Saltwound are a death/metalcore band from the US and this is their debut album.
The Temptation of Pain provides us with a brutal and intense hybrid form of deathcore and metalcore. Saltwound spend 29 minutes abusing and punishing with their destructive brand of heaviness.
The Temptation of Pain is dark, threatening, and violent. Saltwound play a contemporary form of death/metalcore, utilising thick rumbling riffs, crushing breakdowns, menacing rhythms, and dynamic aggression. For a rough idea of Saltwound’s style, think of a mix of bands such as Cabal, Alpha Wolf, and Distant.
The songs are short and heavy. Tailor made to get bodies moving and slamming into each other, it’s a mix of thunderous deathcore groove, meaty modern metalcore energy, and downtempo avalanches of thick distortion. It’s an album that’s going on the gym playlist, that’s for sure.
The vocals mix deep growls with hardcore shouts, both of which offer something a little different to your standard deathcore fare; the former are more death metal in character, and the latter more hardcore. Other vocalisations appear too, depending on the needs of the songs. The vocals are part of the reason that Saltwound differentiate themselves from the deathcore masses. That and the fact that they don’t exclusively play deathcore. The metalcore and hardcore influences are skilfully merged into the whole, resulting in an album that comfortably straddles the three styles, bringing them together with crushing groove and harsh heaviness.
For when you want a brief, nasty slab of modern heaviness, The Temptation of Pain hits the spot nicely.
Highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 