Deprecipice is the 4^th album by Kingston upon Hull Sludgy/Doomy/Hardcorey unit Mastiff and it is slightly masterful.

Mastiff appear to understand the riff. It is utterly apparent in the 10 tracks on offer throughout the album. Straight from the opening seconds of the album, the band flex their considerable muscular frame, there is absolutely no messing about as ‘Bite Radius’ straddles your aural cavity like a colossus. It is an incredibly strong start that bodes well for the rest of the 1^st listen.

Deprecipice is a heavy album, that cannot be understated, and so it is not for the weak-willed, or the snowflake generation. No, the listener will need to put on their big boy, or girl,

pants and prepare themselves for the onslaught as our boys force-feed you the heavy.

Tracks such as ‘Void’ oozes menace with its genuinely threatening riff, and ‘Serrated’, featuring Harry Nott from Burner, provides you with unfettered aggression across the myriad of riffs on show and caps it off with a nice solo. There is a danger that the unhinged brutality that is hinted across the album could overwhelm the listener, but this is countered by album traits that can sometimes take the listener out the experience.

Deprecipice features a couple of, let us call them ‘filler’ tracks, but that name is slightly disingenuous, so let’s not bother. ‘Cut Throat’ is a track that sits apart from the rest of the album in that it is hidden under layers of noise and fuzz. You immediately wonder what it would sound like without that production, but it is not at all distracting and actually serves, cleverly, to break the album up. Track 9, ‘The Shape’ is another track doing a similar service to the album. This one could be on a horror movie soundtrack and would be brilliant as the intro music as the band walk on stage. Indeed, Mastiff are on tour in the UK, and if you can make it, do so.

There is absolutely nothing to dislike about this album. It is as intense as you would want a Mastiff release to be, it is monstrously heavy at times and it leaves you with a strong desire to play it again. This is highly recommended.