REVIEW: WREX - SADWORLD

WREX aren’t just refusing to slow down, they’re torpedoing through the nu-metal-alt scene at breakneck speed, with the release of their new EP SADWORLD. Following a year of non-stop grafting and touring and the promise of another stacked year, whilst finding the time around their 2025 touring slots and everyday life to record the tracks, SADWORLD isn’t just an impressive feat of the band’s production skills and ability to think outside of the box, it’s a journey of emotions from cathartic release to rending fury, in a succinct but solid collection of 5 motley tracks.

From humble beginnings starting as “two people with a laptop”, SADWORLD is a testament to the band’s progression and upward trajectory, vocalist Mae Seaton and instrumentalist and producer George Donoghue at the helm with their touring band adding their efforts to the EP, with additional features from other skilled musicians hoping to help elevate WREX to the next level. With open-minded collaboration and audience connection their ultimate goals as a duo, WREX are steadily building their empire brick by brick, SADWORLD signifying five roads leading to the heart of their stronghold.

Starting with deceptively soft, mournful vocals from Seaton as guitar and bass buzz in the background, first track Paranoia explodes into crispy drums and shuddering riffs as Seaton and Donoghue harmonise acidic lyrics that could be aimed at a specific subject or their own inner demons. The melody weaves into synths reminiscent of film soundtracks from the turn of the millennium, the thundering riffs and drums surrendering to a strident beat on the breakdown as Seaton’s vocals climb in pitch and Donoghue cuts through with wrathful yells.

111 launches straight in with Seaton’s matter-of-fact, venomous spoken word over a rising, pulsing synth, sudden instruments and yells breaking the stripped back sound, dropping to a whisper then crashing in with a bang. Lethal in its rumbling sound, Donoghue takes the wheel to bring hoarse yells of “you’ll poison yours, I’ll poison mine”. Renowned for being the live track Donoghue flings himself into the crowd for, it’s not hard to visualise throwing yourself around to the beats and screaming back the words in, for a brief moment letting go of control.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvHSlF-jPlo

The first single and video dropped from SADWORLD, Consume is the punchiest and most interlaced with instruments track on the EP, beginning with a command of “when you hear the rhythm, start to move” - you don’t need to tell us twice. Seaton brings scathing lyrics that call out everyone for watching the world fall into chaos while we pay “a service charge for being alive”, and to remember “what’s yours is theirs and what’s theirs is theirs”. Consume is a track for truly feeling the rage at the world’s injustice in a neat package of pounding drums, echoing synths and howls, and guitar and bass that embodies that pit in your stomach looking at the state of the world.

An amalgamation of their new sound mixed with abandoned segments from previous EPs, The Noose keeps the heat of this EP burning with a delicious guitar solo introduction, before it descends into a tearing rhythm. Donoghue and Seaton complement each other as a well-oiled machine, with visceral shouts and siren-like vocal runs that snap between emotions. Suddenly dropping to an entirely stripped back sound of soulful piano as Donoghue sings “you wouldn’t believe the things that I’ve seen”, Seaton echoing hauntingly in the background “we’ll find a way to escape, navigate these sinking feelings” - The Noose feels like a hand reaching out when you’re at your lowest, ready to pull you back from the ledge.

Subverting expectations, SADWORLD steps away from the alt-metal sound we’ve been raging through to A Thousand Ways’ piano accompaniment, for a poignant ending to this emotional experience. Donoghue bares all in a vulnerable melody of lonely piano and lyrics “I’ve tried a thousand ways of numbing this pain, but it swallowed me whole”, gradually introducing string synths and layering Seaton’s harmonies over his before the track abruptly ends and leaves you wanting more. It’s the dark before the dawn, the anger and upset already spent in the preceding tracks with A Thousand Ways the final emotional upheaval before you have to pick yourself back up.

Score: 9/10

SADWORLD will be released on 20th May 2026.

Words: Julia Stark

Photos: Ethne Lever