Metalcore, in all it’s various guises, is on the verge of being done to death at this point. The fact that it’s not a particularly difficult genre to write or produce, coupled with it still being really heavy, means that countless bands have found a home within the genre.
In regards to Despite My Deepest Fear – this EP is not awful, but neither is it particularly good. The heavy sections are certainly heavy, reminiscent of Beartooth or even The Devil Wears Prada, but the simplicity of the writing (open string chug with the odd one note bend for the most part) means that these sections are not especially impactful. The standard formula of heavy verse > clean vocal chorus > repeat until breakdown, is so apparent here that by the time the final few tracks come around you feel like Despite My Deepest Fear are ripping themselves off.
On a plus side, Despite My Deepest Fear have absolutely nailed the EP length – if it had been even one more track longer the listener would probably have started to get a bit bored. The kind of music they are producing is more suited to a short, sharp burst of aggression, which is what we get from this EP. Final track ‘Long Way Home‘ is one of the heaviest songs of the album (and actually one of the best) and by the time it chugs its last the listener is more able to appreciate the brief slap to the face that came with the tracks previous.
This review has seemed rather negative, and perhaps that is because this EP’s faults (or rather, its lack of positives) outweigh its strengths, but there are strengths there. The band clearly have an excellent grasp of the music they want to make, and how to play it. The vocals, whilst sounding incredibly generic, are at least done very well. There are almost certainly those out there who will enjoy Selfish Generation, and it’s hard to blame them, but an analytic glance beneath the surface leaves a lot more to be desired.
