Progressive Deathcore is
a generally more favored form of the genre thanks in part to its
stronger focus on technicality while maintaining the heavier aspects of
standard deathcore. This is further
pushed in popularity by the rise of djent in the last few years. So in steps
Italy’s Despite Exile, who fill out his description along with the likes of All
Shall Perish, Veil Of Maya, or the lesser known but still awesome Humanity’s
Last Breath.
Despite exile doesn’t do a whole lot to reinvent the wheel
on Re-Evolve, and the album isn’t one
that’s going to blow you away in terms of newness, but it does do a good job in
terms of lacing your ears with heavily downturned riffs and crushing
breakdowns. And not every album should be revolutionary, and nor should that be
expected of it.
While I personally feel 3 songs is not truly long enough to
fully get to know the band, these tracks do leave quite an impression. The
album begins with a drum piece that is quickly followed by a wall of sound that
doesn’t really relent throughout the rest of the album. The drums are
thunderous; the guitars have plenty of fast paced riffs lined with some
excellent lead work, and the vocals range from high screams to gurgled
gutturals. It’s an merciless whirlwind of brutality that might have actually
benefitted just a tad if they had incorporated some Ambience or quieter
sections to contrast their wall of death with, but still remains a very fun
listen overall.
One thing I enjoy is that the songs do feel connected both
in tone and lyrics. I’m not sure if there’s an actual story or concept to the
album, but I felt an overall theme of feeling trapped, whether it be
psychologically or physically, and trying to escape. The lyrics are pretty
poetically written and make for an interesting read while listening to the
album. Each song keeps a similar pace of rather fast, which is both expected
for a metal album, but also really fitting for this album because it helps you feel
a sense of needing to move quickly.
As much as I like the band, I feel that others may just lump
them in with the rest of the up and coming djenty deathcore bands for one
because that market has been flooded with other bands since the advent of ‘do
it yourself on your PC and it can sound like a $50,000 production’ which makes
it hard to stand out as a droplet in an ocean, and for two because a short EP
isn’t a whole lot to listen to. It’d be unfortunate for people to pass over
these guys but I think with some fine tuning and maybe a little more
experimentation and development of their own sound things could go very well
for this band, and I hope that’s the truth. I hope these guys get enough
support to put out a full length album at some point.
You can listen to their album now over at their bandcamp, so be sure to check them out!
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