DEUS NOBISCUM

This time around we have a band or project that I was not familiar with, Deus Nobiscum. Bio tells it´s a band from The Netherlands and arose as a side project from a band called Receiving Immortality, bio goes on describing this as Progressive Death Metal, Djent and Metalcore.

Spotify has one single called ‘Conformed’. The production sounds like an ok home recorded demo. I think by the sound of it that it was fully done as a DIY solution which show´s quite quickly. The kick is quite prominent while the snare falls back little too much in the mix, making the drum mix a bit unbalanced. The guitar sound is pretty ok and sound heavy as it should since they are probably using 8 string guitars. The biggest problem with the mix is the vocals, they are too low and feels distant and buried. Can´t really distinguish what is being sung. You can hear in the beginning of the song that the theme melody is perceived louder than the actual vocals, which is not a good thing. The overall mix sounds like there´s a hole in the middle, feels scooped in the mids, but too much that it sort of leaves a hole in the mix. The vocal performance sounds really good though, I prefer the style the vocalist uses around 2:15. This should be the main voice in my opinion and then add the lows here and there. Just a personal preference but to me that style sounds way more aggressive and better.

The song in itself gives me some good Meshuggah references. Being a huge Meshuggah fan myself there´s a couple of passages that sound really cool and reminds me of Meshuggah. I would place this more towards that side of genres than Djent or Metalcore. Other future songs might be more Djenty perhaps but judging this one song, this isn´t really that much Djent. It´s rather based on heavy grooves but the rhythmic patterns are staying quite easygoing and easy to grasp, not giving me enough of that math metal vibe I´d wish for in this kind of music. I mean if their goal is to make it sound like math metal but really isn´t, the other option is that it is purposely done that it stays easy going and not so complex, rhythmically. Despite of that, the song has its fair share of good moments. It however left me with a feel that it was a solid effort but rhythmically wished for more complexity. Also, when comparing to some of the top bands in this area the guitar work would need some polishing. When you play a lot of rhythms that are in sync with the kick drum, the playing needs to be really spot on otherwise it will give the overall sound a sloppy feel and the mix turns a bit muddy and not so distinct, doesn´t matter how well it´s mixed, it will still sound a bit off. The rhythmic fundaments Kick, Bass and Guitars are super important especially when it´s supposed to play in sync.  Recording tightly comes with experience and by just practicing and just recording a lot, so I´m sure as they keep doing it more frequently the skills will develop along with it. 

Interesting project and curious to see what future songs will be like.