Formed in Germany in 2000, Rebel Souls produced a number of demos before splitting, their potential unrealised. In 2013, however, the band were reborn in Malaga, unleashing their label debut in 2017 via Art Gates Records. A powerful debut, Forces Of Darkness, brought the band no small acclaim, only for founding member Thomas Plewnia to step down. Nevertheless, with the band’s other founder, Stefan Hielscher still present, if not entirely correct, the band determined to forge forward, and Dawn Of Depravity is the crushingly heavy result. With Stefan joined by Alex Guerrero (guitars / backing vox), Tornay (guitars) and Nocetm’s Arnau Marti on drums, the band are a blisteringly coherent unit, ready to sow the seeds of devastation wherever they land.
The album opens with the feral title track, all nervy blast beats, sawblade riffing and guttural vocals. It’s a dizzying opening, held tightly in check by Arnau’s laser-guided rhythmic assault. Having battered the listener into submission, the band maintain the gruelling pace with Trophonios, a similarly paced beast that makes up for what it lacks in subtlety with some truly remarkable musicianship. A track that is as merciless as they come, it almost insists you windmill until you collapse, but take a moment from traumatising your vertebrae and you’ll be able to fully appreciate the hyper speed guitar riffs the band deploy, even as the adrenaline continues to flood your veins. Astonishingly, it gets better, as the searing Poisoner of The Harvest throws a series of stair-stepping riffs out, before the band throw in an eerie moment of Opeth-esque calm, that only serves to make the rest of the track feel all the more oppressive. With barely a pause, Corrupting the Lambs explodes into life, although it’s Stefan’s dirty bass lines that capture the attention, before the track progresses into ever darker territory. Once again, there’s some seriously impressive musicianship on display here, yet it’s never at the expense of the music, which is always tightly focused for maximum impact. The first half concludes with Sea of Crises, a stabbing nightmare of stop-start riffs that threatens to slip into Lamb of God style groove at points.
Opening the album’s second half, the slow-burning horror of Three Thousand Screams sees the band further experimenting with textures, and the resultant track is a death-doom nightmare that highlights the full sonic arsenal the band have at their disposal. As a slower track, it serves the further purpose of lulling the listener into a false sense of security, so that the blazing Nihil Infinitum seems to explode from the speakers. Equally vicious, albeit less shocking, Beneath the Veneer is dirty death metal with a surprisingly addictive character thanks to a series of gang vocals, just begging to be chanted from the pit. Next up, the band have granted themselves their own theme tune in Rebel Souls, an atmospheric piece that emerges from a storm of howling feedback to viciously savage the listener. The album ends with the creepy Souls Virulent, which starts with a spoken word sample before the band unleash one final death metal blast. Once more tapping into the more melodic vein found in early Opeth, the band throw everything they have at this grandstanding finale, leaving the listener somewhat dazed and confused by the conclusion.
Not seeking to reinvent the wheel, Rebel Souls have focused on simply becoming an exceptional death metal band and in that they have largely succeeded. With both the musicianship and the production top notch, there’s also a good deal of variety in the song structures (especially in the first half. The second half could, perhaps, benefit from a touch more dynamic – with tracks such as Poisoner Of The Harvest proving to be the more adventurous, but the band have a strong grasp of how to hook the listener in and the album as a whole flashes by in what feels like a fraction of its run time. Those looking for some punishing death metal need look no further, Rebel Souls have you covered. 9/10
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