EP Review: Depleted/A Vintage Death – Split (Nailbat Tapes)

Released on November 6th 2020 digitally and via cassette (Nailbat Tapes), two heavyweights of the death/doom underground, Depleted and A Vintage Death present a split EP.

Depleted is the solo project of Matt Sullivan (Evaporated Sores, Maltheist, Red Boiling Springs), who also runs the Portland, Oregon-based metal and noise label Nailbat Tapes. Depleted takes funeral / death-doom and filters it through the lens of harsh noise, crafting tokens to existential dread and hopelessness.

A Vintage Death is the brainchild of Carmine d’Annibale (Rising Moon, ex-Condanna) from Ortona, Italy. Taking the sorrowful approach of the Peaceville Three, A Vintage Death melds regal death/doom with abrasive black metal.

Of the two bands, it is the latter we’re more aware of having reviewed the debut EP ‘Acrid Death Fragrance’. While A Vintage Death might have two of the three tracks here, Depleted’s offering is a mammoth tome coming in at around 12 and a half minutes. It is also the track that begins this split.

Funeral doom that drips in bleakness and futility, Wreckage is a tome to sink the mind into the murkiest of mire. Like seeing maggots on a festering corpse, the revulsion creeps and creeps. Vomit being expelled in a sudden flurries of overwhelming blackened death metal, the tempo increasing only for the choking sludge to wash back over shortly afterwards. Even the drops in melody come with so much icy coldness, there is no way to relax. It’s incredibly filthy and delivers systematic suffering but in a meticulously pleasurable way.

Two parts, Piangimorti I and II, is what we get with A Vintage Death. The first, a combination of intriguing melody, subtle drum patterns and varying vocals. At times throaty and harsh, at others mournfully clean. The post-like rhythm of the guitars take a more forceful approach but its still a track dripping in melancholy.

The second part also builds up from emotional sounding melodies, haunting and cold. Something that stays in place as the guitar rhythm rings out and the vocals come whispering on the wind. A darker sounding effort, the familiarity between this and Piangimorti I is there but not to the point where you couldn’t hear one without the other.

Both bands have done a great job here. Different but similar in style tracks that seep with dejected hopelessness.

Depleted/A Vintage Death – Split Full Track Listing:

1. Depleted – Wreckage
2. A Vintage Death – Piangimorti I
3. A Vintage Death – Piangimorti II

Links

Bandcamp