My love for Australian Death Metal started in the 90s when I first heard Abramelin’s first album. Australia has produced so many great bands from Abramelin, The Amenta, The Berzerker to Portal. The latest album from Depravity does not change my thinking of this great country and their amazing contribution to extreme music.
The album starts off with an ominous spoken intro and then gets straight to business. You would think you were listening to a Floridian band, but far from it. The extremity and technicality is not overplayed. Everything is done to perfection. From crystal clear production of all instruments, and a great vocal performance. The lead guitar work and atmosphere reminds me of the last two Deeds of Flesh albums, which is not a bad thing. On the contrary, it is fantastic.
Everything has its place in this album. It is heavy, brutal, technical and very atmospheric in parts. Nothing on this album stays over its welcome. Everything is paced well and very precise. Depravity does nothing to reinvent the wheel, but what they do, they do it to perfection. This is one album that will be in my playlist for a very long time to come.
From being a death metal veteran, I have seen the birth of death metal, the stagnation of death metal during the beginnings of the second wave of black metal to the gracious return of the almighty music we call death metal, I have to say that this album deserves much praise. Death metal perfection is difficult in this very oversaturated market, but man! What an album! Australia, you have outdone yourselves again! (Pazuzu)
