“When you see nothing is left of me to destroy, hope you remember that I was just a boy.”
Rising earlier this year as something of a djent supergroup, ten56, seemed to come out of nowhere. Being announced shortly after vocalist Aaron Matts’ departure from Betraying The Martyrs, the French group quickly turned heads with their brutal debut single “Diazepam”. With the remainder of the band being comprised of members of Uneven Structure, Kadinja and Novelists, it’s unsurprising this band sounds the way they do. Appropriately feeling like a cathartic release of djenty goodness, attempting to answer the question “how low is too low for a guitar tuning?”, it seems that Downer: Part 1 is a sandbox for all of these musicians to exorcise their demons with the heaviest possible shit they could conceive of writing.
It’s not all fun and games, though. Beneath the stank-face-and-laughter-inducing brutality are incredibly vulnerable tales of Matts’ struggles with addiction and abuse. It’s a raw examination of these topics to say the least, all appropriately put to the tune of some of the most insanely aggressive metal I’ve ever heard.
Opener “Exit Bag” wastes absolutely no time in setting the scene for dark, pissed off world ten56 have constructed here. Featuring hyper-speed chugs and infectious grooves that bring out some primal instinct within me to just move, the track shows (near) full sonic spectrum. With Matts weaving effortlessly between fierce growls and pacey rapped vocals before faking the audience with a full audio dropout preceding the aural assault that is the track’s breakdown. Utilizing whammy pedals to their fullest extent, guitarists Quentin Godet and Luka Garotin divebomb and squeal and they move up and down through octaves to create a soundscape so disorienting that you can’t help but pay attention.
Following tracks “Diazepam” and “Shitspitter” follow suit as truly brutal numbers, but the EP aesthetically changes up a tad as “Sick Bag” sees Matts ushering back in the rapped vocals, lamenting suicidal ideation over eerie nu-metal inspired leads and a heart-rate monitor carrying the track’s tempo, before flatlining after the track’s percussive, glitchy breakdown.
Closing cuts “Boy” and “Kimo” brings the tempo up a notch, bringing in these insane double-kick rolls from Arnaud Verrier. In general, Verrier’s performance here deserves to be lauded. Providing potent, primal grooves throughout the entire EP, his stellar drumming carries much of the intensity on his shoulders valiantly. On track specifics, the closing moments of “Boy”, leading into the intro of “Kimo” see Matts channeling his inner Corpse with a vocal-fry-heavy verse over what feels like an 808-centric trap-meets-industrial type instrumental before dropping back into the chaos for the remainder of that closing track.
With ten56, I feel that Aaron Matts has truly found his home. Downer: Part 1 is a ballistic and ridiculously fun foray into some of the most hyper-aggressive metal I’ve heard all year. Pummelling instrumental work, downright evil vocals and fantastic production line the experience of ten56’s debut EP, making for one of the most electrifying releases of the year, from one of metal’s most exciting supergroups. A full-length from this group might necessitate a tad more experimentation and variety than is found here, but as it stands Downer: Part 1 is just under 20 minutes of pure cathartic obliteration.
9/10