A recent EP release from DONE delivers a massive and driving metal soiree as it tends to blend together elements of black, death, thrash, and this vast sort of melodic metal, and it creates this really doom-oriented and slightly gothic atmosphere that you end up getting pulled into.
The Rest To Rust EP is fierce and a lot of that heavy-handed fierceness comes from the tonality of the instruments themselves. Yes, the riffs are everything here. They thrash, they wail, and they give off expansive melodic underbelly, but the tone of these instruments makes things deeper and heavier in a way.
It feels like the tuning is in some kind of drop. Maybe drop C or drop B. I can't be sure but it really is quite deepening and the entire record has a rumbling effect where the I need your feet starts to shake because it's so just massive and brutal.
The tone of the bass guitar for example is not just a normal tone. It's got this sort of effect on it and some strange way or maybe it's the way the bass guitar sounds in combination with the guitars. Either way, you get this vaster and sort of more intense punch to a lot of these songs and when they hit those open chords for moments in time, they feel huge because of those tones.
The drumming is completely intense as it should be on a record that covers thrash and death metal so well. Listening to drumming like this always has a way of making me feel tired and wondering how on Earth someone keeps up with something like that. Certain kinds of punk rock make me feel the same way. However, having said that, the drumming is amazing. The drum performance on this record drives everything forward and gives it that extra push so that everyone else sort of feeds off of it.
As a matter of fact, there's something about this record that makes you feel like some of these tracks may have been recorded live on the floor simply because the energy that's captured on this release is unbelievable.
It feels almost like everyone involved was feeding off of each other's energies in order to create something so powerful.
I wasn't there so of course I'm probably wrong about the whole live on-the-floor recording thing but, listening to this record makes you want to go see them live. Seeing them live is probably a face-melting experience and I'm down for that.
This is a metal experience more than just an EP and it covers a lot of ground in such a short time that it's unreal. The whole record is just over 12 minutes long but you feel like you get sucked into this dark and gothic-themed world and for a record to be 12 minutes and some odd seconds long and pull off that kind of aesthetic and level of escapism is crazy.
Of course, the guitar work is super intense. There are layers to how the guitars were done and there's a lot of precision in the thrashing, palm muting, and the whole approach but it also has that natural power and intensity as I mentioned earlier.
People who don't listen to a lot of metal don't really grasp the level of musicianship you have to have to be able to pull off a record of this caliber.
It takes years of mastering your instruments to be able to pull this off. I bet this whole band could write a jazz record if they wanted to.
But I digress, in terms of being a middle record, die-hard fans will absolutely love it.
Guys take old and new-school approaches to the songwriting and blend them together seamlessly.
I would suggest listening to this release in full, from beginning to end so this way you can really soak it in and if you can't listen to it blasting loud then listen to it with headphones on because it's one of the best ways to soak it in.
Trust me when I tell you you would be pulled away from whatever you're doing and get sucked up into this crazy world for a good 12 to 13 minutes and it's really worth it.
Crank this EP as soon as you can and don't forget where you heard it first.
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