Indiana blackened thrash/speed metal quartet WRAITH will release their sixth album, Descent Into Darkness, on November 13 via Prosthetic Records. Lead single "Final Warning" is out now with an official visualizer, and preorders — CD and two splatter vinyl variants — are live at the label's shop.
WRAITH — Matt Sokol (vocals, guitar), Jason Schultz (guitar), Chris Petkus (bass) and Mike Szymendera (drums) — deal in old-school thrash speed run through a 21st-century extreme metal filter, with no frills attached. "It's relentless," Sokol says. "It's fast, but it's simultaneously crushing and heavy. We always say, 'We're a no-gimmicks thrash metal band'. We try to make the live show as intense as listening to the record in your car really loudly."
Recorded in 2026 with co-producer CJ Rayson, the album is heavily themed around World War I — territory Sokol knows well. "I majored in history, and now I'm a tenth-grade history teacher," he explains. "Most of the songs pull from some battle or phase of conflict. Even the artwork depicts a WWI battlefield with a reaper in the clouds. I'm interested in what these events were like for the people you don't necessarily read about: the folks working in the mills or the soldiers who didn't want to be there."
"Final Warning" itself is about ignoring the signs. "At the start of WWI, there were signs politically that everything was soured and mistakes were being made," Sokol says. "It's a cliché, but history repeats itself. Don't ignore the warning. If you do, it could be too late."
Tracklist:
- Descent Into Darkness
- Final Warning
- Atomic Queen
- Terminal Embrace
- Over The Top
- Misery And Malice
- Lord Of Wolves
- Chainscraper
- No Man's Land
- Back In The Trenches
Stream "Final Warning": wraith.ffm.to/descentintodarkness
Preorder Descent Into Darkness: Prosthetic Records shop