A Wilhelm Scream have turned to the dark side, and it suits them. The Massachusetts punks’ sixth outing, ‘Cheap Heat’ sees them taking on the role of the heel, playing the villain as a foil to the John Cenas of this world, but while they’re taking a step away from the raw personal lyrics which characterised 2022’s ‘Lose Your Delusion’, they also aren’t fully pulling on their metaphorical Luchador masks to write this record in character. The space they’re inhabiting now is that of the brash, proactive truth teller, taking on grifters and egotists with equal aplomb, and they’re having so much fun calling out all their haters that it’s easy to get swept in their righteous energy. For once, an album being very short is a blessing; ‘Cheap Heat’ packs a singular wallop without descending into ranting, and at under thirty minutes it’s the kind of record that’ll knock you down without making it personal.
Dropping three sequential album tracks in advance feels like they’re taking the idea…
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