Depravity
Silence of the Centuries

Good wine is in small barrels, according to a well-known proverb, but is it also true for music? Is a long album better, or a short EP? If you are passionate about death metal, especially Finnish death metal, the five songs that make up the extended play "Silence of the Centuries" by Depravity could be the equivalent of the finest and most intoxicating wine.

The cover of the work is enough to reveal the origin of the group and the period in which it was made (the exact year is 1993), as it is the work of Turkka G. Rantanen, who also created the covers for the albums of his brother Jarkko's band (Adramelech) and that of "Nespithe," an overlooked techno death masterpiece by Demilich. Furthermore, in this case, the sensations conveyed by the cover match those conveyed by the proposed music. In fact, that bluish mist (or is it water?) in which those suffering, equally blue, humanoid figures are immersed gives the impression that everything is muffled and detached, just like in real mist. The production helps in this sense, as the sound is muffled and somehow distant, and together with the compositional approach, it contributes to creating the right atmosphere. In fact, the style of the group is quite minimal and focuses all on the impact of the riffs, very inspired and in the classic melodic and hypnotic style of Finnish death, which immediately get into your head—try listening to the title track to believe it—but above all on the beautiful solos by guitarist Elia Viljanen (if the name sounds familiar, it's because he currently plays in the flower metal band Sonata Arctica), very atmospheric, which represent the true added value of the group and allow them to be in the circle of important names in the national scene. A different way of understanding the genre, therefore, that does not focus all on technique and sonic violence, but which has allowed for the creation of a remarkable work that makes the sensations produced during listening its strong point.

The group will not survive this EP and will never record an album, as happened to many of their colleagues, but even Finnish death metal in its classic style will see its golden era end with "Silence of the Centuries" and the demo "Musta seremonia" by Rippikoulu, also from 1993, just three years after the self-titled work by the semi-legendary Abhorrence with which this current of death metal was born.