Yautja – Songs of Descent

February 11, 2014 • self-released

Another random Bandcamp find; unfortunately I don't have a lot of background knowledge of Yautja, but I will say that going by this album, these guys are absolutely stellar.

Songs of Descent falls nicely into a bucket I like to call "sludgecore" (see Struck by Lightning and some KEN Mode), a combinations of dirty, heavy, chugging sludge with some of the faster technical elements of metalcore and modern hardcore—even a bit of grindcore, too, at least here. I haven't found many spectacular examples of this genre in action, but Yautja has definitely caught my ear. These are the kinds of riffs that really dig in under your skin—vile and nasty stuff but catchy and satisfying at the same time, and Yautja brings them non-stop and in full force.

The songs blast by quickly and there's a lot to process in a short time—fourteen tracks in less than forty minutes is lightning speed, especially with some of them being just a minute long. And they do a lot with the short time they have, going from Mastodon to Rotten Sound in seconds. It's a really interesting experience, one that demands attention from the listener as they never let what they're doing get repetitive or stale.

The one nitpicky thing I can think of is that the vocals are always pushed way far back in the mix (unless it's just my headphones?) that they often might as well not even be there. I think a better vocal presence could really push this band even farther. The rest of the band sounds great, though, and the mixing is otherwise very well-done.

Again, definitely worth giving a full listen. I definitely hope to hear more from Yautja soon.