Artist: Dead Existence
Title: Born Into the Planets Scars
Type: EP
Label: Self Released/Withered Hand Records

This is a sludge driven band that I really found favour with on their first couple of releases. Tragedy struck recently with the death of drummer Ben Lowe, to whom this EP is dedicated too. This as it turns out is Ben’s last statement for DE as he recorded the drum tracks prior to his untimely passing. So an EP you may say, two tracks? Well this is not your usual running time my friends, at over 26 minutes, these two tracks are epic, if epic can ever be used to describe this genre!

Mastered by Richard Whittaker (Centurion’s Ghost) at FX mastering, the sound and power captured on this release is nothing short of a monolithic juggernaut thundering through a major city with destruction and pain on its mind. Jake’s vocals have improved in both clarity and aggression, without losing any momentum. The guitars hit the low end corner of your mind without a care in the world for any hangover that you may be suffering from. ‘Down The Crooked Path’ shows development, I consider this when I am filling my head with the many guitar chugging monstrous passages to drifting away with the occasional subtle time changes flickering between the pure sludge of Eyehategod to the doom ridden abandon of many of the masters in the heavier end of the doom genre. ‘Gutless & Full of Shame’ renders you helpless, just when you think at over 9 minutes the tirade of pure effortless sludge is dead and gone, these chaps extend the arrangement…for another 5 minutes, taking in time changes and mixing up the arrangements once they make sure you are left you for dead with their previous riffs.

Dead Existence are an exciting band in this genre, I still revel in the power that these guys can give out, and if you have seen them live, you will know what I mean. This recording has captured the live show feel and shoehorned it with a big fat baseball bat onto disc. This is a band that is showing much eagerly awaited development in both song arrangements and their execution, ‘Born Into The Planets Scars’ is fitting tribute to their fallen comrade and this EP will truly solidify the band as a serious prospect for lovers of sludge driven doom.

http://www.myspace.com/deadexistence

Paul Maddison

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