Despite Exile - Re-Evolve

Progressive Deathcore is  a generally more favored form of the genre thanks in part to its stronger focus on technicality while maintaining the heavier aspects of standard deathcore.  This is further pushed in popularity by the rise of djent in the last few years. So in steps Italy’s Despite Exile, who fill out his description along with the likes of All Shall Perish, Veil Of Maya, or the lesser known but still awesome Humanity’s Last Breath.

Despite exile doesn’t do a whole lot to reinvent the wheel on Re-Evolve, and the album isn’t one that’s going to blow you away in terms of newness, but it does do a good job in terms of lacing your ears with heavily downturned riffs and crushing breakdowns. And not every album should be revolutionary, and nor should that be expected of it.

While I personally feel 3 songs is not truly long enough to fully get to know the band, these tracks do leave quite an impression. The album begins with a drum piece that is quickly followed by a wall of sound that doesn’t really relent throughout the rest of the album. The drums are thunderous; the guitars have plenty of fast paced riffs lined with some excellent lead work, and the vocals range from high screams to gurgled gutturals. It’s an merciless whirlwind of brutality that might have actually benefitted just a tad if they had incorporated some Ambience or quieter sections to contrast their wall of death with, but still remains a very fun listen overall.

One thing I enjoy is that the songs do feel connected both in tone and lyrics. I’m not sure if there’s an actual story or concept to the album, but I felt an overall theme of feeling trapped, whether it be psychologically or physically, and trying to escape. The lyrics are pretty poetically written and make for an interesting read while listening to the album. Each song keeps a similar pace of rather fast, which is both expected for a metal album, but also really fitting for this album because it helps you feel a sense of needing to move quickly.

As much as I like the band, I feel that others may just lump them in with the rest of the up and coming djenty deathcore bands for one because that market has been flooded with other bands since the advent of ‘do it yourself on your PC and it can sound like a $50,000 production’ which makes it hard to stand out as a droplet in an ocean, and for two because a short EP isn’t a whole lot to listen to. It’d be unfortunate for people to pass over these guys but I think with some fine tuning and maybe a little more experimentation and development of their own sound things could go very well for this band, and I hope that’s the truth. I hope these guys get enough support to put out a full length album at some point.

You can listen to their album now over at their bandcamp, so be sure to check them out!