I discovered Birth of
Depravity via Inherited Suffering Records. When I saw the fantastic album artwork, I was expecting something similar to
Inherit Disease or
Spawn of
Possession. But I also knew that Inherited Suffering is primarily known for its fantastic brutal death and death grind bands, my favorite being
Ezophagothomia. But when I finished listening to the album, it turns out that I couldn’t put this record in either of those categories! What I found was an underground traditional death metal band. It’s not brutal enough to go in the same category as
Devourment and
Hate Eternal, and FAR from being technical enough to share space with
Brain Drill and
Obscura. So since I can’t really put them anywhere else, when people ask me what kind of music Birth of
Depravity plays, I just say “death metal”. As pointless and miniscule as this may seem, this was actually a big deal for me because I hadn’t heard a NEW and UNDERGROUND pure death metal band since I heard Heresiae’s self-titled EP last year.
And when I look at all the bands I have in the death metal section, most of them are the essentials and classics like
Immolation,
Morbid Angel, Grave,
Autopsy,
Vader,
Obituary, etc.
So in other words, if you’re looking for a new band that plays a modernized version of pure death metal, Birth of
Depravity MIGHT be just what you need! Ok, there are both plenty of pros
AND cons that I have to say about this record, so I’m going to list the pros first because I need something to put me in a better mood (I’ve had a long day). The overall sound production of the album is VERY similar to
Disentomb’s Sunken Chambers of
Nephilim. It has a small amount of treble, and the mid-ranges and bass are turned way up. So if you need something to listen to on those shitty earbuds of yours that doesn’t hurt your ears with all the treble, this album is PERFECT for that because the treble is not overpowering at all and the sound is very thick and heavy.
The vocalist definitely has a talent for doing some of the deepest exhales I’ve ever heard. They sound a lot like the INHALED growls the
Disentomb vocalist does on their debut album. But damn, this guy’s growls have a very clean, moist, and DEEP sound that really intensifies the darkness of the music. Although screaming in death metal can definitely sound cool, there are certain bands that require the deepest growls possible (like
Immolation and
Bloodbath). Birth of
Depravity’s music definitely has a very dark and menacing sound.
And the perfect element to really make that darkness stand out is deep growls.
The drummer also has TONS of technical skill. He does fall out of time here and there (not a good thing AT ALL), but he does a great job of adding an unrelenting amount of brutality to the music to give them more of an underground vibe. The drums aren’t overpowering at all; in fact, they’re almost behind everything else. Obviously, there are plenty of cases where the drums need to be front and center, but in this album, the drums are in the perfect place, working as the skeleton holding the other musical elements together.
Ok, here’s the problem I have with this band: their songs are unorganized and THEY ALL SOUND THE SAME! It’s nearly impossible to tell the individual songs apart. There’s usually AT LEAST some kind of lead riff or drum solo or SOMETHING in each song to help the listener tell them apart; but this album has none of that!
And it’s fucking pissing me off! NO, slapping a random recording at the beginning of the song doesn’t count! Also, the sound of the album gets very boring by the time you get past the fifth song and eventually gets irritating. I don’t mind long songs (my favorite band is
Opeth for fuck’s sake!), but this thing sounds like one song cut up into ten individual sections, not an album. The album loses its edge very quickly and loses its flavor even quicker. This is such a huge disappointment because I was so excited by the time the first four songs finished because they actually sounded cool.
This band has so much potential, but they express next to no creativity in this album at all, which leaves it for the pure death metal fans to like it the most. But don’t get me wrong, this is a good record to add to the old death metal collection, but it’s nowhere near a classic or an amazing album. I would rate this album 13/20.
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