WASTED
“5”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

Wasted are a heavy metal band from Denmark formed during the eighties at the height of the heavy metal evolution – or revolution as some metal fanatics say! The band has released five albums to date – ‘Halloween… The Night Of’ (1984), ‘Final Convulsion’ (2013), ‘Electrified’ (2019), ‘The Haunted House’ (2022), and ‘5’…

…emerging in 2025, an incredible forty years after the bands debut! The resurgence by Wasted since their reformation in 2013 after a lengthy twenty five year hiatus, has been nothing short of sensational – four albums in ten years, festival appearances and numerous gigs across Denmark, culminating in the bands fifth album! Simply titled ‘5’, the new album features twelve songs across forty four fast paced “foot on the monitor” minutes, ‘Welcome To The Dark’ launching the album skyward at an electrifying rate of knots! Featuring a highly explosive nature, ‘Welcome To The Dark’ is fast, furious and raucous, Wasted storming right through the heart of heavy metal territory with this one – everything and everyone in the bands path crushed by the unstoppable Danish metal machine. And maintaining the albums overly heavy start, ‘Distorted Deceivers’ shudders the ground with more pace and impetus than the (album) opener, all the worlds mosh pits going fucking mental over a double barrelled barrage of extreme head bang ability! A sensational twosome becomes a terrific threesome with an electrifying turn of speed courtesy of the foot to the floor ‘My Little Thing Of Darkness’ – the band bringing a touch of thrash metal ferocity to the fore too!

An absolutely barnstorming start to ‘5’ Wasted are fired up and hot to fucking trot – ‘Clown’ continuing the touch of thrash from the previous song, the band straddling the border wall between traditional heavy metal and thrash! An eclectic mix of songs across the albums first third to attract a very wide array of fans, ‘5’ is a fairly brutal barrage of full on and in your face metal with an engagement level of sky fucking high, the exotically titled ‘Spooky Dookie’ the hardest hitting song heard so far! Wasted are pounding the ground harder than a drill boring for oil, ‘Spooky Dookie’ vigorously rocking the heads back and forth of every listener, fan, follower, metaller and thrasher on the planet! The head bang ability has been immense since the album began – I just can’t see it disappearing as ‘The World Is Mine’ slow burns into life just like ‘South Of Heaven’ era Slayer, the slow menacing march sending shivers down the spine all the way from the top to the very bottom! And after a minute in the explosion of pace and power is phenomenal, ‘The World Is Mine’ conquering all (as of March 2025) one hundred and ninety five countries in the world!

I tell ya readers, there’s no escaping the full on metal attack from Wasted, the band staying very much on the front foot with ‘Freak Of Fury’ – the recent menacing nature resurfacing as ‘Freak Of Fury’ shudders the ground with a mighty foot stomping attitude! The pace, tempo and gear changes here are many, Wasted keeping every listener guessing as in which direction the song will turn next – ‘Speed Demon’ doing exactly what it “says on the tin”. The pace and power here is phenomenal, the band bringing a touch of heavy/power metal to the fore, yet losing none of the albums abrasive nature – a nature that’s kept ‘5’ rooted to the heavier end of the heavy metal genre with very close links to thrash! And still with no sign of a breather coming any time soon, Wasted thunder on with ‘Immortal Man’, the ground shuddering more than ever as walls wobble and buildings shake under the phenomenal force oozing outta the album right now – a force that’d give gravity a run for its fucking money!

And with just a third of ‘5’ remaining, the album picks up even more pace as ‘Seasons Of The Pale’ presses the pedal hard to the metal to roar off at full throttle, the already vigorously moving heads of every listener, moving violently now – Wasted an unapologetic and unforgiving metal machine that “can’t be bargained with, reasoned with, doesn’t feel pity, remorse or fear, and absolutely will not stop…ever” until every head of all eight billion people on planet Earth are rocking back and forth in perfect harmony with the band! ‘Wasted’ features the iconic guitar tone and gallop of the legendary NWOBHM, the Danish outfit not forgetting their nineteen eighties roots – the infectious level rising right through the roof! The sing a long ability too…err, the sing a long ability…why is ‘Wasted’ just so fucking sing a long-able! Have I heard it before? Gimme a sec… Yes I have, but never this metallized! It’s actually a cover of the Def Leppard classic from the bands 1980 debut album ‘On Through The Night’ – a time and a place when the Sheffield rockers were considered a metal band and an integral part of the NWOBHM movement! Wasted’s version as I just mentioned, is more metal than the original ever was, the Danish metallers tweaking it to seamlessly fit within their soundscape. To close ‘5’, ‘Distorted’ is a departure from the all out metal onslaught of everything heard up to this point, the band taking a mellow hymn-like meander through the outskirts of rock country!

Overall, a fast paced and fairly furious gallop of highly head bang-able heavy metal with an immense infectious level.

TRACKLIST

Welcome To The Dark
Distorted Deceivers
My Little Thing Of Darkness
Clown
Spooky Dookie
The World Is Mine
Freak Of Fury
Speed Demon
Immortal Man
Seasons Of The Pale
Wasted
Distorted

https://www.facebook.com/Wasted.dk

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