What a Time to Be Alive, indeed, Werewolves. If you missed last year’s  The Dead Are Screaming from these guys, you’re a damned fool and no friend of mine. If you had told me before this promo dropped in my hands (figuratively, of course) that we would see another album from these Australians so soon, I probably would have had a situation to walk off (don’t act like you’re not impressed). I was and still am quite infatuated with their first full length and after reading the promo materials for the new one, I must inform all of you that they claim to have the next six records already written. As a side note, and if it means anything to you, Werewolves contains members of Psycroptic and The Berzerker, so you may know what to expect here, but that’s the thing about expectations…

They’re always right without exception.

Where was I? Oh, fuck, do these guys know how to begin a track. The first one called “I Don’t Like You,” pretty much sums up my feelings on the entirety of the human race within the first few seconds. “I don’t like you, fucking hate you” is the phrase to which I am referring and it lets you know pretty quickly you’re in for a pummeling. A solid, brutal opening from these dudes.

If anyone has ever taken Chemix Cortibloc, they can identify much like I can with the phrase “My piss! My piss is radioactive” from track 2, “Sublime Wartime Voyeurism.” About halfway through the track, it segues into a bit of a dissonant/skronky death metal track before blasting its way back into some brutality.

Speaking of brutal, one of the most crushing sections put to tape (or, you know, not tape), comes a little over 2 minutes into track 5, “Unfathomably Fucked.” The guitar tone is crisp, the vocals which come in are pummeling, and it will snap your neck if you’re not careful.

The closer, “They Will Pay With Their Own Blood,” is another masterclass in the brootalz. It will finish the job of snapping that tiny little neck of yours, you fucking nerd, if the task hasn’t already been accomplished. I’ve noticed I’m using that word, or some variation of it quite a bit in this review. This is the lonest track on the album with quite a bit of spoken word interspersed, but that’s certainly not a surprise as some spoken word samples were used earlier on in the album, such as at the end of “Mission Statement.” Overall, this is an excellent closer. They end it with about 30 seconds of feedback so you can recover from the beating you just endured.

So, overall, I’m digging this quite a bit. It’s difficult to distinguish it too much from their previous, but not in a bad way. In a “both of these are top notch brutal/technical death metal records” kind of way. I do think The Dead Are Screaming is slightly better and more immediate whereas What a Time to Be Alive is the groovier, more of a grower counterpart. The Australian brutal death metal sound from these guys and the likes of Depravity is a treasure to behold. If you don’t pick this up, you’re doing yourself a disservice, although it may save you from developing whiplash if you don’t.

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