Milwaukee-based deathcore quartet DARK DEEDS has unleashed their debut EP, “Death Keeps.” Recorded along the highways of Wisconsin in the band’s mobile studio, “Death Keeps” offers seven tracks of darkly aggressive metal. The band comments on their unorthodox recording process, “We wanted to make the recording process unique and memorable, so we hit the road in a 14-foot camper, traveling around Wisconsin to write and record our music. This mobile studio experience was fun and inspired us in ways we hadn’t imagined.”

The album has seven songs, and “Found Underneath a Cold Knife” is first. It’s a short introduction to the album. A slow, heavy, and crushing guitar riff rides underneath harsh vocals that are guttural and times and higher at others. “Leech” is even lower and slower, and those two elements the band seems to have down well. There is also some ambient background elements, which help to enhance the sound. “Apostate” is a person who renounces a religious or political belief or principle, and their spoken word clearly addresses their feelings about the subject. It’s pessimistic, but it is their true feelings. “Dogma” means the doctrine of belief in a religion or a political system, and I am sensing some themes that connect the songs together. The music is solid for the genre, but it doesn’t expand it much.

“Remorse” is an interesting song…the opening lyrics seem to speak directly to someone regretting something, but the music is like a big “fuck you” to the person who received the barbed tongue. “King of Pentacles” has another low and slow sound. “They will pay for their crimes” he shouts, and I believe him. The title track closes the album, and I love the heavy dissonance. The band’s rage seems to know no limits as well. Overall, this was a solid album in the genre of Deathcore, and a good first effort from the band. As they spend more time together, they will be more comfortable branching out from the more common features of the genre and charting more of their own path.