You might recall that, way back in 2024, I fell in love with a progressive death metal band by the name of Defect Designer. I especially loved them for how unexpected they were; more than just randomly stringing genres together, Defect Designer were committed at their core to the "progressive" part of progressive death metal. Melodic segments, intricate solos, grind squeals, licks, blast-beats, open chords, and more all mixed on their last release, Chitin. So, when I got the chance to premiere a new track from their upcoming release, Depressants, I knew I was essentially reaching into a bag full of all sorts of surprises. There was no knowing which aspect of Defect Designer I'd draw. Luckily for me, I got the grindcore Defect Designer, as you can hear for yourself on "Daily Dose of Gloom", the aforementioned single, below!
OK, calling this just grindcore is a bit misleading because even on this one track, Defect Designer do so much. But the solid majority of the opening minutes of this one are all flame and fury, erupting into a fast paced, gutturals-laced, chaos-heavy mess. The thing about Defect Designer is that they can wield all of their many, many, many aspects with equal agility so this track is absolutely full with everything I love about grindcore. But then there's a weird groovy riff on the first chorus and there are some sort of bizarre creaking sounds on the track's slower outro (you really have to hear it for yourself, I can't quite describe it), and the entire track just feels like a truck full of colors, hydroplaning on a highway and scattering everything every which way. Which, I guess, was the idea if you judge by the album's cover.
I can't really encapsulate everything else which the excellent Depressants contains because it's a lot. Suffice it to say that if you love progressive music, then this release is, once again, for you. Make sure you head on over to Transcending Obscurity (who else) to pre-order it.