Review of Victim of Depravity - The Contradiction

Fans of the so called down tempo deathcore movement such as The Acacia Strain, Restrains, Portrayer,  Osiah, Extortionist,  Endings, Overthrower and of course, Calmed By The Tides of Rain take note of this band and release. Heck, it even features a guest vocal performance from CBTTOR vocalist Artyom, and they hail from Russia as well.

Boy is this heavy and although the band clearly want to sound like their hefty country mates, they add just enough to be different but creating the same utterly devastating feel. And I mean devastating; the self produced (at Anthropocide studio) Sis simply punishing with every loping burly mid paced breakdown and lurch having earth shattering heft, despite its simple pace and formula.

The slightly different elements that make these guys stand out though is the addition of some really nice melodies amid the heft and, to my surprise, two tracks that contain some really well used female vocals. So in conjunction with the typical mouth full of dental cotton bellows, they make for a couple of evocative deathcore ballads of sorts; “Your Truth” and “Legacy”, while similar, are the album’s two standouts because of the female vocals which really add another dimension and have a real beauty and the beast feel while the crumbling down-tuned riffs are causing a swathe of destruction in the background. Very cool.

The rest of the 13 short but often debilitating, brown note based tracks are more simple but everso effective CBTTOR styled destruction; slow and steady pummeling riffs and ridiculous bass drops that resonate and reverb with tangible heavy-ness that will rattle speakers and fillings alike. It’s the complete opposite of the large amount of tech death I’ve been cramming in my ears as the likes of “Identity”, “Fate”, “Eyes Off”, “Slave”, “Temptation” and “Victim of Depravity” (featuring CBTTOR’s Artyom) are just simple, lurching, deathcore breakdowns played at a snails pace.

Throw in just a few strands of understated emotion and melody (i.e the somber acoustics that back “At the Depth”, “Identity”, “Forgotten” and the two aforementioned female vocal laden tracks), and I’m really surprised at the quality of this DIY release in that it adds pure base level heft with some elements I would not usually expect in the style and genre. Good stuff and a very nice surprise from out of the blue courtesy Mother Russia.