Every second of this album features the same guttural barking in the same basic pattern over and over again. The guitars sound like two washboards being rubbed together, the percussion is tinny and never takes on any interesting changes in tempo, and the vocals just…don’t…stop. The sons on Ascendants all have the same sound, the same rhythm, the same everything. It’s not about genre tags or being true, it’s about nine boring, repetitive, unnecessary tracks in a row. It is always the music that must be judged, first and foremost. Sure, they released a 2008 photoshoot where they posed like they butchering a woman who doesn’t love Cannibal Corpse? And hey, maybe they prefer baggy hip hop-reminiscent clothes to leather and spikes-it’s 2015, get over it.
A lot of gatekeepers and elitists go even further in their disdain for the genre, declaring it “not metal!” Why? Er… hardcore-style breakdowns? Nu-metal style downtuning? Daring to not be straightjacketed by what has come before? Who the fuck can tell. Yes, well intentioned, but an embarrassment to have around. A lot of death metal fans treat it like that annoying cousin who wants to borrow your Dying Fetus vinyls, and then scratches them. Now, deathcore isn’t to everyone’s tastes. See, the 400 in “Beyond Deviation 400” indicates the number of vocalists on this song, which set a new world record for the most solo vocalists on a single track.
In making this epic track, the band pulled in favours from a few friends. It’s a 37 minute deathcore track created by Canadian band Beyond Deviation. The whole idea of “Beyond Deviation 400” is a mad arsed thing at first sight.