(written by Islander)
It’s always a pleasure to adorn our page with a painting by Paolo Girardi, especially when it’s as monstrously grotesque as the one that leaps off the cover of Depravity’s new album, Bestial Possession.
It’s also always a pleasure to re-connect with the music of this Australian death metal band, which we’ve been covering in our articles beginning in 2011, and to host a premiere of their songs (today’s is our fourth Depravity premiere since 2016).
It’s been a bit of a wait since our last encounter with Depravity, due to the five-year gap between their last album (Grand Malevolence) and this new one. But in the case of Depravity, it’s true that absence makes the heart grow fonder, assuming one is fond of getting musically mauled and mangled.
Speaking of which, the song from Bestial Possession that we’re premiering today is named “Awful Mangulation“.
Depravity pack a whole hell of a lot of horrifying mayhem, exhilarating madness, and foul morbidity into these three and a half minutes. As expected, they display a lot of technically impressive but vividly demented fireworks, as well as rapid tempo changes, sudden shifts in mood, and utterly monstrous vocals.
They bolt from the starting gate at high speed, assaulting the listener with hyper-speed machine-gun drumming and berserk riffing that almost simultaneously drills, writhes, and squirms. Deploying an array of tones and speedy tremolo’d fretwork, they create audio visions of vicious insect swarms and crazed blood pulses, segmented by swift jackhammer-like blows and a shrill, swirling, and squalling guitar solo that’s eye-popping when it freakishly spurts out of the mayhem around it.
Madness and mutilation reign supreme until about the 2:40 mark when Depravity downshift their gears and convert the music into a lurching, moaning, and miserably oozing sonic beast, while still percussively brutalizing listeners and continuing to inflict gruesome gutturals most foul.
On top of all that, the production quality hits a sweet spot that balances clarity and separation with filthiness and ferocity. Welcome back Depravity!
DEPRAVITY is:
Louis Rando (Impiety, The Furor) – Drums
Lynton Cessford (Iniquitous Monolith) – Guitar
Jamie Kay (ex-The Ritual Aura) – Vocals
Ainsley Watkins (ex-Scourge) – Bass
Jarrod Curley (Pathogen) – Guitar
Bestial Possession will be released by the esteemed Transcending Obscurity Records on November 21st, on vinyl LP, jewel case CD, cassette tape, and digital formats. As usual, they’re also providing a range of other merch and bundles for the album, and they recommend it for fans of Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Deicide, Hate Eternal, Hour of Penance, Nile, and Demiurgon.
Find more info via the links below, and then continue to get mangled by listening to the first two singles from. the album, “Call to the Fallen” and “Rot in the Pit“.
PRE-ORDER:
https://depravitydeath.bandcamp.com/album/bestial-possession
http://transcendingobscurity.aisamerch.com/
http://eu.tometal.com/
DEPRAVITY:
https://facebook.com/Depravitydestroy
https://instagram.com/depravityaus