A lot of critics will try and convince that Deathcore has died quietly over the past few years after it’s popularly during the mid-2000s, well someone clearly forgot to tell Australia. Following in the footsteps of fellow Australians Thy Art Is Murder, Boris The Blade continue to show that Deathcore still has plenty of life in it with their debut album The Human Hive.
From the moment opening track Serpents Crown begins it’s immediately clear what the listener can expect from The Human Hive. This is a relentlessly heavy album filled with machine gun drumming and some of the most monstrously heavy breakdowns you’ll hear on any album released this year. It’s a relentlessly heavy album that never gives the listener a break from the non-stop brutality.
It’s not all just breakdowns though, there’s just enough technicality to stop thing from getting boring as guitarists Josh Lording and Cameron Eyre switch effortlessly between the chugging breakdowns and solos. Vocalist Daniel Sharp also impresses with his vocals sounding genuinely evil throughout. But special mention has to go to drummer Karl Steller, who sounds like he’s trying to destroy his drumkit on every song.
However this kind of ruthless aggression can start to get repetitive over a full album and fortunately Boris The Blade manage to sneak in a few extras to keep things from getting boring. Atrophy adds in a piano melody which gives the song a whole other layer while Mortal Procession has more of a Djent feel to it. It certainly isn’t the most diverse album ever and a few of the later songs do feel a little bit repetitive but Boris The Blade do try to mix things up enough to stop the album from getting dull and at 10 songs running just over 30 minutes the album doesn’t outstay it’s welcome either.
The Human Hive is far from a game changer but it does a great job in showing that Deathcore is far from dead. Any fans of the genre should pick this up immediately and fans of heavy music in general should still check it out. It’s an incredibly strong debut and shows a lot of promise, in a few years Boris The Blade could become leaders in their scene.
