Deadwater Drowning - Deadwater Drowning
2003 - Black Market Activities
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Black Market Activities website.
Surely the technical metalcore genre can't be that hard a musical style to diversify in? After all, with such vastly unique bands as The Dillinger Escape Plan and Ion Dissonance currently doing the rounds to general acclaim even outside of the typical hard/metalcore scenes, you'd have thought that more bands would be encouraged and inspired to forge their own path forward into the scene. So how does that explain the number of bands like Deadwater Drowning?
While not a bad release by any means, there isn't anything particularly new about any of the songs on this EP. Technical metalcore with the odd touch of grind and death metal, Poison The Well and Nora meeting Deicide for a fight, breakdowns, beatdowns and intricate bursts of dissonance mixed with murder-an-E-chord chug-a-thons - all very well played, all very well written, and all very heavy - but there's just nothing new here. The gang vocals in the admittedly awesome breakdown in My Fist, Your Face are a welcome addition, but still a staple of hardcore music in general. The vocalist's variety of voices (from near Will Rahmer-esque growl to throat-searing screeching) are also a point in the band's favour - but I hesitate to recommend a band even as accomplished as these when they fail to stand out particularly from the crowd.
5/10
2003 - Black Market Activities
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Black Market Activities website.
Surely the technical metalcore genre can't be that hard a musical style to diversify in? After all, with such vastly unique bands as The Dillinger Escape Plan and Ion Dissonance currently doing the rounds to general acclaim even outside of the typical hard/metalcore scenes, you'd have thought that more bands would be encouraged and inspired to forge their own path forward into the scene. So how does that explain the number of bands like Deadwater Drowning?
While not a bad release by any means, there isn't anything particularly new about any of the songs on this EP. Technical metalcore with the odd touch of grind and death metal, Poison The Well and Nora meeting Deicide for a fight, breakdowns, beatdowns and intricate bursts of dissonance mixed with murder-an-E-chord chug-a-thons - all very well played, all very well written, and all very heavy - but there's just nothing new here. The gang vocals in the admittedly awesome breakdown in My Fist, Your Face are a welcome addition, but still a staple of hardcore music in general. The vocalist's variety of voices (from near Will Rahmer-esque growl to throat-searing screeching) are also a point in the band's favour - but I hesitate to recommend a band even as accomplished as these when they fail to stand out particularly from the crowd.
5/10
