Depravity - Bestial Possession

Depravity – Bestial Possession
Release Date: 21st November 2025
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal
FFO: Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Deicide, Hate Eternal, Hour of Penance, Nile.
Review By: Mark Young

Returning after a 5-year break, Depravity have returned in an effort to show everyone else how you solve the following problem: How to merge Old School intent with New School (or University?) methods. For those who haven’t heard them before, if you are in any doubt as to the direction and style of music that is about to be dropped onto you, then take your eyes to the top of this review now.

I’ll wait.

Ready? If any of those bands constitute a particular favourite of yours, then you know exactly what you are getting in to. I should point out that they take what you love about those bands and filter it, adding in what it means to be a fan of those bands, of what is expected from them, and the end result is this corker called Bestial Possession. It is the sort of album that could comfortably sit with the best from Morbid Angel, Deicide et al. and I cannot think of a better way to recommend this, other than saying that. The songs come in with one goal, and it is to batter you with insane speeds, pummelling drums, classic death metal vocals that have ‘that’ timbre to them and can spit the lyrics at the speed this music demands. The opening pair of Engulfed in Agony and Eunuch Maker speed past, almost at the point that it’s a blizzard of noise that is almost too fast. Once you have a couple of listens under your belt (and you will) they land with you, and you can start to appreciate what they are. It’s on Call to the Fallen where they pull that speed back and furnish us with one of the best songs of the year. It combines everything I love about this music, it’s aggressive, but not one note. It brings an element of the technical but isn’t boring. Awful Mangulation returns to those upper speeds, but avoids it becoming a speed-fest. They shoehorn some fiendish, angular riffs in its closing moments just to mix it up for you. The resurgence in quality death metal being released this late in the year is comforting, and Depravity would have to do something incalculable to drop points now. Like throwing a ballad in. That sort of thing.

Rot in the Pit brings more of those right-angled guitar lines to play, intelligent stuff, but they understand that they need to be underpinned with brutal content and this is followed by the blast-a-long that is Aligned With Satan. It’s got that galloping feel to it, you know the one I mean. They way that they develop this into a palm-muted cracker is top class, the little touches that they drop into play are spot on. Blinding Oblivion allows them to show off a little, with frenetic guitar that opens things up from a tech perspective. The main build is unbelievable, it’s fast, angry and tight as an otters pocket. The lead break that drops in is equally mesmeric, fitting the savage build behind it. And speaking of savage, that is a valid description of Legacy, well for the most part. Legacy is another of what appears to be an effortless exercise in songcraft that satisfies what we love about heavy metal. They get it. They close up with Catastrophic Contagion, and it’s a good way to wrap things up here. Personally, I would have swapped it with Legacy, which had more of a last song vibe to it. It doesn’t represent a misstep; I just prefer Legacy. In any event, it still makes a good bookend to things and makes sure that the energy level that kicked in at the start stayed in place.

It is encouraging to know that there are bands who are trying their level best to bring the best music they can whilst staying true to what it means to be a fan. With Bestial Possession, they haven’t let anyone down, it is a thrilling ride and one that you will revisit again and again.