EP Review – Left to Die by Dead Eyes Always Dreaming (Legend Recordings)

Battle Creek, Michigan based deathcore band, Dead Eyes Always Dreaming, have released their second EP called Left to Die.

Left to Die was released on the 26th of April via Legend Recordings and follows their 2016 EP, Celestial Genocide. That EP came in the same year as their official debut, 2016’s full length album Defilement of a Wretched Earth. Dead Eyes Always Dreaming formed in 2014 and are a five piece. On vocals, it’s Alex Hunter (Sasha) and on bass it’s Will Betts. Drums are with Spencer Robinson while Corey Alexander and Alex Skyler Journey are on guitars.

Left to Die is a pretty short EP with 5 tracks and around 15 minutes of music on it. Being a deathcore band, you already get an idea of what to expect. It’s nice when a band can surprise you though, especially when you have that preformed idea in your mind. Unfortunately that isn’t the case here. Left to Die is exactly what it says on the tin. Deathcore. Hard, metallic riffs, loads of crunchy beats and aggressive, roared vocals. That fact that the EP doesn’t really surprise isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There is a lot of expansive, genre hopping music about these days so having a band who are unashamedly what they are is fine.

One thing Dead Eyes Always Dreaming definitely are is heavy. Expect 5 tracks of straight up force starting with Soul Rot. Less than three minutes in length it starts of with roared death metal vocals before a vicious assault of noise joins in. Twanging lead guitars sit over a bed of thick bass and thunderous drums. Vocals stay intense and aggressive throughout though mix up in tone which is cool.

Tyrannical Contagion comes in with a wicked riff and drum beat, a little more towards the metalcore side before vocals come in and rip you a new one. Some of the screams in this one are unreal and the little descending guitar line that follows them is wicked too. The stop start nature of the music half way through is a bit boring but it does lead into a brilliant section with loads going on. A full crescendo of power and passion with solid guitars and intense drumming. It makes the song.

Eyes of Azathoth is just about 2 mins in length and packs a nice groove to the riff. Again the drums absolutely kill it here. They really have cracked the drum sound on the EP so far. Yellow King comes in with an even darker and heavier sound than heard so far and believe me, the three songs so far are heavy. The intro starts at a pace and with frightening aggression. All the darkness is offset by the occasional twang of a higher pitched lead guitar in the verse which I find sounds a little odd. Overall a vicious and relentless assault on the senses. Cult of Innsmouth closes the EP and is similar to everything heard before. The guitars are brilliant in the intro. Vicious vocals and rhythm get offset by a cracking lead that builds into a crescendo of fire.

Left to Die is a non stop assault. Full on aggression and power from the first note to the last. The band have a really good production here too and the drums stand out really well in the mix. Obviously talented, the vocals impress too with the different tones on show and there are plenty of good riffs to get stuck into. The only thing I would say against the EP is that even on 5 short tracks, it started feeling predictable and a bit samey. The sort of stuff you have heard all before. Exciting and fresh, Left to Die most certainly isn’t. Hard, heavy and well executed deathcore though, it definitely is. Sometimes that’s enough.

You can grab a copy of Left to Die on all the usual streaming platforms now. You can also grab a copy from Legend Recordings on Bandcamp here or hit up this link for all your options. Find out more about Dead Eyes Always Dreaming at their Facebook and Instagram pages.