DEPRAVITY - Grand Malevolence
Transcending Obscurity Records
On Friday nights at work I get to turn the radio off from the "hits" station and onto the local college station which plays metal. The first hour is always extreme sounding stuff which totally grates the nerves off certain co-workers. Yeah it always makes me smile especially when they're playing the heavy stuff. This band would sit nicely on that station's Chainsaw Rock format. But there's a important reason why.
This is the second full length by DEPRAVITY, a five piece death metal act from Australia. They're a fairly new band, starting out a few years ago. I can honestly say I never heard their debut full length. And strangely enough I've actually heard this album before albeit by a dozen different artists. DEPRAVITY have a sound/style which is extremely familiar to me albeit a crushing touch better.
Sound-wise the band's brand of death metal is on the brutal side of things with a healthy dose of tech death that's not boring. They also toss in some moments which one might consider progressive. So basically we're talking about playing by a modern death metal template. Which is why I used the radio station analogy because half of what they play in the first hour is similar to this. You've got your punishing and bludgeoning riffs with drum work like an artillery battery working overtime. The vocals are your average guttural variety with some harsh screams added.
For me I'd say the soloing work on here has a tech savvy element which pushes things beyond the ordinary. Personally I think there's a lot of NYDM meets Polish influence going on here. Both are good on their own but spliced together by this band makes it all sound more vicious. Songs like "Cantankerous Butcher", "Castrate the Perpetrators" and "The Coming of the Hammering" are definite favorites for me. But in the end this whole album is a great take on modern death metal.
LISTEN HERE:
https://depravitydeath.bandcamp.com/album/grand-malevolence-death-metal
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