“Heal me from the failures.”
The south coast of the UK is currently a hotbed for heaviness. Hardcore is thriving with the “BN1” Brighton scene being the envy of many, boasting the likes of No Relief and Tempers Fray. Southampton come in close behind, where Not Without Punishment and Concrete Jungle have become recent favourites with our camp. Upcoming acts like Vower, Hemipetra and Seething Akira add breadth to the coastline’s style. On the gnarly side, Believe In Nothing of lowly Eastbourne launched into action last year and have taken the small venue network by storm with their noisy and deranged shows. But there’s absolutely room for more, so please welcome Healing Wound and their debut LP to the stage.
Bodies of Heavenly Violence is one of those extreme metal records that isn’t easy to categorise – it’s not that it’s especially unusual, it simply doesn’t fit neatly into a single category. It mixes influences from ‘proper’ metallic hardcore, death, black, grindcore, and even screamo. To top it off, the production leaves its sludgey residue on you, especially thanks to Harry Huntington’s vocals. He’s a mid-register machine whose voice feels like a jack of all trades, another way that Healing Wound avoid being pinned down to a single genre.
With a tidy twenty-three minute runtime, this record is almost always about action. Look no further than the opener “Purging Visions” which hits fast out of the gate. Despite the speed, riffs quickly induce their own gravitational pull. In a snap, the guitars pause and Dudley Powell’s bass crackles through the mix, diverting the band into a tempo switch before a black metal segment fires off. In short, Healing Wound keep you on your toes.
Other speedy bleeders on the record include “The Loss of Lightness”, which again sees Powell come through with an inventive bass-led segment, and “Heavenly Violence” which cuts its pace in half for a lurching final minute. The atmosphere is absolutely off-kilter, even when at first, a track seems destined just to beat down. Closer “Trail of Human Wreckage” saves a simple yet satisfying riff for the finale, fading out slowly to give the impression that the band might extend it to their heart’s content in a live setting.
Alongside these fast tracks, Bodies of Heavenly Violence has ample variation. “Flesh Ridden” is the first sign of true breathing room with its drifting soft guitar introduction. Once the band snaps into action, it’s drummer Max Colley’s time to shine, firing volleys of blast beats and circle pit grooves. A truly evil slowdown then ensues, with Huntington’s vocals finding in some decrepit limelight. It’s spiteful diction galore as he sings “strip it all away down to your bones/ leave me here to dream of being alone”. “Fear of Silence” follows up with lots of progressive variations and tempo switches, nearing mathcore territory.
The especially creepy “In the Shadow of Your Absence” provinces a spacious introduction that highlights how democratic this band’s sound is – all the instruments take equal part in forming a distinctly unwell tapestry, before the brows furrow and the violence begins. After another lurching heavy section, the track ends on a pivotal and foreboding line that harkens back to the band name – “I know the silence was the shadow of your absence / heal me, heal me from the failures”. The way the band introduce these variations is akin to Converge’s experimentations. It’s up to that gold standard of constructing compelling and memorable albums, which don’t stray at all from the vision of being a live band.
The pace that Healing Wound have been moving at is uncommon for fledgling bands. Now with an LP under their belt, plus two nasty EPs from 2024, they’re ready to be taken very seriously. An early sign is their upcoming run supporting Agriculture, who they are a fantastic match to with their terrifying live presence. Here’s hoping there are many such opportunities for the band off the back of Bodies of Heavenly Violence, a document that ought to be carefully studied and induce grimaces across the world.
