Deadwater Drowning
S/T
6.9
Firstly, Black Market Activities is a new label founded by members of The Red Chord (Guy Kozowyk) and Beyond the Sixth Seal (Adam Wentworth) so you know the style of music the label is promoting ain’t gonna be power metal. One of their first releases is this tasty 5 song EP from New Hampshire’s Deadwater Drowning. If you’re familiar with The Red Chord, Animosity or Forever is Forgotten, this band needs no introduction, as they play the same style of chaotic, hardcore based grind. Frenetic blastbeats, mammoth breakdowns, death metal vocals and off kilter song titles are all the M.O. of DD, and all are done very well. Surprisingly satisfying for an EP, this releases fulfills two purposes by firstly giving you a taster to the band and the label, and secondly, getting you salivating for a hopefully soon to come, full length album. The five songs are of decent length and there is absolutely no filler. Opening with the ravaging “Sleepwalking With a Knife”, DD burst into five minutes of tech heavy staccato blastbeats, a hint of metalcore melody and a huge breakdown. While not truly brutal grind in the vein of Cephalic Carnage, it’s still visceral enough to satisfy most fans, as the metalcore melody it pretty controlled in favor of a far more savage sound. The rest of the songs follow the same template, all with varying degrees of angry stuttering rhythms and seismic breakdowns, all very tried and true, but all exceptionally performed. “Getting Sentimental on That Ass”, probably has the best breakdowns of the bunch, and “Bliss From a Dead Embrace” is the EP’s deadliest overall cut with its brief acoustic overlay. But the mocking chorus and breakdown that ends “My Fist, Your Face”, is a psychotic exercise in vocal dynamics that offers a slightly different take to the genres normal spewing, even if the track is the albums most “melodic”. I’ve thought about it being my wake up call every morning when my alarm goes off (Listen to it-you’ll understand). The EP ends with the oddly named “The Best Sex I Ever had Started with a 900 Number and Credit Card Verification”. The song is a fine track, but further study of the lyrics shows a strained shift from the clichéd but well thought out “hardcore” themes to a suddenly gore drenched style of Autopsy worship. They lack the cynical depth and bite of the prior songs, and come across as more shallow and hackneyed. Still it doesn’t stop the song from having a killer melodic riff to end this tidy little slab of ferocious noise from ending on a high note. Throw in a perfect production that highlights the razor sharp highs and the teeth rattling lows, and you’ve got yourself a rising band, and a rising label, and both should be worth keeping an eye on.
