{"id":195811,"date":"2025-11-23T10:16:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T10:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/195811\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T10:16:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T10:16:19","slug":"depravity-bestial-possession-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/195811\/","title":{"rendered":"Depravity – Bestial Possession Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Since the release of Evil Upheaval<\/a> in early 2018, I fell head over heels for Aussie death metal quintet Depravity<\/strong><\/strong>. Evil Upheaval always going to be a difficult debut to follow, but Grand Malevolence<\/a> did its very best and largely matched the debut\u2019s sheer heft and vicious energy. Five long years spans the gap between then and now, with third salvo Bestial Possession, threatening to pummel me into dust. Little does Depravity<\/strong><\/strong> know how badly I want it.<\/p>\n

As if in smug answer to my \u201cpummel me harder\u201d challenge, Bestial Possession penetrates every pore of my body with wild abandon and zero concern for my internal organs. What I knew and loved from the brutal Evil Upheaval and the twisted Grand Malevolence coalesces here, forming a new evolution of Depravity<\/strong><\/strong>\u2019s sound that is at once devilishly cunning and fabulously infectious. A mangled amalgam of Cannibal Corpse<\/strong><\/a> bloodthirst, Immolation<\/strong><\/a> muscularity, and early Morbid Angel<\/strong><\/a> velocity, Depravity<\/strong><\/strong>\u2019s sound is familiar but instantly recognizable. The trick there is twofold. Firstly, Jamie Kay\u2019s addicting vocal cadence and tonal attributes provide a singular voice that sets Depravity<\/strong><\/strong> apart from the crowd. Secondly, guitarists Lynton Cessford and Jarrod Curley exhibit an uncanny ability to splice, fold, and connect tightly packed riffs together through kinky time signatures that snap my spine as easily as they trip me up (\u201cEunuch Maker,\u201d \u201cBlinding Oblivion\u201d).<\/p>\n

Bestial Possession by DEPRAVITY<\/a><\/p>\n

With these simple, but wildly effective, songwriting techniques\u2014massaged by the smoothest transitions Depravity<\/strong><\/strong>\u2019s penned thus far\u2014Bestial Possession quickly becomes a force to be reckoned with. Right off the bat, opening assault \u201cEngulfed in Agony\u201d launches the record with a devastating riffset; jaunty, subtly melodic, and bounding with verve. Oodles of arpeggiated scales and wriggling oscillations traversed by the lead guitars cohere beautifully with Louis Rando\u2019s ballistic percussion and Ainsley Watkins\u2019 clunky bass rumbles (\u201cCall to the Fallen,\u201d \u201cAwful Mangulation\u201d), forging a complex web of wizardry that stops just short of earning a \u201ctech-death\u201d badge but nonetheless ensures maximum stimulation. As a way to create balance and protect songwriting dynamics in every selection, Depravity<\/strong><\/strong> explore a great variety of tempos and textures around Bestial Possession\u2019s denser phrases. Grounding those variations to the band\u2019s core mission of destruction, a palpable sense of groove tailor-made to incite ravenous pit activity also compels heads to bang with great intensity, as evidenced by turbo-bangers \u201cRot in the Pit,\u201d \u201cAligned with Satan,\u201d and \u201cLegacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There may be those who argue that the level of accessibility Depravity<\/strong><\/strong> achieved with such brutal fare as this works against them, but I argue the opposite is true. Bands like Cannibal Corpse<\/strong>, De Profundis<\/strong><\/a> and even younger acts like Atrae Bilis<\/strong><\/a> expertly toy the line between accessibility and deadliness, and with Bestial Possession, Depravity<\/strong><\/strong> earn their place in that elite category of death. This third installment in Depravity<\/strong><\/strong>\u2019s catalog is dense, brutally fast, and relentless. But it\u2019s also refined, concise, and streamlined compared to their previous works. It\u2019s loud, too, which holds it back from even higher acclaim, but its meaty guitar tones and well-balanced mix helps recover some ground on the production front. The only other nitpick I can muster against Bestial Possession is that, despite the incredible variety and scalpel-precise execution on hand, sometimes its strongest and most memorable cuts (\u201cEunuch Maker,\u201d \u201cCall to the Fallen,\u201d \u201cRot in the Pit,\u201d \u201cBlinding Oblivion\u201d) overshadow its album mates a touch too strongly. For some, that might create a minor bump in the road. Still, it\u2019s unlikely to diminish the listening experience in any meaningful way.<\/p>\n

As the dust settles and the flames of Depravity<\/strong><\/strong>\u2019s tear across the death metal landscape recede, Bestial Possession towers above many of 2025\u2019s myriad releases. Even with my analytical eye in high gear, rooting for flaws and scrounging for blemishes, Depravity<\/strong><\/strong> secured their rightful place as one of my absolute favorite meat-and-potatoes death metal acts active today, with Bestial Possession slotting at the top of their discography. It once more begs the question: how will they follow this up? To that I say, \u201cWho gives a fuck?!\u201d and smash the replay button to smithereens.<\/p>\n

\ufeff<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong> Great!
DR:<\/strong> 6 | Format Reviewed:<\/strong> 320 kb\/s mp3
Label:<\/strong> Transcending Obscurity Records<\/a>
Websites:<\/strong> depravityaustralia.bandcamp.com<\/a> | facebook.com\/Depravitydestroy<\/a>
Releases Worldwide:<\/strong> November 21st, 2025<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since the release of Evil Upheaval in early 2018, I fell head over heels for Aussie death metal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[264],"tags":[1135,41730,108750,108751,108752,108753,23797,108754,7281,108755,18,117,19,68225,17,24680,337,108756,1142,1143,108757],"class_list":{"0":"post-195811","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-1135","9":"tag-4-0","10":"tag-atrae-bilis","11":"tag-australian-metal","12":"tag-bestial-possession","13":"tag-brutal-death-metal","14":"tag-cannibal-corpse","15":"tag-de-profundis","16":"tag-death-metal","17":"tag-depravity","18":"tag-eire","19":"tag-entertainment","20":"tag-ie","21":"tag-immolation","22":"tag-ireland","23":"tag-morbid-angel","24":"tag-music","25":"tag-nov25","26":"tag-review","27":"tag-reviews","28":"tag-transcending-obscurity-records"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115598497672046483","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}