Day after day, new deathcore bands are popping up like Starbucks in populated cities, by the masses. But what sets apart innovators and repeaters? The shear inertia and drive shown by bands, no matter what the situation. And Depths is surely one of those bands.
Formed in early 2010 with their initial release, Where The Dead Lie, and what seemed like an onslaught of roadblocks such as line up changes and no real label help with their next EP, Resurgence, Depths is coming at you with their debut full-length on DeadBoy Records.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I received this album. From what I had read, I was expecting maybe a somewhat exciting deathcore album with typical elements of classic death metal, but boy was I wrong. These New Zealanders offersa giant range of genres on this album.
The opening track, “Sermon of Sanctimony”, is an ear-catching explosion of classic deathcore with influences like Oceano and Molotov Solutions. Influences that the only purpose is to crush ear drums with blast beats and disgusting lows delivered by vocalist Joshua Bain.
Revelation is almost a bit nostalgic of classic deathcore bands who started the scene with such definitive use of half-tempo completely and mindlessly heavy breakdowns as shown in the track “Of Soil and Brine”, as well as borrowing from ideas such as using the low tuning of 8-string guitars as well as haunting leads that would creep out Death himself. On top of all of that, Depths shows of their diversity on “The Damned” with blazing lead licks as if thought up of a demented alternate universe Baroque composer such as J.S. Bach. The Damned is one of the most interesting songs, and by far, my favorite.
With all the positive notes that comes from what I’ve said, this album does get a bit repetitive with consistent blast beating and static guitar movement, but for fans of the true deathcore experience, that will be no problem. Be sure to pick up Depths’ debut album, Revelation, when it drops world-wide on October 26th.
Links: Facebook – New Zealand Preorder
