Perverse Dependence – The Pattern of Depravity
The Pattern of Depravity is a very different album of brutal death metal. It is a nonstop riff and syncopation showcase that demands your attention for it’s twenty-five minute duration. It’s an album comprised of short, approximately one and a half minutes songs, each of which features wildly twisting additive meter hooks in exotic modes—like the best hooks Dallas Toler-Wade contributes to Nile.
For the most part, a Perverse Dependence “song” sounds like one long and bewildering riff, albeit one that has a few moments of repetition. A lot of the drumming precisely mirrors these (approximately) ninety second riffs note for note—chiseling every chug with a snare hit/ride hit combination and accenting syncopated chords with crashes, so there is never a moment when something other than the riff takes the stage. And although there are lots of blastbeats on this album, these are interspersed throughout the riffsongs at moderate and rockin’ speeds, and most of the music—even the parts with blastbeats—seems mid-paced, albeit very detailed.
To be clear, the description of this album does not sound like something I would actually like—seventeen short tracks of brutal death metal with odd time signatures, occasional hardcore riffs, and very technical drumming—and that is part of my fascination with this release: It somehow works.
The short duration and ongoing intensity of each song brings to mind grindcore, but Perverse Dependence achieves the same thing in a brutal death metal context on The Pattern of Depravity. I’d prefer a bit more repetitions to break up the non-stop fretboard and drum gymnastics, but it works as is. Fans of short Nile tunes like Smashing the Antiu and The Howling of The Jinn are advised to get this one. -S Craig Zahler
Amputated Vein Records
Worm Gear 
Seriously, an album with a cover like that I won’t even bother checking out. What’s with these dudes (and so many like them in the brootal death scene)? Have they been spurned too many times by girls they adored? Turned a bit misogynistic? Or do hot female bodies only turn them on when they’re severely mutilated? Silly boys…
for the most part, i think most bands with this kind of art take the gore/misogyny about as seriously as most bands takes their satanism or fantasy lyrics—- ie. it is a compliment to their sound, rather than a life philosophy. artwork won’t determine whether or not i listen to music, and in the case of brutal death metal, ugly and violent art does provide appropriate imagery for the music.
Sure, I understand all that. And I don’t think for a second their lyrical content is meant to be taken seriously. Just noticing that the brootal bunch seem a bit obsessed with showing titties and gore, not naked men and gore, or kitties and gore, or whatever and gore. It’s always women that must be slaughtered. So yeah sure, it’s fantasy, but to me it’s just bad taste and a bit silly. Tomb of the Mutilated? Classic. This? Pushing it into ridicule. Meh. But really, to each his own. Agree to disagree?
i hear you fellow manowarrior & summoning fan—-you have good taste in general—-but i don’t think perverse dependence is worse or more ridiculous than cannibal corpse’s tomb of the mutilated. really, there is a sexual component to some of this brutal death that makes the gender actually logical for a perverse, over the top fantasy.
certainly a lot of people have problems with the gory art and elaborate misogyny in brutal death metal and grind bands like xxx maniak, but how many of these people have no issue buying dissection and burzum albums— art by actual convicted murderers? i listen to anything i like—regardless of lyrics or personal life— but if people are going to draw a line, it seems weird to be more sensitive to painted art and over the top lyrics than the actual deeds of people…
Well thank you sir! And a good point you have. I guess it’s all in the eye of the beholder in the end, and lines drawn are personal, irrational and everchanging. I love the cover art of Tomb of the Mutilated; both agony and extasy depicted with a very black humor, iconic. The Pattern of Depravity; blunt and banal in my opinion. Somehow Varg Vikernes has my sympathy in spite of his crimes, while I feel Peter Nödtveidt was an asshole so much that I hardly ever play his otherwise pretty excellent music (Necrophobic and Nachtmystium have recently achieved the same status). All opinions based on irrational, personal bias. No accounting for taste etc. BUt still, discussing it is much fun!
And maybe it isn’t that weird to be more sensitive to painted art and lyrics of albums than actual deeds of the musicians behind it because the the art and lyrics are part of the product, the deeds of people are not. They can easily be detached from the product (if you choose to do so) while the art and lyrics are a defining part of the product and if you dislike them, well…
Well said. Lyrics have almost nothing to do with why I like death metal, especially in the brutal style where the words are wholly unintelligible to me, but your viewpoint, though different from my own, makes complete sense. And the gory art I tend to like if it is well rendered, though I prefer painted stuff rather than photographs that have been digitally manipulated.