Release Date: July 16th 2021. Record Label: Desert Records. Format: CD/DD
Death By Design - Tracklisting
Death By Design
Dusty (Bonus Track)
Members
Neal De Atley: Guitar/Vocals
Jessica Brasch: Bass/Vocals
Bryson Marcey: Drums
Review
SORCIA return with their latest EP - Death By Design - and it continues the dark creatie journey heard on their acclaimed debut album. Now signed to Desert Records, this time round sees the band offering an epic singular 16 minute plus track that runs across the darker aspects of the Doom, Sludge and Stoner Metal world.
Sorcia has said Death By Design “delves into the most primitive concepts of human existence and death"
With that cheerful and upbeat description, this release is another excellent release that sees Sorcia remain true to their Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal roots despite coming from the Grunge capital of Seattle and employing Tad Doyle on mixed and mastering duties like they did for their debut album.
The 16 minute song is progressive and dark in all the right places with the vocals coming mostly from Neal having a soulful aspect to them. The music draws a great balance between Fast and Slow parts with the title track becoming moodier and psychedelic when the slower moments appear. There’s a lot more music experimentation when SORCIA opt for a straightforward style of gloomy music that shifts them further into the world of Drone-eqsue melodies and grooves.
The faster parts of the title track feature the more straight-forward and riff-centric style of music. SORCIA offer a good balance and you’re never frustrated or bored with the style of music they play on the song. Everything is superbly put together and when Jessica’s vocals finally appear, the EP becomes a soulful blues rock environment before the final chapter of the song descends into Doom/Sludge Metal Amplifier style heaviness.
The bonus track Dusty is an acoustic track and whilst it’s a good track, there’s a lot of good instrumental work to be found here and it shows a different side to SORCIA. The song will keep you fully entertained for the entire 8:33 minute runtime and it feels like a darker exploration of the normal stuff that SORCIA are known for. The vocal performances and music arrangements are first-rate with SORCIA feeling inspired by the acoustic albums that have been released by their more famous Doom/Stoner Rock contemporaries over the last 20 years. This track has given me a craving for an acoustic SORCIA album if that ever comes off. It’s more of a Doom based Americana/Blues Rock song.
Death By Design is a must have release that leaves you wondering what musical avenues the band will go down for their future releases and makes me realize that the best is yet to come from SORCIA.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to SORCIA and Desert Records for the promo.
Death By Design will be available to buy on CD/DD via Desert Records form July 16th 2021.
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