Here we have the eighth album from Perth’s black/gothic metal masters Deadspace. I’ve only made it to Perth once (it takes longer to fly there from Sydney than it does to fly to Sydney from NZ) and I found it a lovely vibrant city, but it is obvious these guys inhabit a much darker area than what I saw. Apparently, they started life as a depressive black metal outfit, but what we have here is quite raw and obviously contains some death influences as well, and it is a real shame that at times it is let down by a somewhat muddied production. Musically there is a lot of aggression and dissonance to bring us a world of chaos and disorder, but the production sometimes smooths the rough edges away and at other times coats them in mud, so we lose much of the impact.
When there is more clarity and space, which tends to be when there are no vocals and the band are not at full bore, there is the sure understanding that here is a band to look out for. I am not surprised to discover they have been going for more than a decade as there is a real professionalism and one wonders what would happen if they were picked up by a label as there is obviously something special going on, but there is not enough consistency in the overall sound for the band to make the impact they are obviously striving for. I am sure they are monsters in concert and can certainly see why they have played with so many well-known acts, but this never really gets to where it should be.
Rating: 6/10
