Hello and welcome back to the Bandcamp Buried Treasure article series, where I'll be hunting down Buy It Now/Free Download-payment option albums on Bandcamp by the best bands you've never heard! The goal is to introduce you to smaller bands or obscure side-projects you might not have heard of. Anything to expand your musical horizons by just a little bit each week, all while keeping your cost (potentially) down! This week we'll be listening to the progressive-done-right stylings of The Deadstation!
From the kicking off of "Hundred Foot Drop" to the closer "Slowly, but Surely, I'm Drowning," The Deadstation have meticulously molded a microcosmic universe that tells a story and evokes all the imagery the listener needs through lyrics, and emotion to go along with it through well-written and perfectly executed music. While that might seem to be the standard fare for any progressive rock or metal record, The Deadstation have one more trick up their sleeve; the ability to write in hook after hook on both instruments and vocals, to the point where you're not going to be able to decide which song gets to get stuck in your head first. While we're on the topic of songwriting, the band also manage to know when it's time to move on from a riff or segment; Episode 01: Like Peering Into the Deepest Ocean Abyss has had 100% of the fat trimmer and only the most enjoyable product delivered in the end.
"Hundred Foot Drop" simply sets the mood for "Subsistence Defined," which sounds a lot like if newer Fates Warning decided to get extremely aggressive with their music and lose any semblance of clean tones. Remember those hooks I was talking about? That song is a tackle box in terms of where you're going to be finding hooks. Next up is the four-part suite "Like Peering Into the Deepest Ocean Abyss," because The Deadstation are fans of doing things that make sense. The first part, "Drugs For Pain Inside," remains pretty heavy and dark throughout with some interesting vocal effects and riffs for days. It's also upward of seven-minutes, but it certainly doesn't feel like it, especially with all the additional keyboard textures and changing tones in the song that constantly set different moods of the same overall dark tonality of the record. "August 4, 3:21 A.M." is a semi-ambient piece that tells the story of the main character's struggle with what I assume to be depression and facing the enormity of life overtop an Ayreon-like soundscape, and gives way to "Anything But This, Anywhere But Here," which is just a giant hook of a song. It's also interesting in that it utilizes mainly high-end vocals, but ends up coming off more 90's James LaBrie than annoying (90's LaBrie rules and you know it). With all the weight of hooks, heaviness, and monologues that aim to crush, we arrive at the final part of suite "I Cannot Explain Myself Anymore." The song begins like a happy Devin Townsend jam and explodes into more of the same… which isn't a bad thing. It's a nice ending to an otherwise dark suite that drags you down to the absolute depths of the human mind that lets the listener feel relief. Finally we arrive at another, and the closer, monologue-laden ballad-type song "Slowly, but Surely, I'm Drowning," which is an extremely solemn and sad way to end the record. With subject matter like that though, it's a logical ending that nails a final nail in the coffin before dropping the whole thing in the ground.
Episode 01: Like Peering Into the Deepest Ocean Abyss is downright dark, depressing, then a little uplifting… in that way where it waits for you to dig yourself out, only to drop an anvil on your head. Keep in mind this is the band's debut record, so there's simply no telling where they're going to be headed next! In short, The Deadstation are the quiet masters of progressive metal, drawing from modern and classic influences alike, waiting for their day to be beheld in praise as they deserve.
