Reviews: Demonstealer, Depravity, Mors Vincit Omnia, Ocean Hills (Paul H, Paul S, Matt & Alex)

Demonstealer: And This Too Shall Pass (Self Released) [Paul Hutchings]

Now well into his third decade as an active musician, there is rarely a disappointment when you receive a new release from the Mumbai based death metal multi-instrumentalist Sahil Makhija aka Demonstealer. In amongst his solo releases, Demonstealer continues to promote extreme metal in his home country and across the globe. As well as releasing the excellent Dashavatar with his band Demonic Resurrection in 2017, a full-length solo  album The Last Reptilian Warrior arrived in 2018 and the man continues to do all manner of things, many of which you can follow on his active social media pages. And This Too Shall Pass maintains the high-quality output, this time with the aid of a crowd-funding campaign that Makhija personally set up in July. As with most music in this strangest of years, And This Too Shall Pass has been forged under lockdown. Unlike other releases, Makhija has been forced and decided to rely solely on his own skills to deliver this four track EP and a fine job he has done. “I guess this is me at my most vulnerable. It’s just me, no incredible musicians to back me up, just me putting my expression and feelings and thoughts into songs for the world to listen to” he says. Four tracks, all containing his unique, brutal, and explosive take on extreme metal. 

Opener This Crumbling Earth is a desperate call to arms, wrapped up under a tsunami of blast beats, ferocious riffs, and guttural roars. Demonstealer is not averse to swapping his vocal delivery and tempers the demonic delivery with some cleaner parts. It’s a maelstrom of extremity, like the bastard offspring of Gojira and Devildriver on speed. Pacing the frantic sections with calmer, but no less heavy segments also helps give the track a grand structure and it’s one of the best songs he has produced. Whilst he may be missing those special guests of previous recordings, there is little to be critical of here. The production is solid, the instruments blend well and I’d go as far as to say there’s a more organic feel to the EP. A Festering Wound could be applied to the whole of 2020, as could Systemic Failure. A keen observer of social factors, these tracks show once more how the metal world is so often more aggrieved at society and the blatant corruption around us than so many others. Arriving at the finale of this short release, we get to the heart on sleeve moment with From Flesh To Ashes. 

Clean vocals expose Demonstealer’s inner self in a way that the gruff singing doesn’t. A more gentle, open song, it still seethes with anger and threatens to flare up at any moment. It also demonstrates the variation that Makhija can apply to his music. He’s been through hard times, threatened to throw in the towel but comes back harder every time. Demonstealer’s music displays the blackened soul that lurks deep within a gentleman who has been a pleasure every time I’ve met him. Check this out. It’s well worth it. 8/10

Depravity: Grand Malevolence (Transcending Obscurity Records) [Paul Scoble]

Depravity have been brewing up a maelstrom of brutality since 2016. The Australian 5 piece have released one album before Grand Malevolence in 2018’s Evil Upheaval. The band is made up of Ainsley Watkins on Bass, Louis Rando on Drums, Lynton Cessford on Guitar, Jerrod Curley on Guitar and Jamie Key on Vocals. As you can probably tell from how I’ve already described them, Depravity play Death Metal, a particularly brutal and technical style of Death Metal. The Australians share a similar sonic palette with bands like Origin, Hate Eternal and Nile, so you can expect tight, complex riffs, intricate, highly technical drumming and horrifically nasty vocals. Most of the material on Grand Malevolence involves high speed blasting, dense, tight nasty riffs with thundering ultra fast drums. 

Opening track Indulging Psychotic Thoughts is a case in point, a collection of savagely fast and nasty riffs, the feeling of speed and inertia is palpable. There are very brief breaks from the fast riffing for slower and heavier riffs to join the party, but it’s mainly high speed. There is a similar feel to the track Barbaric Eternity which, if anything is even faster. However, having said all that there are several very effective breaks from the velocity. Trophies Of Inhumanity is mainly mid and low paced, with a pleasingly nasty dissonant edge. The track has a driving, relentless quality to it that is just as unpleasant as the blasting fast material, whilst also being heavy as fuck. The final track Ghosts In The Void has a similar feeling and is a brutally relentless way to end the album. As I mentioned earlier Depravity are a Technical Death Metal, so as you’d expect the technical virtuosity is highly impressive. 

