Wretched announce new album 'Decay,' release title track

Photo credit: Dania Ramos

North Carolina death metal band Wretched will deliver their fifth studio album this October.

Announced today, Decay will be released on October 17th on Metal Blade Records. The 12-track album, which follows Wretched’s 2014 studio album Cannibal, was self-produced by the band. The concept album is a sequel to the band’s 2010 studio album Beyond The Gate. To celebrate the announcement, Wretched unveiled the title track via a David Brodsky-directed music video, which can be seen here.

Vocalist Billy Powers said this about the new album, which can be pre-ordered here:

“Decay is 100% a concept album. Beyond The Gate had an element this record shares, the talisman. I always knew there was more story there and was very excited to join up with the guys again to put that in motion. The first track I wrote was ‘The Golden Tide.’ I had no idea where I was going to take the story connection to Beyond The Gate until I typed the first line of the song. ‘They began in the dark.’ After that, the lyrics poured out of my mind and by the end of it I realized that this story takes place many years before the content of Beyond The Gate.

[The song] ‘Decay’ is a chapter in our story in which our main character Malus has lost his physical body due to becoming possessed by an ancient Necromancer. He is just a conscious thought floating through the void between time and space, conjuring a familial djinn named Elturiel to gain his assistance in returning to his mortal shell. This track revolves a lot around out of body experience, lucid dreaming, inner voices/internal dialogue, and the potential for reincarnation. It’s the feeling when you’re so sure that you’ve lost it all, yet you see that little shimmering glimmer of hope at the end of a long, dark tunnel. Then you have the rug pulled out from underneath you to find that the darkness is what you may only ever know. Not to say that all hope is lost because, in the context of the lyrics, it is not. There’s a repeated line near the middle and ending of the song that says ‘once more upon this eternal flat circle.’ It is inspired by True Detective S1 where it’s said ‘time is a flat circle.’ This has all happened before and will all happen again. I’m not a flat earther.”

This week, Wretched will embark on a mini-trek with Aether Realm. This fall, the band will support Six Feet Under on their U.S. tour. Tour dates can be seen below. Tickets are on sale to the general public right now here.

Wretched tour dates

w/ Aether Realm, Paladin:

8/07/2025 The Earl – Atlanta, GA

8/08/2025 Eulogy – Asheville, NC

8/09/2025 Chapel Of Bones – Raleigh, NC

w/ Aether Realm:

8/10/2025 The State Theatre – Greenville, NC

w/ Six Feet Under, Exhorder, Incite:

9/21/2025 The King Of Clubs – Columbus, OH

9/22/2025 Soundstage – Baltimore, MD

9/23/2025 Chapel Of Bones – Raleigh, NC

9/25/2025 Conduit – Orlando, FL

9/26/2025 Orpheum – Tampa, FL

9/27/2025 Club LA – Destin, FL

9/28/2025 Chelsea’s Live – Baton Rouge, LA

9/29/2025 Paper Tiger – San Antonio, TX

9/30/2025 Jake’s – Lubbock, TX

10/02/2025 The Rock – Tucson, AZ

10/03/2025 House Of Blues – San Diego, CA

10/04/2025 Humdinger – San Luis Obispo, CA

10/07/2025 El Corazon – Seattle, WA

10/09/2025 Ray’s Golden Lion – Richland, WA

10/10/2025 Nova PDX – Portland, OR

10/11/2025 The Shredder – Boise, ID

10/13/2025 The Oriental Theatre – Denver, CO

10/15/2025 The Vanguard – Tulsa, OK

10/16/2025 Wooly’s – Des Moines, IA

10/17/2025 The Canopy Club – Urbana, IL

10/18/2025 Avondale – Chicago, IL

10/19/2025 Venue Event Center – Cadillac, MI

10/20/2025 Sanctuary – Detroit, MI

10/21/2025 Rec Room – Buffalo, NY

10/22/2025 District Music Hall – Norwalk, CT

10/23/2025 Brooklyn Monarch – Brooklyn, NY

10/24/2025 Broken Goblet – Bensalem, PA

10/25/2025 Preserving Underground – New Kensington, PA

Decay tracklisting:

1. Decay

2. Malus Incarnate

3. The Royal Body

4. The Crimson Sky

5. Radiance

6. Clairvoyance

7. The Mortal Line

8. Behind The Glass

9. Lights

10. The Golden Tide

11. Blackout

12. The Golden Skyway