Despectus - Human Vices
For almost all of the first of these four songs, I thought that Despectus was one of the best Gothic Metal bands I had heard in a long time (not that I seek them out), and then Oksana Element switched from her beautiful clean singing voice and unleashed a surprising dose of raw Black/Death Metal vocals to close out the track. Holy hell! It’s amazing to me that anyone can be this good at two such disparate styles. The band keeps the sorrowful symphonic elements throughout the rest of the EP, expertly mixing them with more extreme riffs and drumming to match the perfectly raw vocals. It seems as if this combination of Gothic/Black/Death just could not work, but somehow this obscure Ukrainian band makes it natural and effortless, thanks to the outstanding songwriting and playing. And Human Vices is only their first release! Where can they go from this? Other than some minor flaws in the recording, the only complaint I can even find is that at 17 minutes, it’s over too fast and I want to hear more. I try my best to listen to new, unknown bands all the time, and a gem like Despectus is rare indeed. My mind is officially blown.
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