It's rare that you find a band where every member is a songwriter. That level of talent is exciting to witness, and it's even cooler when bands do like Necropanther did and let each member gets to compose an EP. Their latest offering was composed by the bands guitarist and vocalist Paul Anop. It was recorded in isolation with the miracle of modern technology bringing it all together. Sometimes there are cool ideas that just don't entirely take off. Unfortunately that's how I feel about In Depths We Sleep the latest offering from blackened thrash-doom group Necropanther.
I will say - I really appreciate the ambition of what Necropanther are doing here. It's awesome to see a band that go out and try to fuse genres and find interesting new sounds within metal. However, on this record it really feels like a jack of all trades master of none type scenario. On some tracks, like 'The Descent Master' the instrumentals are great but the vocals are off, either too loud or not well executed. The band is at their best on tracks like 'Benthic Storms Master' where they lean into more traditional blackened thrash fare. It keeps them moving but shows that they are more than just another metal band aping the greats.
Necropanther are an interesting one any way you slice it. That being said, I wish they would just trim some of the fat and drive towards more relevant and appropriate futures for themselves without the unnecessary filler and genre explorations that don't seem to fit the overall ethos of the project. In Depths We Sleep is a thrilling record at its best and... just too weird when it isn't. I'd be curious to hear more from the band as they clearly have a few really strong elements, now it's just a question of seeing if they can build on them!
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