Review by: James Young - Live 4 Metal - 2008

Melodic death metal seemed to be somewhat of a worn genre before the start of this year, but with two reunions of the original greats, At The Gates and Carcass, it has made a bit of a comeback, and once again been stripped down to its roots. Vespers Descent, from Australia of all places, seem to ride this wave, opting not to go for the American influenced modern thrash sound, but an old-school sound which harks back to the days of At The Gates and early In Flames. Both the production and musicianship are highly commendable for a band with only one album behind them, and the formula has been tweaked just enough to make for an interesting and fairly original listen. The screams of Richard Clements are nothing new to the genre, which is probably a good thing, but where the outfit really excels is in the writing and delivery of the 'Gothenburg' style hooks of Grant Burns and Shannon Over, which are present in full force from the get go in 'Spectral Awakening', as well as the solos that make you feel as fuzzy as the first time you heard Arch Enemy. Another positive is the band's ability to range from extremely vicious blast beat-laden passages to soft, almost acoustic passages. The title track displays such a good fusion, moving from Ben Mazzarol's intense drum attack to a soft passage, and incorporating some massive grooves into the mix for good measure. 'Deceiver' goes full circle, beginning and climaxing in almost tribal passages from Mazzarol, displaying the excellent song-writing abilities of the band, a rarity in a genre concerned mainly with writing good riffs with little regard for structure. Apart from the four main tracks on this EP, there is a well-executed cover of At The Gates classic 'Blinded By Fear', balanced out by a mellow instrumental entitled 'Eclipse', so all in all there's quite a nice mixture of the heavy and soft on this release.

Australia is not known for its melodic death metal scene, which makes it even more surprising how excellent this EP is. Fans of In Flames, At The Gates and the likes will lap this one up, and even the embittered core of fans who think the genre has been sabotaged by outside influences will have their faith reaffirmed by this band.

Review source: Vespers Descent - Reality Dysfunction