The album is packed with great solos that are fast, complex and always appropriate to the song, there are some very good guitar harmonies as well. The Bass is very accomplished and works very well with the intricate and elaborate drumming. Grand Malevolence is a great piece of technical brutality. The material is brutal, pounding and nasty, whilst also being complex, dissonant and musically interesting. The album is very well realised, sounds great and stands up well when you compare it to the bands I mentioned at the beginning of this review. Highly Recommended! 8/10       

Mors Vincit Omnia: Fortunae Naufragium (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]

A one man Black Metal projects, very often the bane of the metal reviewer. So often they are tinny, miserable listening affairs where the often spooky monikered musician plays everything themselves and it's often produced in a bathroom. Occasionally, there is an exception to the rule, Mors Vincit Omnia (Death Conquers All) is one of those acts that break the mold. The solo project of Aeron from South Wales' Blackened Metal act Agrona, Fortunae Naufragium (Shipwreck Of Fortune) is his debut solo record and while it was recorded in his bedroom, by himself under his pseudonym, it is far removed from the countless other 'bedroom black metal' bands having one of the most abrasive, disturbing and ultimately satisfying extreme metal albums I've heard this year. 

Almost devoid of vocals with the exception of Descencus Averno (Hell Descends) which has Adara's (Agrona) banshee-like shrieks and echoed roars becoming an additional instrument rather than being a full vocal feature. The instrumental nature makes for a bleak listen, crafted throughout the early part of lockdown when the world was upside down, it's that uncertainty and fear that bleeds through this record. Walls of tremolo picked guitars and flaying double kicks bludgeon you on tracks such as Pulvis Et Umbra Sumus (We Are Dust And Shadow) and Eram Quod Es, Eris Quod Sum (I Was What You Are, You Will Be What I Am) but they are counterpointed by the pitch black atmospheric moments that come in on songs such as the closing malevolence of Aeternum Vale (Farewell) while the doomy opening of Cursum Perficio (My Journey Is Over) builds into the devastating extreme metal battery that is yet to come. 

Despite the raw home recording, which is not to its detriment at all, every composition has the kitchen sink thrown at, with the exception of possibly brass, it's got every kind of extreme metal sound you could wish for. The songs are enshrouded in an underlying bleakness that binds them together building on the claustrophobic feel that is this records modus operandi. Aeron takes his first steps out of the Agrona base with a disquieting, malevolent solo record that stands alone from Agrona in it's complexity and outright force. 9/10

Ocean Hills: Santa Monica (AFM Records) [Alex Swift]

US alternative rockers Ocean Hills, formed by the former frontman of hardcore punks ignite, perform what is essentially a blend of ultimately cynical rock n’ roll. This shocked me as I found ignite to be an exciting act - with great musicianship and powerful melodies, they were able to perfect a balance between grit and memorability that entranced the listener. Ocean Hills try and achieve something similar, taking their lead from classic rock this time. However, the melodies are lifeless, the songs poorly constructed and the instrumentation sparse. Opener Bound is complete with mediocre Millennial chanting yet becomes achingly dull as the lifeless harmonies do nothing to propel the listener into anything resembling a significant emotional state. The playing feels false, manufactured. If there’s a guitar on tracks like Death or Liberty or Vampire, it’s so buried beneath the avalanche of production trickery and synthetic nothingness that they might as well have not included the instrument. Infuriatingly, Ocean Hills think they have something to say with the dredge of sentimentality and forgettable atmospherics but there is not a significant side to the music on display here. 

Admittedly, the drums and bass feel real and not cooked up in a studio, but the rhythms are tiresome and lack attitude. The harmonies crawl at an inhumanly wintry pace – hey, even though I know that the chill vibe is what they were trying to achieve, the music is so chill that I feel encased in several layers of freezing cold ice. Actually, scratch that, being encased in a hard, cold glacial prison sounds preferable to giving Santa Monica another spin! Furthermore, this record is long. Listening feels like being clubbed over the head by a metaphorical sharp object that represents the worst clichés within both classic rock and mainstream pop. All the while my torturous hipster tormentor recites inspirational quotes, in an attempt to make the activity seem significant. Part of the problem is that with pieces like A Separate Peace and Angels Wings the experience gives me very little to say. Don’t get me wrong, this record is boring but doesn’t have the dignity to be dull in a passable way. No, it’s punishingly, aggressively, and painstakingly dull exuding ‘please, someone help me, I’m dying of boredom’ levels of tedium. And yet, for all of the boring music that exists in the world, I can’t imagine who on earth was asking for Ocean Hills to exist! 

It’s far too sappy and uninteresting to satisfy classic rock fans, too lacking in hooks to gratify listeners of pop, and definitely too lacking in energy to present the possibility of any prior fans of ignite getting on board! Hell, I bet some from the last category even found themselves checking out this new project from a frontman with a decent amount of vocal talent, only to be repulsed at how tame and inconsequential the entire experience proves. Take my word for it, avoid Ocean Hills. Whether you’re looking for atmospheric pop rock, a nod to the classics, something that leans into the best elements of the mainstream – I promise you won’t find your favoured style here. These musicians achieve nothing but to waste an hour of your time, while making you despair at the shallowness of quality in the process. Let’s all now forget this exists! 2/10