Album Review: Creak - Depth Perception
Reviewed by Liam True
Creak are a well-hidden gem in the belly of the UK underground metal scene. Death Perception comes to us as the band’s debut album; and my god, what a debut!
The energy on the record is unmatched. There are many bands out there that have a similar sound and who try to be frantic and as heavy as can be, but Creak have taken those bands, rewritten the formula and have created the most organised mess of guitar screeches and volatile vocals this side of the 2020’s. I mean opening with the pulsating Crossroads is one thing, but the fact that the album never stops in anyway shape or form is amazing. From the hulking vocals of frontman Jack Dunn to the dual guitar battle of Patrick Morton & Reece Boakes they work together perfectly.
The album is 12 tracks totalling in at almost 40 minutes and across that time scale, the band take you on a journey through an anthology of pain, dread, misery, morality and hope. Lyrically it explores all these topics in either vivid ways or extremely grotesque ways. It’s a powerful look into the mind of the band. On a song like Doomed it’s a full-frontal descriptive affair about sanity and losing someone. Whereas on A Head Full Of Rain it’s about being with someone you love during the worst times in life. It's written amazingly and performed even better. Drummer Robert Wilkinson absolutely shines through the record as his drumming is powerful and frenzied across all 12 songs.
On the song, Left To Heaven however, the band take a slower and more somber side to the record. It's the most heartbreaking song on the album with its atmospherics and clean vocals from Dunn and slower simplistic drumming from Wilkinson. It’s a small but welcomed break from the chaos that is Death Perception. The album back to front is full to the brim with heavy hitters and only a small case of filler, but even that’s not making the album bad in anyway. And being produced by Connor Sweeney (Formally of Loathe) it sounds huge but gargled which works in the albums favour and adds to the intensity.
