2nd December 2024

Review: “Suffering Heritage” by Dwelled

Describing themselves simply as creating a “ferocious and unforgiving sound from the North of the UK“, Dwelled are a four piece Deathcore outfit who hail from Manchester, a region steeped in genre heritage and nicknamed “Slamchester“. Once they had settled on their line up of vocalist Matt Wall, drummer Matt Thompstone and guitarist duo Louis Jefferies and Sam Hunter at the end of 2023 they began writing, recording and playing shows, turning stages to sawdust with On Hollow Ground, Chaos Reigns and Steel Mage to name but a few. Now that they have road-tested their material, the four piece have committed it to tape with debut EP “Suffering Heritage” promising the boundless energy, burning aggression and blunt force trauma of their live shows…

If you haven’t witnessed Dwelled live then opening cut “Spineless” will blast any misconceptions of that they might sound like out of the water like a torpedo from a U-Boat in World War II. A powerhouse cut which flows between sinister mid-tempo Deathcore chug into a blast beat laden passage before slowing into downtempo groove with slick transitions, it hits harder than a brick to the skull in a building site fight. The band have some Nu-Metalcore influences in their locker from the Australian scene with some Alpha Wolf inspired moments in play as they charge headlong into traffic, use of the spoken words “Dwell on it” perfectly placed. Coming out swinging “Ripped Apart” has that DJent fuelled bounce in the riff bombardment, the spoken word in the mid section giving it a tasteful cutting edge with “Alien” era Northlane stylings that a sample loop of warped sounds enhances. The bludgeoning “Echoes” is a hammer blow, the savage uncleans sounding like the winds of plague from a demons throat, destroying everything in their path. As ever, variety is the spice of life and having those spoken word moments means the heavier parts hit harder, the blast beat and roar passage in the latter half of this so heavy it will take your breath away.

Dwelled have managed to capture their live energy like lightening in a bottle on this record and that only serves them well on cuts like the lethal “Otherside“. A cut which brings to mind Break Fifty as possible tour partners with the glitchy guitar moments and hard as nails breakdown orientated riffs, it is confirmation that a menacing and sinister atmospheric can take you a long way if the conditions are right. It may not be a concept EP as such but “Suffering Heritage” revolves around lyrics of fury, anguish, self-hatred and reflection and none more so than the would be title track “Suffer“. One with a melancholic atmosphere underneath the brutality, it offers a little light through the dark clouds overhead with a little more vibrancy in the guitars while maintaining the intensity of the preceding tracks. Finishing on a punishing breakdown section is a masterstroke that keeps the track short and yet oh so sickly sweet. A classic sonic oxymoron “Rivers Of Regret” finds Dwelled getting heavier in cathartic vent when your brain tricks you into thinking they should be mellowing out. To be fair they do have a couple of ambient moments in this one but that doesn’t stop it from slapping like a woman scorned [8/10]