It's Monday and Mondays suck, so let's grind it out with Depraver's Suffering in the Coffin.
I'm feeling a little more death metal today, how about you? Yeah, I know it's the Monday Grind and I'm primarily grindcore, but this week I think we need some brutality. And last week's P.L.F. was plenty brutal, so let's continue on that path.
If you've missed out on Depraver in the past, well, don't worry. It's been six years between EPs for the band. The California quartet hasn't lost any steam in those six years though. In fact, you'd hardly notice a difference in quality between A Crippling Crush and Suffering in the Coffin. A few years doesn't dull Depraver's blade. So, let's dive in.
Suffering in the Coffin is four fresh slices of death that thrash as much as they grind. If anything, Depraver has become little more grindy over the years. The band opens with the title track and immediately assaults us with a solid slab of old school death and grind. In fact, if you hadn't heard this before, you'd almost swear it sounds like Noisem on a Symphonies of Sickness kick. Throughout six-minutes Depraver, grinds, thrashes and blasts death like they chiseling out tombstones. And this is only the first track.
What's quickly apparent is that "Suffering in the Coffin" wasn't just a one-off. Every track on this EP crushes. "Cult of the Serpant" follows and thrashes its way onto your speakers. And thrash is the name of the game with this one. This is the most pure thrash track on the album. Hell, it even dips its heel into the helm of old school hardcore/punk for brief passages. Just enough to crack a wider grin on this old mug of mine. There's just no school like the old school.
"Faustian Apes" opens up with a little smattering of trumpet and then gets right back into deathgrinding thrash. Though the band keeps up on their thrash here, they fall back into the death metal feel of things just fine. The brutality steps up a bit, but when the track wants to rip some riffs, by the gods do they rip some riffs.
The EP closes out with "Bloodmoon Ascendent" and if Depraver hasn't sold you by now, well, death metal or thrash probably ain't your schtick. The shortest track on the record opens up without assaulting your eardrums too much. That is, until they start blasting and grinding like they're conjuring up some World Downfall. It's one more track of death/thrash/grind that goes out howling like a madman.
If you like old school thrash, death or grind, this has your name all over it. If you're not into old school thrash, death or grind, then you probably haven't heard Depraver. The sound is wet with blood and the band is only thirsty for more. With any luck, it won't be another six years before Depraver leave us entombed once more. Get this and get grinding.
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