Sinner is the debut full length album from Canberra-based metalcore act Deathbeds; an ambitious concept album with themes focusing around the seven deadly sins. Forming in 2015, Deathbeds spent the first few years perfecting their art, not performing in public until 2018. During this time the band also released their first E.P, the aptly titled DEATH. Sinner builds upon the bands earlier work and their previous E.P. With a new level of polish and cohesion – Deathbeds seem to be a band clear in their vision and determined to reach new levels with this latest offering.
Opening track ’Gods Way Is My Way‘ sets the scene all too well for what is to come. An ethereal intro fully utilizing piano and string, where choral vocals lull the listener into a place of relaxed calm. But not before kicking the listener in the teeth with driving guitar riffs. The first taste of singer David Oliver’s vocals, the first scream, it is clear that Oliver has mastered his craft. He balances raw power with well articulated lyrics, taking the listener on a journey throughout the track.
Following on from ’Gods Way Is My Way‘ is the album’s first single, ‘What’s Yours is Mine and What’s Mine Is Mine‘, detailing our protagonist’s descent into greed. Starting off full-force, there is no “easing into it” on this one. However, it is on this track where we are introduced to Kit Samin’s haunting female vocal, adding a new layer to the track and taking the album to another level.
The third track ‘Enough Isn’t Enough’ is the album’s second single. This track takes the listener on a journey of gluttony and an unyielding thirst for power and dominion over others. One of the heavier tracks on the album, with a hard-hitting compulsion well complemented by Samin’s piano melody.
‘Forgive Me Father, For I Have Sinned’ provides a temporary reprieve from the intensity of earlier tracks and serves to truly showcase Samin as a formidable and haunting lead vocalist. A lament for the broken and a plea for strength and release, as demonstrated within the first verse – “I came to you to save me, you led further astray”.
As the protagonist continues his voyage through the sins, the temporary reprieve of ‘Forgive Me Father‘ is all but forgotten. The album launches into some of the heaviest tracks yet, as it builds towards its conclusion. But not before taking the listener through a journey of anger and jealousy, culminating in ’Born Again Heretic’. Everything on the album has led to this and it delivers, right up until the final notes.
Sinner was aided by its collaboration with Misstiq, sometimes referred to as the “metal keys queen renowned for making metal pretty”. The orchestration of Sinner raises the release from being just another metalcore album to something more. Sinner is something special and marks Deathbeds as a band to watch. The level of growth and layering of instruments on Sinner is a real growth from 2018’s DEATH E.P. It’s polished in its brutality and leaves us wanting more, making me wonder who the true glutton is here.
Review by Ginelle Cocks
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