25th January 2022

Review: “Origins” by Depleted Uranium

Over the past decade or so Depleted Uranium have been fusing together Math Metal and Power Violence from their Toronto, Ontario home as a collective of friends and former band mates. As the title suggests, “Origins” is a piece of work comprising material written ten years ago when the band first got together, a history of who they are, where they came from and a prequel to their self tiled album. A statement of youth being dissatisfied with the reality in which they find themselves with a strive for personal freedom and desire to follow their own path, this one is more than the sum of its collective parts…

…loaded with tension and as mathematically precise as a laser guided missile, the work of Depleted Uranium has always been vitriolic, violent and chaotic while yet at the same time delivered with unflinching accuracy. Like the early works of The Dillinger Escape Plan, there is a certain amount of getting used to the bands approach because while on the surface at first listen it might sound like absolute bedlam and a train wreck waiting to happen, underneath there is so much more. A lethal dose of Canadian hatred, each track is a short sharp shock that rattles off like a burst from an Uzi submachine gun without compromise or care for its surroundings. The breakneck speed at which each cut is delivered means that there is no room for error and no hiding place, it has to be perfectly executed to the nth degree or it all falls apart faster than a humanity during an apocalypse. The longer cuts are perhaps the more listenable but no less abrasive or brain hemorrhage inducing with “Counter Balance” having a sense of Post Hardcore melody underneath its brutal exterior, while “Deficiencies” could be a rough demo from a band a band like Converge, a swirling cathartic energy release in its purest form, both darkly beautiful and disgustingly filthy at the same time. A hellish bullet ricochet that won’t let go, “Open Wound Diaries” is a fearsome and yet addictive white knuckle ride that simply won’t let go and if you’re lucky enough to snap up one of the physical editions then you’re in for a treat with the demo that is “Percentages“, a cut that takes Noise Metal to a whole new level of earache. Just because it’s old doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of life left in it [7/10]

Track listing