Band:	Depravity
Album:	Evil Upheaval
Style:	Death metal
Release date:	April 30, 2018
A review by:	nikarg

01. Manic Onslaught
02. Insanity Reality
03. Repugnant
04. Despondency
05. The Great Divide
06. Victimizer
07. Tormented
08. Evil Upheaval
09. Vile Defloration

Evil Upheaval is the debut album of Depravity, an Australian band that plays death metal. Of the good kind.

I like it when the cover art of a record reflects the music coming through the speakers. This is the case here because Evil Upheaval is an infernal monster, born of your scariest nightmares. It hits you hard and mercilessly for 40 minutes that are equivalent to eternal torture into the fiery depths of hell and swallows you whole in the end. The album's sound reminisces post-Covenant Morbid Angel, Suffocation and Immolation, so expect an assault of the senses with pure death metal mayhem. No gimmicks, no tricks, no softness, just fierce and evil bludgeoning.

Death metal is supposed to be the most extreme form of metal, yet the genre has evolved a lot, incorporating different and foreign elements to its established sound that sometimes blend in refreshingly and other times just come across as pointless or even ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, I admire experimentation and appreciate bands that stretch the boundaries of metal by exploring new grounds, but to me simplicity is a lot more appealing when there is fine songwriting to support it. Evil Upheaval is very non-experimental, but instead features blistering drums, horror-inducing riffs, vile growls and demonical double vocals in very well executed, blood-draining songs.

Despite its devastating brutality, the album is very technical with vicious grooves and dazzling solos scattered throughout. The frenzied drumming of Louis Rando (Impiety) is admirable and his skilled performance is enough to give this album a listen. There are also some more atmospheric and melodic parts to be found, like the middle section of "Insanity Reality" and the opening moments of "The Great Divide" and "Vile Defloration" that offer a bit of variety and add to the general claustrophobic feeling of the record. I would have liked some more of those to be honest, because they would have made the album sound less one-dimensional. But it seems that with Evil Upheaval Depravity wanted to create the soundtrack of being skinned alive, eviscerated and thrown into a pit of starving demons.

If you were left disappointed by Morbid Angel's Kingdoms Disdained last year and are experiencing withdrawal symptoms because Immolation are not expected to release anything new anytime soon, then Depravity's debut is what you need. Get your fix here.

"Evil Upheaval!
Idolise the flame,
And bask in the darkness eternal?"