DREP wants to hear you suffer.
Formed in the Netherlands, the band led by Kombustar (vocals, The Monolith Deathcult, Witchcult 71), Havoque (bass/guitar/vocals, Heidenland, Grimm, ex-Allfather…) and Deportator (drums/keyboards/vocals, ex-Grimm) remained in the shadows until 2022, when they released their first demo, followed the following year by Drastically Reducing Earth’s Population, their debut album, on Nomad Snakepit Productions.
The opening track, Wereldreinheid, immediately throws us into this cold, uncompromising blend of Industrial Black Metal, from which massive ghostly vocals emerge. The band rolls over us with no qualms, only stopping their steamroller to place terrifying growls and dissonant harmonics, followed by Mensendamp, a second equally aggressive and impressive composition on which musicians place terrifying screams. The approach is just as oppressive as on the previous track, allowing heaviness and aggression to join this wave of darkness, followed by the short Beenderendans, which reveals more surprising Old School influences, which still perfectly fits the onslaught. Karkassenkoets follows, letting coldness join ferocious riffs topped by their usual possessed screams, but this time we notice the band’s willingness to create a more haunting central break before letting the tornado take shape again to lead us to Aardelating and its more ethereal but just as icy influences. Vocals take turns and answer each other to feed the permanent oppression while the instrumental oscillates between several facets of darkness before a more haunting final, which lets Nedergang, the last composition, unveil curiously melodious sounds before finally bringing saturation back, followed by strange vocal parts and disturbing leads.
Short but extremely heavy and intense, Drastically Reducing Earth’s Population is one of the most crushing and oppressive albums to come out in recent years, setting DREP apart from the rest, and one to keep an eye on.
85/100