Oozing Wound

Chicago trio Oozing Wound emerged from the Windy City noise and experimental underground, channeling its abrasive intensity into a vicious fusion of crossover, thrash, NWOBHM, and sludge. The group channeled that scene’s defiant spirit into its own ferocious brand of metal, layering in pointed attitude and biting social critique across the pummeling albums Whatever Forever in 2016 and We Cater to Cowards in 2023.

Guitarist and vocalist Zack Weil, bassist Kevin Cribbin, and drummer Kyle Reynolds formed Oozing Wound in 2013. Each musician brought prior experience in the city’s challenging noise circles through projects such as Cacaw, ZATH, and Bad Drugs. The band quickly began performing locally and, before 2013 ended, issued its debut album Retrash. Engineered by Matt Russell and steeped in science-fiction themes, the record combined blistering aggression with unconventional lyrics, earning praise from both metal and noise-rock listeners. Comparable recognition followed 2014’s Earth Suck.

For its third album, the trio returned to Chicago’s Minbal Studios with Russell once more at the controls. Whatever Forever appeared in October 2016. On the subsequent full-length, Oozing Wound recorded at the city’s renowned Electrical Audio with engineer Gregoire Yeche. The sessions introduced fresh arrangement approaches, weaving saxophone, flute, and synthesizer textures into the metallic framework. The resulting seven tracks surfaced in 2019 as High Anxiety, a ferocious attack that also delivered lacerating lyrics aimed at the music business, climate-change skeptics, and humanity’s more foolish factions.

That same restless edge persisted on the 2023 fifth album We Cater to Cowards. Oozing Wound again delivered its incisive social commentary, crushing riffs, and flashes of dark humor while pushing further into unconventional instrumentation and knotty song forms.