Distant – Dusk of Anguish (Review)

This is the latest EP from Distant, a deathcore band from the Netherlands.

Distant never seem to disappoint. From 2019’s Tyrannotophia to 2020’s Dawn of Corruption, they’ve revealed themselves to be a reliable and enjoyable exemplar of modern hyper-heavy deathcore.

This new EP contains 22 minutes of new material, and boasts guests from Alpha Wolf and The Last Ten Seconds of Life.

The band’s crushing brand of extreme metal contains elements of slam, deathcore, and brutal death metal, the likes of which are designed purely to destroy everything and get you moving to the unwholesome beats.

The band’s massively heavy downtempo slam is enriched with brutal dynamic energy and scything blasting. These core elements are stitched together in some surprisingly inventive ways, preserving the band’s core extremity – slow or fast – while allowing the songs an accessible side that makes for an engaging and satisfying listening experience.

Despite the band’s devastating assault, one of the things I like about Distant is their ability to pepper their songs with interesting and creative details – a keyboard enhancement here, a electronic highlight there – all of which add up to music that seems greater than the sum of its parts. I like how Distant use these atmospheric elements to raise their songs up to another level. With three guitarists in the band, the songs frequently become dense, technical affairs, despite also giving the impression of simplicity much of the time.

Distant just seem to be getting better and better at what they do. I’ve enjoyed each of their releases more than the last, and they seem to have no problem with creativity and productivity. If their rate of releases so far is anything to go by, we could see something even better from the band in the not too distant (ahem) future.

Dusk of Anguish is another first class deathcore release from Distant. Make sure you don’t miss out.