSH comparisons are unavoidable when talking about the bass/drum symbiosis here. Hache also sings and reminds one of DREAM THEATER’s James Labrie.
The guitar sound rings like a church bell and has a metallic crunch all the way through, but not in a “crushing” or heavy handed way. Don Dewulf is the wizard of the fretboard here. I don’t think there’s a bad song on the album, but I particularly liked the dark complexity of ‘The Nail’, the upbeat and tuneful ‘Before I Disappear’ and the crunchy yet proggy ‘Welshrats’. Dewulf says THE WRING is driven by heavy metal guitars playing with jazz chords and rhythms. You can hear that on just about every track here. Nemesis is a must for prog metal aficionados, and THE WRING’S future is bright.
Review By: Dr. Abner Mality
THE WRING
Nemesis
Wormholedeath Records