Genre : Modern deathcore
Released : February 24th, 2023
Label : Unique Leader Records
FFO : Thy Art Is Murder, Brand Of Sacrifice, Darko (US), Distant
If I'm being honest, deathcore has pretty much lost most of its appeal and novelty for me personally over the past years, despite it being what got me into extreme metal in the first place.
A lot of it just feels like a soulless regurgitation of the same formula over and over again with varying degrees of extremity and attempts at originality and I've just gotten fed up with it for the most part really.
Even Australian deathcore outfit To The Grave, who have been active for over a decade now, seem to agree that «Deathcore is dead» in the breakdown call-out of their spiteful track "Cut off the Head" taken from their newest album, in which it seems they have an axe to grind with other artists of the scene.
Ironically though, "Director's Cuts" joins the thinning ranks of recent albums made by bands who are still able to bring something actually worthy of attention to the deathcore conversation and keep the sub-genre relevant and somewhat fresh.
Granted, "Director's Cuts" doesn't reinvent deathcore or extreme metal but it does offer a spin on it that isn't either overly-excessive to the point of self-parody, or a pale copy of deathcore's former glory with nothing new to add.
Elements of progressive metalcore, symphonic black metal, industrial trap and beatdown all coated in a heavily downtuned djenty style with production that highlights its pummeling efficiency make "Director's Cuts" a brutalizing experience.
Add to that some great performances, especially the versatility of Dane Evans's vocals who sound absolutely demonic without ever dipping into gimmicky territory, as well as the hyper-violent, confrontational anti-meat industry/animal cruelty message at the core of the record, and you've got yourself an engaging deathcore album that puts actual purpose behind its desire to project barbaric violence both in sonic and thematical form.
If you have to only listen to one deathcore album in 2023, make it this one.
