Drown in Sulphur - Dark Secrets of the Soul (2024)^{Release ID: 49615}

I first gave this Drown in Sulphur album some listening and a review shortly after its release over a year ago but drifted out of it shortly after because I wasn't ready for a lot of the new wave of epic deathcore, apart from Lorna Shore. Upon revisiting this Italian deathcore band, like d*mn, I was mind-blown by the high-quality production that my ears somehow missed some of in the first listen. This can convince any metalhead dismissive of deathcore to give it a try!

Dark Secrets of the Soul is where the band is finally joining the symphonic black deathcore league of Mental Cruelty and Lorna Shore. You can find all the melodies, blasts, and breakdowns you can ask for, even some throwbacks to their 2010s downtempo deathcore era, all in well-crafted epicness and brutality.

For the intro "Adveniat Regnum Tuum"... I don't know what the f*** that was, but I won't let that affect the rest of the album's perfection. I still love the first actual song, "Eclipse of the Sun of Eden". A crushing modern blackened riff commences in this track with spectacular growling vocals. "Buried by Snow and Hail" levels up the orchestral elements in the usual brutal speed of deathcore.

As always, "Unholy Light" has pulverzing modern deathcore breakdowns. "Lotus" is the closest thing we have to an actual deathcore ballad, plus the inclusion of cleans and melodic guitar soloing. The acoustics are a bit like mid-90s In Flames. Beautiful! The emotional title track rages on with orchestral ambience alongside killer riffs and growls.

"Say My Name" is not a Destiny's Child cover, thank greatness. It satisfies me as another perfect heavy banger. "Vampire Communion" is the atmospheric interlude to get you ready for the finale. See, that's the interlude we need instead of whatever the f*** that earlier intro is. Final track "Shadow of the Dark Throne" sums up everything this album has in the usual symphonic blackened deathcore triumph and drama. A true spine-chilling ending for only the bravest and/or darkest souls.

Drown in Sulphur's second album is a true masterpiece of darkness and beauty. I recommend taking a break from the likes of Mental Cruelty and Lorna Shore for a while and checking out this underrated band and album. The reign of epic deathcore continues!

Favorites: "Eclipse of the Sun of Eden", "Buried by Snow and Hail", "Lotus", "Say My Name", "Shadow of the Dark Throne"

Deathcore and I are not the most comfortable of bedfellows, I could count the number of the sub-genre's albums I have heard on the fingers of one hand and I have actually enjoyed even less than that. So I went into Dark Secrets of the Soul expecting little and knowing the sum total of fuck all about the band. Turns out they are an italian, corpse-paint wearing, four-piece and Dark Secrets of the Soul is their sophomore full-length, following 2021's Sulphur Cvlt.

Well, I will just kill off any suspense and say it straight out up front - actually this isn't half bad at all. I know, right. What the hell is up with me? Well it appears that I might actually be a secret deathcore fan and I didn't even know it myself! I think where deathcore wins over other core-related subgenres is within the vocal department, which is where I notoriously struggle when faced with conventional metalcore releases. I don't especially dislike metalcore instrumentally, but the vocals often irritate me intensely, so the inherently more grizzled and guttural vocal requirements of a death metal sub-genre tones down the "screechiness" (for want of a better word) I struggle with so much in metalcore and results in something much more palatable to my ears. Another trick the band have up their sleeves is that they have included a perceptible influence from symphonic black metal, with synths imparting a sense of pomp and circumstance and mitigating some of the harsher elements of the metalcore aspect of the band's sound. Eclipse of the Sun of Eden, for example, has a really noticeable black metal influence from bands like Anorexia Nervosa or Dimmu Borgir that complements their deathly metalcore sound so well.

The band aren't afraid to change gear away from metalcore aggressiveness either with the balladic Lotus, which features the album's best guitar solo, sounding like the second part of Slipknot's "Vermilion" in places including the clean vocals. I'm no expert, but I reckon that despite all these variations from standard deathcore, there is still more than enough of that melodic hyper-aggression present to please the regulars whilst the other influences help to differentiate Drown in Sulphur from the pack and may even draw in newer listeners to the genre, like myself. I like the fact that italian metal bands in general are unafraid to take chances with their music and, for me, in this case, it has paid off big time.