Werewolves – The Ugliest of All (Review)

This is the sixth album from Australian death metallers Werewolves.

Another year, another Werewolves album. Whether it’s 2022’s From the Cave to the Grave, 2023’s My Enemies Look and Sound Like Me, or 2024’s Die for Us, you basically know what you’re getting yourself into, and in my humble opinion it’s always gonna be good. If ferocious, unforgiving death metal, with a blackened bite and a technical edge is your thing, (along with some thrashy and grindy goodness), then The Ugliest of All is definitely for you.

What can you say about Werewolves at this stage? Their music is brutal, merciless, and ugly. Their new album is aptly named, as it’s a raging beast of horrible death metal nastiness. I do, of course, mean that in the best of ways, as Werewolves fucking rule.

The Ugliest of All is vicious and savage. The riffs are lethal. The guitars scythe and slash through your unworthy flesh, while the drums dish out barbaric punishment that smashes you flat. Yep, this is the stuff. With a duration of 32 minutes, it’s the band’s shortest and most powerful release. High praise, but this really is a storm of heaviness and harshness that keeps on giving.

The thing is, despite their relentless aggression, Werewolves actually do know how to write songs. They pretend they don’t, but they really do. The Ugliest of All has hooks; sharp bloody claws that sink in deep. Somehow The Ugliest of All is simultaneously one of Werewolves’ most brutal and most memorable creations. I’m not sure how they have done it, but their sixth album contains some of their best work yet. All of the band are on fire, but the singer in particular gives one of his best vocal performances – while ostensibly little different to past albums, his voice is somehow more emphatic, and his variety that little more noticeable.

There’s something glorious about Werewolves. This is pure death metal carnage. I’m sure there there might be better slabs of extremity out there somewhere, but it’s hard to remember what they might be when you’re being beaten to death so thoroughly and enjoyably.

I’ll say it again, Werewolves fucking rule. The Ugliest of All is a great album. Don’t miss its infectious brutality.