Deathcore was a trendy subgenre that got old very, very quickly. The tired rehashing of endless breakdowns, boring riffs and indecipherable vocals became vilified by metal’s elitists almost immediately, and many of the more open minded in the scene soon followed suit. Every once in a while, however, a band comes into the spotlight of an oversaturated genre and blows every mediocre band to smithereens – Brisbane’s Aversions Crown are one such band.
Despite being plagued with line-up issues, Aversions Crown are gearing up to release their sophomore album, Xenocide, on the 20th of January 2017. This will be the first full-length with Mark Poida at the helm. The extraterrestrial four-piece’s music is rooted exclusively in the realms of science fiction and aliens, and Xenocide follows suit. In a recent interview with Nuclear Blast on YouTube, Poida and drummer Jayden Mason revealed that Xenocide is a concept album with a specific story, but are yet to publicly reveal the story.
Musically, Aversions Crown have gone for a much more sophisticated approach than previous efforts. With Xenocide , the band seem to have left many of the “-core” aspects of their music behind, focusing now on a heavier, more complex style that further compliments the terrifying and unsettling atmospherics. Though there are still a few breakdowns scattered across the album, the stunning lead work from guitarist Chris Cougan sets a very eerie atmosphere, and distinguishes the breakdowns from the generic chug-fests many deathcore bands tend to favor. Mason’s drumming is second-to-none, with the stamina, brutality and precision of a T-1000. The addition of Poida to Aversion Crown’s lineup seems to have really rejuvenated the band – his lyrics are fantastic, his concepts are interesting, and his vocals are utterly filthy. Coming in at 12 tracks, there is more than a few absolutely killer songs on Xenocide – from the eerie, near-perfect “Stillborn Existence” to the Xenomorphic brutality of “Cycles of Haruspex,” from the brutalizing “The Soulless Acolyte” to the immersive, break-neck closing track “Odium.”
Three tracks in the middle of Xenocide stand as album highlights, providing a delightfully decimating and unrelenting twelve-and-a-half-minutes of celestial carnage. A recorded version of “Erebus” is absolutely slammed full of hooks, catchy lyrics with a clear delivery, and punishing blast beats. The new elements added to the track in the re-recording take what was already a fantastic song onto a whole new level. The lead single to be released from Xenocide , “Ophiophagy,” follows. “Ophiophagy” takes the sinister atmosphere Xenocide had already established, and mixes it with some of Mason’s most ferocious drumming yet. The blast-beat driven track builds to a deeply unsettling atmospheric passage and builds into an absolutely filthy breakdown. 2017 will see Aversions Crown hit the road in support of Xenocide , and “Ophiophagy” will no doubt be heavily featured in their setlist. That breakdown alone is guaranteed to have skulls cleaved in the pit. The final track in this trifecta of cosmic annihilation is “The Oracles of Existence,” which stands as one of the fastest, heaviest, and yet most melodic songs to feature on Xenocide .
Taking the style Aversions Crown carved for themselves with their 2014 debut, Tyrant, and further advancing it, Xenocide is an otherworldly blast-fest. Armed with a story that would have Ridley Scott scratching his chin and Ellen Ripley quaking in fear, Aversions Crown are fully devoted to their brand of cosmic destruction. With a few catchier riffs, and swapping a couple of breakdowns for shred-fuelled solos, Xenocide would be scoring a perfect 10/10 – but otherwise, an excellent offering from one of Australia’s most promising bands.
1 comment
Not sophomore album at all, this will be their third and it is fantastic. They’re debut album was not Tyrant, jesus christ guys lol…Servitude was their first album and that is an equally amazing album as is Tyrant. Amazing album, bad article.