Ok, here’s another one of those promos I get, where the ‘FFO/For Fans Of” is just too good to be true – like someone was in my head when they wrote it.

In the case of Depravity, the debut album from Belgian newcomer Slaughter the Giant, where bands like The Black Dahlia Murder, At The Gates, Fleshgod Apocalypse, and Obscura are thrown into the FFO part of the promo. And I’ll be damned if other than the Obscura reference- it’s pretty fucking spot on.

This is 100% melodic death/black metal with clear influences from The Black Dahlia Murder’s less blackened material (cemented by the multiple shirts on display in the video below I’d say) and certainly, At the Gates’ hack ‘n’ slash style of melodic death metal. Raspy, shrieking vocals, clear/crisp guitar tone and razor-sharp riffs, are the main components and the Fleshgod Apocalypse influence comes from the generous but not constant use of orchestral keyboards. So it’s not up there with Dead World Reclamation‘s full-on TBDM with synths sound, but more than say Carrion Vael‘s recent TBDM worshiping album. I’m not sure when the Obscura reference came from here at all.

Right from the opening title track, everything I described above is immediately on display with a dramatic orchestral choral intro setting the mood before a pure ATG styled gallop explodes from the speakers. The next 8 songs deliver similar enjoyable results for a compact 32 minutes of feral, snarling modern melo-death layered with very well-done orchestral elements here and there. And the whole album rips pretty hard from start to finish, with nary a let-up other than the orchestral intros and outros or brides in the songs.

As well as |”Depravity”, in particular, the likes of “Compliance”, “Co-ed Butcher”, “Ritual Abuse”, and more restrained but epic “The Undead” are the standouts from 9 tracks of pretty consistently good, fun, easily digestible stuff. And certainly, if you want even more TBDM or ATG worship, you could do worse, and the orchestral elements, especially for me, considering what albums I’m enjoying in 2022, really elevate things nicely. Nice job lads- looking forward to more!

[Visit the band's website]

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