Wwithout is a project by Sounds & Shadows contributor Hunter who`s been releasing music consistently since 2015.
Stylistically WWITHOUT explores a variety of genres but it is always WWITHOUT wether it be a trap album or experimental borderline avant garde sound design.
Angel Wings Are A Trend, released in July of 2017 is coincidentally one of my favourites albums from this project.
The album consists of rather short tracks with the longest clocking in at one minute and forty-six seconds. This is by no means a complaint as I listen to a lot of old school punk bands which of course are notorious for short songs.
The album as a whole feels like just that, whole.
Not to say it lacks variety, rather that each track feels like a continuation of the last, weaving it all together until the crescendo “Hatred Spiral Pirouette (Reprise)” ties it all off with a classic trap drumbeat with layers of sound textures played in reverse, a technique I often employ myself.
But let`s start at the beginning shall we?
Opening track “Succumb To The Pressure” begins with what sounds like a traditional music box played backwards along melodic yet quite sombre sounding choir voices as a down tempo beat guides us to the quick end.
It sets the tone and the mood of defeat and the feeling of just having given up and lost it all. I`m not sure rather this is a good thing or not keeping the artists best interest in mind but I digress.
“Omni//Vore Feitsh” captures desperation and the last remains of hope in just forty-six seconds with what feels like a natural continuation given the previous tracks sonic mood.
“Never6Been6Kissed6” makes me wonder what I may discover by running these tracks through a reversal effect resulting in having whatever sounds may be there playing forwards.
The first traditinal vocals appear during trap song “Hatred Spiral Pirouette” along with a steady beat and haunted voices of what could very well be dead children roaming through an abandoned 19th century asylum.
“Apolegetic Seizure” further explores the over all sound design of the album and is thus far a strong contender to be my favorite of the bunch with it`s moody chants, slow beat and what sounds like a loop of someone screaming while still having the common courtesy of not waking up the neighborhood.
And thus we arrive at the previously mentioned “Reprise” and the end of our short yet enjoyable journey through the haunted halls of WWITHOUT.
While trap and any derivative of rap/hip-hop is foreign territory to someone like me who grew up with punk and metal I`m left pleasently surprised by the intriguing sounds contained within this album.
Listen here: https://wwithout.bandcamp.com/album/angel-wings-are-a-trend
Keep up with Hunter here: https://www.facebook.com/wwwithout/