REVIEW: Decayer - Shades of Grief [EP/2020]
Artist: Decayer
Album: Shades of Grief – EP
The mechanismsby which human beings process emotion are complicated both conceptually and inpractice. From an anatomic standpoint, several areas of the brain are involvedand are required to fire in a precise fashion to make “feelings” out of randomstimuli. These areas of the brain trigger an autonomic response—especially tofear, rage and sorrow—that are widespread across the body, affecting your heart,respiratory system, stomach, kidneys and more. However even in spite of theautonomic and neurologic mechanisms by which human emotion is made into an experience,that’s really only 5—maybe 10—percent of the battle. Much of human emotion is amatter of the spirit, soul, psyche, whatever extracorporeal guiding force onebelieves to help create sensation and feeling out of events and circumstance. Inthe scope of all it takes to experience, process and retain an emotion in responseto an event, Arizona deathcore outfit Decayer have used their discography—most notablytheir sophomore EP The Agony Cycle and forthcoming release Shades ofGrief—to expand on the notion of experiencing and processing emotion. Shadesof Grief does this masterfully, taking the listener on a journey throughanger, pain, sorrow and bitterness over its brief-but-blistering run time. Whileit stands as the band’s shortest contribution to their ever-growing discography,it also stands as far and away their strongest, an excellent example oftasteful, balanced and diverse deathcore with both substance enough to provokefeeling and energy enough to provoke visceral response.
If we’re beingvery honest, Cycles of Grief is a record that—for anyone who has heard aDecayer song before—can almost instantly be recognized as a Decayer record. Sowhy, then, does Shades of Grief stand as the band’s strongest release todate? In short, because even Decayer have never done their own sound this well.Across four furious tracks, the band expand on every aspect of their balanced,catchy deathcore amalgam, giving the listener both diversity and consistency inample amounts. Shades of Grief utilizes speed and intensity akin to adeathcore act, yet borrows bombastic, punchy and aggressive elements fromhardcore and metalcore aplenty—see “Talented Sun,” or “Cold Wind.” Here, the drummingoscillates between a non-stop fervor of blast-beats blended with whirlwindfills and catchy, punctual patterns that define two steps big and bouncy enoughto make a paraplegic get up and move. Other songs—“Nobody” for example—focus onthe kind of beefy, bold aggression that defined the band’s debut EP. Here,percussion strides a line of balance between flashiness and monotony while theband’s fretwork takes swings at the listeners head with low, brutalizing chugs.No aspect of Shades of Grief is necessarily technical, however plentyfeatures riffs and leads catchy and memorable enough to leave a lastingimpression on the listener, with “Nobody” and “Living Death” doing just that.The band’s guitars romp atop explosive percussion, keeping things simple enoughto catchy and fun, yet flashy enough to provide depth and density to the band’sbrief, blitzing display of deathcore dynamism.
Shades ofGrief finds extraordinary balance in its instrumentation—the kinds of whichDecayer have been experimenting to find since their debut—and in the same vein,the band’s vocal effort remains just as thought-out and dynamic. Includingeverything from low, guttural bellows to piercing shrieks and raw mid-rangeyells, Decayer’s vocal element is as diverse as one could want, with no onetrack sounding quite the same (a must for a four-track EP). “Nobody” isnon-stop aggression, fitting its instrumental canvas. Likewise, “Talented Sun”sees balance between sparsely included singing (an element experimented with intheir debut full length End Note) blended amid predominantly throat-rendingmid-range roars. The band’s vocalist exceeds in matching tone and intensity notonly to lyrical content, but to his instrumental canvas, making each track hithard and with purpose.
Decayer are adeathcore band—and while some elements on End Note might have seen themtrying to edge out of that mold, Shades of Grief sees them doubling downon the genre, putting their all into creating inventive, heavy and diverseexamples of the genre. Avoiding the pitfalls of End Note’s lack-lusterproduction, improving on the energy The Agony Cycle created, Shadesof Grief is a grisly, masterfully-executed display of deathcore that makesfour tracks feel as full and satisfying as a full-length release—without thefiller or monotony that often follows suit.
10/10
For Fans Of: Bodysnatcher, Osiah, The Green Leaves, Left toSuffer
By: Connor Welsh