ALBUM REVIEW: Depth Perception – Creak
CREAK are smashing nu-metal against metalcore, ready to offer their debut album Depth Perception, in which they wrestle with conflicting feelings, experiences of poor mental health and fear of losing the ones you love. With such emotionally heavy themes it isn’t for the faint of heart but that also offers the counter argument within where does the hope reside?
Depth Perception opens with Crossroads which houses one of the most striking lines of the whole record, “If I have to take a pill to be myself / That’s not me, that’s someone else” and is the beginning of what at first glance may seem like melodramatic quotes but in fact are the highlights of the album. Hare In The Woods and Doomed emphasise the bleak experiences of vocalist Jack Dunn, both describe a sort of horror that is felt within and the corrosive that fizz’s from it.
The most apparent thought of the album is the thick sense of guilt and self-loathing that it exudes, it’s a virus that won’t be shaken and for which there isn’t a cure. For that reason it eventually begins to be repetitive, songs like Restless Dreams, Cold Shoulder and A Head Full Of Rain start to wear on you with their honest lyricism. It’s apparent that the topics are meant to be heavy and of the depressive type but there needs to be some sort of balance, otherwise it results in, what should sound earnest and vulnerable, sounding like a victim of circumstances that can’t really be helped.
Without anything to balance out rougher topics, Depth Perception can feel like a chore to listen to for some where others might find it comforting. However, sonically it is stunning from production to the music writing, heavy in all the correct places, stalling at the right moments to deepen the emotion in songs is brilliant.
A band as fresh as CREAK needs to give it time, Depth Perception feels all or nothing, when that’s not the circumstance, having a debut album out so soon as a band must feel amazing but the eagerness is a detriment to the making of it. Take some time to develop a little bit, pull elements in from something other than just neighbouring genres to stop the album becoming so muddy.
Rating: 6/10
Depth Perception is set for release on August 18th via Prosthetic Records.
Like CREAK on Facebook.