Review: “Drowning” by Indevth

“Nothing is permanent, there is only agony in the end” was the bleak tagline that accompanied the debut album “Cold” from Nu-Metalcore outfit Indevth back in 2021. The band had inked a deal with Famined Records for the release and issued no less than four pre-release singles as they created a blueprint for world domination that took them to the 10th anniversary of Tech-Fest last summer. There they shared the sage with heavy hitters like Chelsea Grin, Loathe and Born Of Osiris but in truth the band are no strangers to the road and have a reputation for an intense live show, each one a cathartic release of negative energy. Continuing the lyrical narrative of the aforementioned album, new EP “Drowning” finds the five piece dealing with themes of mental anguish, hopelessness and inescapable depression coupled with anxiety while expressing that these feelings won’t last forever and one should never suffer in silence…

…even though we have a tendency to assign genre tags to bands the reality is that the vast majority cross borders and boundaries within their sound on a song by son basis and Indevth are no different. Their introspective lyrical narratives have long held grit and integrity while sonically they’ve slid between Metalcore, Deathcore and Gloom Metal with the kind of negative energy that starts riots while offering a nod to contemporaries and peers like Alpha Wolf and Dealer. Picking up where the aforementioned “Cold” left off as it the band never left the studio, “Nothing Left” has at its beating black heart are a couple of curb stomping downtempo deathcore passages with some devastating gravely vocal lows that make you do a double take on the first spin… like you knew the band were heavy but where did that come from?! “Nails” then hits like the hammer in a foundry with the driving force of Kublai Khan as it swirls in ethereal darkness. Odd time signatures and slick tempo shifts keep you on your toes as battery acid nausea rises to reflect the lyrics, the play on silence between brutal staccato riff breaks giving constantly keeping the listener guessing. The guitar tone is immense like Buster Odeholm had his grubby paws on it (he didn’t), the nuanced moments where the bass rises out of the mix are the Chef’s kiss and the drum sound is as you would hope for a record like this… clean and crisp.

Unfolding like a psychological horror story “Lurk” dances around the brain steam as it plays on the darkest of fears, monsters hiding in the closet, under the bed and in the shadows waiting to play a game of torture with your very soul. A brutal cut that blends rap screams with bouncy Deathcore riffage, it takes a leaf from the book of Extortionist and The Last Ten Seconds Of Life stylistically and hits like a grand piano dropping on your skull from the 13th floor of an apartment building. There are no survivors. A dark programmed bridge in “Closer” gives a momentary reprieve from the lethal, groove laden riffs that give the cut a real cutting edge and on this evidence alone it shouldn’t be long before Unique Leader Records come calling. The intense heat of these cuts are unmatched, “Drowning” the final cathartic vent and title track bringing the bloodstained shower curtain down on the record as the band incite mosh pit violence one last time. A powerhouse record that is short and yet sickly sweat, it is enough to make you want to tear up your surroundings even on the first listen [8.5/10]

Track Listing

1. Nothing Left
2. Nails
3. Lurk
4. Closer
5. Drowning

“Drowning” by Indevth is out 15th March 2024