PRESS I first found out about Denounce a couple of years
ago when I was attempting to put together a gig at The Cartoon in
Croydon. Unfortunately the gig was cancelled at the last minute and
the venue was closed down, but my interest in Denounce didn’t falter. A precursor to Denounce's upcoming album, Deep
Wood, Shallow Grave, this demo makes for an impressive taster.
Denounce's brand of death metal owes an obvious stylistic debt
to thrash. Complex and crushingly heavy riffs are regularly interspersed
with brief melodic lead breaks. The band play as a cohesive unit
and it is clear thata lot of work has gone into arrangement, to
maximise the impact of the material. Bring on the full album! Denounce may be one of the best kept secrets the
metal underground is hiding right now. With a professional sound
and chops to spare, this UK based band plays a blistering form of
metal based on rapid fire riffs with a melodic edge. The easiest
way to describe the band would be a cross between thrash and Swedish
death metal. It's a perfect combination of American heaviness and
Swedish finesse making Denounce one of the best bands playing this
style right now.
With metalcore undoubtedly destined
to be the next fad to be swept under the shit-stained mattress,
Denounce have their work cut out for them. However, what they do,
they do very well; the band are obviously competent musicians,
blessed with a gifted vocalist in Greg Cole, who sounds just like
Carcass' Jeff Walker. And therein lies the problem. They need to
move further away from their influences to stand a chance of being
taken seriously as a class act. Time will tell. This 5 piece from Gravesend show plenty
of Eastern promise. Scott “Axegrinder” Atkins of homegrown
heroes Stampin Ground has produced this 5 track EP. So, trusting
my old mates judgment I figure I must be in for a treat. This 5 piece southern English band return with a 5 track here that looks very well advanced from their previous, already promising release. 'Hypochristian' certainly backs up this professionalism and is a top class, sharp edged melo-death swedish style song, packed with cool riffs, Carcass-esque gritty vocals, a strong production and tight playing. This standard is kept up throughout and closes with my own favourite 'Sewn silent' which seals the comparisons to Arch Enenmy, At the Gates (mostly 'Terminal Spirit Disease' era) and the like. There is also a more metalcore edge, towards Darkest Hour and Zao, especially in the closer. Denounce are certainly about the best
of the UK bands doing this kind of thing and hopefully an album
is next on their agenda. Wow!
This is in yer face Metal which comes at you like a smack in the
face with a baseball bat. There´s five tracks on this EP
and there´s just no let up in the music department. The only
downer for me were the vocals which I thought could have been louder
in the finished production. The lyrics are great - It´s just
a shame that the vocalist wasn´t give the opportunity to
get them as spot on as the music. Tracks to listen to are ´Flesh
And Blood´ and ´Hypochristian´ which were the
best ones on this EP for me. A band to look out for. (Self Financed)
7.5/10
I met the drummer from Denounce recently whilst out in the Czech Republic for the Obscene Extreme festival and what a jolly nice bloke he seemed to be. That, in no way shape or form has biased me in my review though! No mates favours round these parts! That said, and honestly too, this is a solid EP from the Southern England lads, who have clearly listened to plenty of At The Gates in their time. Certainly vocally and musically it is a noticeable influence, and overall reminds me of The Year of our Lord, one of the better of the ATG compared bands. Denounce certainly don’t fully rely on them as sole influence, and there are some cool ideas of their own in the breaks, vocal patterns and deliveries and song direction changes. If you like your Iron Maiden-esque melodies you should check out ‘Hollow solvent solitude’ which is a decent song in its 6 minutes life, that also checks in with the straight up metalcore bands along with heavy metal aplenty. I
think if they take a screwdriver to the whole thing and tighten
it up throughout the band, and add a bigger production on the
next recording, they are going to be a recognised force in the
UK extreme scene, as there is plenty of goodness on show that
crosses quite a few genres. Their music to me possesses natural style and the relentless energy needed in order to set them apart from the rest in their chosen genre... I saw this band live a few weeks ago when I caught their headlining slot at The Red Lion, (otherwise known as Leos Red Lion), in Gravesend and I have to say it makes this reviewer pretty happy to be writing about a talented band from my hometown, where I’m especially grateful to Denounce for making waves in this little musical no-mans-land we all don’t like to call home! Denounce are heavy, and in my opinion are also at the top of their ‘hate game’ when it comes to the thrash metal genre. I’ll get this out of the way now because if you like your metal on the lighter side of heavy then you may not appreciate the sound as this band are not going to be gentle with you, however I feel that’s a large part of their appeal as the thrash metal scene has needed new blood for a long time now due to it hitting a slump over recent years, resulting in carbon-copy hell. This band is setting a new standard, and although I don’t see them appealing to a mainstream audience, those who love their metal heavy will be more than satisfied. Their music to me possesses natural style and the relentless energy needed in order to set them apart from the rest in their chosen genre. This EP entitled “The Inner Workings of the Hate Game” contains 7 tracks that prove they aren’t your typical ‘screecher’ band, this music has class, it has balls, and I feel they have staying power based on those strengths, which is important when discussing a niche market such as extreme metal. What impressed me most was the guitar work; it blew me away! Dave Irving and Jamie Turton must have shot out of their respective mothers wombs holding Gibson Les Pauls in their hands, they’re only in their twenties yet I heard triple that experience on this CD! Their band mates deserve a mention too as drummer Dave Falstead more than helps to keep up the pacing along with bassist Rhymes, who together make up a class act when joining forces for the timing of each track. We then have Greg Cole keeping things thrashy with his unique vocal sound, penning many of the bands songs and proving himself to be a competent lyricist, and in a live situation an entertaining front man as well! My
favourite songs from this CD were “On Cold Skin” and
“Hollow Solvent Solitude” as they show off each of
the band members varied talents and really stood out to me as the
listener. If you like your music on the heavy side of heavy then
you’d better check this band out, but there’s no rush
because I have a feeling this is just the beginning for Denounce
who could easily carve out a solid career for themselves in their
chosen genre as long as they remain unique.
An
all encompassing haunting mix of death and pain delivered with
single-minded rhythm and riffs to drool over. Moments of driven
clarity and focussed metal peaks give the band a youthful and
fresh place in their heavy genre. The song Hollow Solvent Solitude
has you racing for the guitar mimicking motion in full appreciation.
Intelligent compilation and penetrative vocals within all the
songs means you just don't get bored with this stuff, unlike
other more generic offerings in our era. This is a band that
could run with the flag and stand proud in the field of Extreme
Metal. Heavy
Heavy Heavy. Denounce are somewhat of a rising star and an underground
favorite among the thrash community. Vocals are death, but not
in the deep, "am I belching or singing?" style. More
of a higher-pitched sound (close to black metal, but not quite).
The songs available on myspace are head banging solid songs,
with strong riffs and thrash sections throughout. The drums,
as would be expected, are fast and hard hitting, though manage
to showcase enough variation so as not to sound redundant, however
the real attraction to Denounce is their guitar work. Metal heads
are undeniably going to devour these tracks in an instant, evil
and bloody and undeniably delicious. With
influences ranging from Nasum to At The Gates to Immortal, Denounce
display a fairly eclectic melding of bombastic Hardcore and Thrash.
They've shared the stage with Hecate Enthroned, among others.
Make room in the UK Metal Underground. Denounce are coming. |
