The Decaying of Evolution

Here's a brief but fairly talented debut from a new Canadian band. They perform some brutal death grind but with a focus on tight song structures, and the occasional, quite sick break down groove.

The production here is killer, clean and bright and professional. The drumming is intense and the riffs are punchy and concise, whether they are chugging along or caught in up a speed picking frenzy. The vocals are brutal and sound great.

Unfortunately, despite the many strengths this band does possess, I didn't find the material to be quite catchy enough to re-visit. The breakdowns, while powerfully delivered, are still on the generic side, reminding me of metalcore bands like Earth Crisis or even the groove of Fear Factory. The final song on the album "Blinded Sphere" may have been my favorite with its frantic death metal riffs over the blasting and vocals, but they are all pretty much the same quality.

Despite finding the music mediocre, there is enormous potential with this band as they've got just about everything else perfected: production, musicianship, and energy. It's just a matter of finding the right songs and you're going to have a blazing new star in the realm of Canadian death metal. This is certainly better than the latest dreck released by Cryptopsy of Despised Icon.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Less than a minute into the first song, the impression of "damn, this is good stuff" came to me. The production is excellent, and everything comes through very clearly. Each member of the band definitely knows how to play their instrument, and this is rather amazing for a debut album that came three years after a mere two-song demo (which I haven't heard, admittedly). This is a very mature album, and I'm eager to see what Decrepity will come up with next.

There are some deathcore elements, yes, (some breakdowns and a pig squeal or two) but as a whole Decrepity are still death metal. There's an actual rhythm that persists throughout songs, which shows that the band is about more than just technicality or whatever other garbage most recent bands try to do. There's a slight lack of emotion here, but it's easily forgiven; the only potential problem is that the vocalist is on the flat side -- he doesn't stray far past a particular vocal range. In "Failed Reflection," he does some of those blackened death metal screams, but for the most part the vocals are basically the same.

The Decaying of Evolution is short, with six songs that never edge past the five-minute mark (with the exception of "A Fallen Illusion," which overdoes that by five seconds), but still an impressive effort from a practically-unknown band. There aren't really any stand-out tracks, but if you want an idea of the band just listen to the first track "The Decaying Of Evolution." As any title track should do, it's a fair representation of the entire album to a decent degree. There are slower parts that pop in occasionally, so this isn't a completely relentless assault against your ears, but personally I think that Decrepity could have stuck in an ambient intermission-type track somewhere. Still, I'm glad I found this album.

Are the members of Decrepity masters of their craft? Not really. But this is still a good album that's definitely worth a listen. I'd certainly buy it if I saw it sitting in a store for a reasonable price.