EP: "EPic" by Despite

Meet melodic death metallers “Despite”. This brutal bunch is from the musical capital of Sweden (and my personal favourite city of them all) – Gothenburg. Here they are presenting us with their EP “Epic” (too many Eps in one sentence). “EPic” is their third album after their debut album, “In Your Despite” (March 2009) and their second album “Clenched” (October 2010).

It takes off with a forceful “As you bleed”. It’s an intense and dynamic track. Pleiad of guitars with “rampant” drums accentuate “powerful vocals”. No wonder why the bands requires 3 guitars (not including base) to bring such creations into life. This December the band has an addition to their family – third guitarist Zoran Panovic . The band felt that “it was only right to bring another guitarist to the fold, instead of putting it all on backtracks when we do live shows”.

The track that definitely stood out for me is “Give me life”. In my humble opinion it’s represents all that the band stands for and fits into their style the best. It’s “melodic” but barbarous enough to be called melodic death metal. Melodic death metal is like Marmite Light, for those who can’t handle original version. But I am absolutely sold into that style and loving it. I got interested in the melodic death metal after seeing “Avatar” supporting “The Defiled”. And ever since it took my fancy so I kept exploring music scene for more bands that represent this somewhat controversial style.

It all mellows out by the end of the album with “Sanctum Falls” track. That’s where “Melodic” in the Melodic Death Metal really comes out. Don’t get me wrong, it still has enough ferocity, but it’s softened by howling solos and slow emotional vocals.

It wasn’t always easy for the band members since their formation in 1998. But hard work always pays off in the end and during the spring of 2013 Despite entered their own studio “Crehate Studios” to record their third album (the very album we are talking about now). Recently their bassist Mathias “Matte D” Dagerhed has left the band for personal reasons and the guys are currently looking for a replacement.

However, on the bright side, they have released new single “Chaos trigger” this month. Check it out;