Thursday 21 January 2016

Deadspace - The Promise Of Oblivion


Tracklist:-

1. The Promise Of Oblivion
2. With Tears Of Callous Lust
3. I'll Buy The Rope
4. The Clouds Won't Shade The Pain
5. Oblivion
6. Schadenfreude
7. Pain's Grey
8. In The Coldness Of The Darkest Night

When I was putting word out about my recent digital compilation, I received a message from Australian black metal band Deadspace saying they wanted to be on it. Later on when I was doing some blog admin (yes I do try and stay organised, though it may not seem like it sometimes), I saw a promo for their debut full-length. Deadspace started playing depressive black metal in 2014 and in the same year they released a collaborative split with fellow Australian dark ambient entity Onomy. The Promise Of Oblivion was released a year later by Winterwolf Records. They have links to death metallers Sanzu and they've been feature on a Terrorizer mag covermount CD recently. 

While Deadspace identify as being a depressive black metal band, their music is actually so much more than that. It’s laced with ambient textures like the piano during the opening title-track. The dramatic lead guitar and the rasping screams add to a sound that contains plenty of original characteristics, instead of a band merely following a well-trodden blueprint. With Tears Of Callous Lust is incredibly vicious yet sombre. The themes raining through the album relate to death and suicide and that becomes more obvious with I’ll Buy The Rope. In spite of that imagery and subject matter, Deadspace elect to keep their songs briefer than you’d expect for the most part. There’s no wishy washy build ups and the production is vibrant, instead of being thin. Deadspace do switch gears occasionally and in the case of The Clouds Won’t Shade The Pain,  it’s a slower one. The minimal instrumental backdrop and screams that sit within that music sounds very atmospheric. It builds in volume mid-way through and with that increase comes something more akin to post-hardcore/rock, for a time. Following a brief pause, the sample festooned Oblivion paints a bleak picture that’s back up by ambient noise and lowly keys, The use of melody on The Promise Of Oblivion is understated yet it adds a subtle sensitivity to music that would otherwise be a tough listen. The progressive elements that flourish during Schadenfreude give hints to the skill of the musicians involved in Deadspace. I was in a trance the whole way through Pain’s Grey only to be awakened the jarring feedback at it’s conclusion. It was a dreamy trance though. Deadspace round out the record with In The Coldness Of The Darkest Night and return to the shadows (musically speaking). It’s only right that this holds the accolade of being the album’s longest song, but with it comes a song full of grace and musical thought, once again in the form of impressive lead guitar work. It’s stark contrast to what you though you knew about depressive black metal. Deadspace is one of those rare bands that defies criticism based on the sheer fact that they’re breathtaking. I will certainly be telling every music loving friend I know about this band and this album. They deserve the attention for being what and who they are. Brilliant indeed!

You can stream and purchase The Promise Of Oblivion in CD or digital form here:-



Deadspace Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/deadspacecollective/
Winterwolf Records Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/winterwolfrecords666

Also, you can download With Tears Of Callous Lust for free, along with tracks from 24 other bands by downloading my digital compilation here -

https://thisnoiseisours.bandcamp.com/album/reverberations-vol-2

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