Slithering from the oft-neglected Australian metal underground comes Deadspace’s debut album. This independently released depressive black metal record was conceived as an outlet for frontman Chris Gebauer’s own depression.
If one was to remove the metal guitars from this album, it would make a haunting ambient rock album in its own right. As a complete package, the meeting of sombre piano, discreet acoustic tones, blast beats and shrieking vocals plunge the listener into a bleak, audial representation of Gebauer’s wracked psyche.
His vocals may take some getting used to, particularly if one is unfamiliar with the tropes of black metal, but they do an excellent job of conveying the loneliness and desperation that so often accompany severe depression.
The fourth and sixth track, ‘The Clouds Won’t Shade The Pain’ and ‘Schadenfreude’, subdues the extremeness to focus on the softer side of this band’s musical ability. The lead guitar and bass play with independent melodies in an echoic void, while the rhythm section fills the space with beautiful but mournful resonance. Its as enchanting as it is distressing. Only in the last two minutes of Clouds, a six minute long lament does the overdrive kick back in, still with lonely piano keys hanging overhead.
‘Pain’s Grey’ takes hold as a full-blown doom track. Slow and thunderous, guitarist and co-producer Drew James Griffith joins the chorus on vocals, delivering guttural death metal growls to accompany Gebauer’s high screams. The music soars as both vocalists cry to the heavens for salvation in whatever form it takes.
The final track, ‘In The Coldness Of The Darkest Night’, is also the longest, clocking in at almost 8 minutes. It rises and falls through peaks and valleys of emotion, with the more extreme passages seeming to express frustration more than sorrow, another common side-effect of depression.
Promise of Oblivion isn’t easy listening, and is also not a gateway into extreme metal. It’s emotionally draining and sonically punishing, but I’m sure accessibility wasn’t on Deadspace’s agenda when putting their debut together. It’s a powerful and atmospheric release that, unlike a lot of black metal preoccupied with image and reputation, feels genuine and honest in its extreme sound.
