______ _______ _______ ______ _____ _______ | __ \ | | | | __ \ |_| ___| | < | | | __ < | ___| proudly presents... |___|__|_______|__|_|__|______/_______|_______| ............................................................................ Artist...... Wretched Album....... Decay Label....... Metal Blade Records Genre....... Metal Releasedate 2025-10-17 Encoder..... Lame Source...... WEB (FLAC) Bitrate..... 320kbps Size........ 156.37 mb Duration.... 65:01 WWW......... http://play.qobuz.com/album/q3gpqumgunkca .Tracklist ................................................................. 01 Decay [ 5:26] 02 Malus Incarnate [ 3:22] 03 The Royal Body [ 4:54] 04 The Crimson Sky [ 4:57] 05 Radiance [ 4:24] 06 Clairvoyance [ 4:23] 07 The Mortal Line [ 3:29] 08 Behind The Glass [16:00] 09 Lights [ 4:42] 10 The Golden Tide [ 4:30] 11 Blackout [ 5:05] 12 The Golden Skyway [ 3:49] .Releasenotes .............................................................. Wretched to Unleash Long-Awaited ôDecayö Full-Length October 17th on Metal Blade Records For the last two years, Charlotte, North CarolinaÆs lauded metal monsters WRETCHED worked on the songs that would populate their long-awaited fifth full-length, Decay. Set for release on October 17th on Metal Blade Records, the result is a conceptual masterpiece that blends haunting melodies with progressive complexity. This fifth album, which is a prequel to 2010's Beyond The Gate, delves into existential themes, D&D-inspired mythology, and personal loss. The record sees the boundary-pushing lineup breaking past defined walls of their four previous releases. Sonically, Decay may be WRETCHEDæs most pristine-sounding recording, but itÆs still raw with a live feeling in the performances. The band didnÆt track the parts until they sounded like a computer. You hear guitarist Steven Funderburk pick through the strings and fret the instrument, bassist Andrew Grevey shines on bass with a potent musicality and movement, his parts as much a part of the sound and structure of the songs as the guitar. Vocally, Billy Powers went as raw as humanly possible, pushing himself and the instrumentals to their furthest for an uncompromisingly powerful performance on every track. ôWeÆve had a lot of time to grow and reflect in the time between our last album and Decay,ö says drummer Marshall Wieczorek. ôWRETCHED is doing what WRETCHED always does, and thatÆs exploring our environment and leaving room for ourselves to try different things. To sum things up, the new album is dynamic. We go here, we go there, we go everywhere. There is no shortage of groove, heaviness, speed, melodicism, prettiness, and sadness.ö ôDecay is 100% a concept album,ö confirms Powers. ôBeyond The Gate had an element this record shares, the talisman. I always knew there was more story there and was very excited to join up with the guys again to put that in motion. The first track I wrote was æThe Golden Tide.Æ I had no idea where I was going to take the story connection to Beyond The Gate until I typed the first line of the song. æThey began in the dark.Æ After that, the lyrics poured out of my mind and by the end of it I realized that this story takes place many years before the content of Beyond The Gate.ö The LPÆs title track and first single contains the albumÆs main character, Malus, along with a character from Beyond The Gate named Elturiel. ôIn the song, ædecayÆ refers to MalusÆ decaying existence, the feeling of loss, and helplessness/lack of control he has to influence anything outside of the darkness in which he has been cast.ö In broader terms, decay refers to many elements of the albumÆs story, ôThe decay of good intention, the loss of loved ones, the influence time and choices has upon our bodies and minds and the decay of the world around us due to the choices of those with ultimate power.ö Powers further elaborates, ô[The song] æDecayÆ is a chapter in our story in which our main character Malus has lost his physical body due to becoming possessed by an ancient Necromancer. He is just a conscious thought floating through the void between time and space, conjuring a familial djinn named Elturiel to gain his assistance in returning to his mortal shell. This track revolves a lot around out of body experience, lucid dreaming, inner voices/internal dialogue, and the potential for reincarnation. ItÆs the feeling when youÆre so sure that youÆve lost it all, yet you see that little shimmering glimmer of hope at the end of a long, dark tunnel. Then you have the rug pulled out from underneath you to find that the darkness is what you may only ever know. Not to say that all hope is lost because, in the context of the lyrics, it is not. ThereÆs a repeated line near the middle and ending of the song that says æonce more upon this eternal flat circle.Æ It is inspired by True Detective S1 where itÆs said ætime is a flat circle.Æ This has all happened before and will all happen again. IÆm not a flat earther.ö Decay was self-produced with engineering by drummer Marshall Wieczorek, mixed by Johann Meyer, mastered by Alan Douches, and features artwork and layout by Travis Smith (Overkill, Nevermore, Opeth etc). The record will be released on CD and digital formats as well as vinyl. ............................................................................ LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLEEEEE!