Wingless – Nonconform
Release Date: 1st October 2021
Label: Selfmadegod Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal, Doom.
FFO: Morbid Angel, Death, Immolation, old Paradise Lost.
Review By: Eric Wilt
If you are a fan of Wingless’s early work, forget all you think you know about the band. While they cut their teeth in the realm of modern metal, playing music that would fit neatly on a bill beside bands such as Machine Head or Chimaira, on Nonconform, the boys in Wingless have embraced a much grittier sound that finds them firmly in the dark, dank depths of the death/doom movement. Gone are the groove metal riffs and cleanly sung choruses of old. While never sounding derivative, guitarist Gregor Luzar, vocalist Michel “Xaay” Loranc, and drummer Piotr Wójcik, turn their amps up to buzzsaw and pummel the listener with a slab of dark doom and mid tempo death metal that will put listeners more in the mind of Paradise Lost or Morbid Angel than the aforementioned modern metal bands that shaped Wingless’s old sound.
Wingless kicks things off with “Imperceptible,” a mid tempo death metal feast along the lines of Father Befouled. “Separated from All Life” and “Contempt and Defiance” continue in this vein by running the gamut between midtempo and breakneck death metal while finding time for an emotional interlude in the middle of each song that is reminiscent of a gothic doom band like Draconian.
“Sadness Filled with Silence” and “Nyctophilia” are more melancholy slabs of metal that lean towards gothic doom. Although there is not as much death metal in these songs as there is in the previous three, Wingless still brings the heavy. In fact, the darker atmosphere of the songs actually cranks the heavy factor up a few notches. The rest of the album continues with this brand of doom metal that would definitely please fans of Paradise Lost and Swallow the Sun.
With their sights set firmly in the future, Wingless eschews their past to create an album that leans heavily on doom metal while incorporating death metal into a smattering of the songs to keep things interesting. If you thought you knew Wingless, or even if you didn’t, go into this album with fresh ears, and I expect you will find something to like. 
(4 / 5)
