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There's been a bit of a resurgence in Melodic Death Metal over the past few years, possibly because we've finally hit the point where it's retro and people are getting nostalgic for it. Dead Tears can be counted among that trend, hailing from Iraq of all places as they do so. I have nothing but respect for Metal bands in the Middle East, as they play in difficult circumstances where they could be arrested or even killed for making their music, so I was willing to give this a chance despite my general reservations for the genre. Glad I did, because their debut Wretched Earth is a perfectly solid album in the style. Yeah, there's nothing new going on here, and the songs have a bad tendency to just stop rather than have a proper resolution, but they at least have some teeth to them with more aggressive melodies than usual and some solid growls that avoid the trap of pedantic vocal patterns well enough. I can't say this is essential, and there aren't any first-rate songs that stand out from the rest, but it's still a promising debut from a young band that's worth watching out for in the future.