Aided by the whimper of Whitechapel’s Mark of the Blade, once the genre’s flagbearer,  deathcore appears to be on a hard downswing. Even for me, a staunch fan of the genre, other than a hand full of EPs (Falsifier, Pathways) little has really blown me away recently or even over the last year or so. But here come Australia’s Aversion’s Crown to blow the lid off the genre and get me excited about deathcore again.

I recall 2014s Tyrants being a solid sci fi themed take on the genre, and the 3 headed guitar attack actually making you feel and hear there are three guitars. Well, the follow up, yet another sci fi/Alien themed release, absolutely destroys. I  mean figuratively and literally. The three pronged guitars command your attention during every breakdown. And what breakdowns they are. Planet cracking, black hole eating breakdowns. Just listen to ones that appear on “Cynical Entity”, “Stillborn Existence”,”Hybridization” “Misery” or the complete destruction that opens “Cycles of Haruspex”. And while breakdowns have become a derivative, almost self deprecating element of metal and deathcore, when done this effectively and this devastatingly, they are still one of metal’s most punishing arsenals.

And while certainly breakdowns are the focal point of the release, the band,  like many of their deathcore peers have some tech death metal lead in their pencil for the rest of the album, with plenty of competent blast beats and solos to bridge the utter destruction as heard on “Erebus”, “The Oracles of Existence” or  “The Soulless Acolyte” .

The band’s sci fi elements surface here and there with a few cyber/space whirs and beeps, some deeper more controlled moments (closer “Odium” being a prime example), ensure this isn’t just another dumbed down, breakdown only affairs for scene kids. This is grown up deathcore. Still, genre naysayers will still hate the inhaled vocals and screeches, and widdly blasts, but its not like those folks were giving this album a chance anyways.

While the genre certainly might be almost dead and buried, Aversion’s Crown and Xenocide is ensuring it goes (spin) kicking and screaming with one of the heaviest and best examples that the genre has seen since its inception.

[Visit the band's website]

---

Comments