Depths @ The Powerstation, Auckland 06/03/14

I’m a long-time listener, yet first time viewer of the New Zealand heavy (very heavy) metal, death metal and hard-core band Depths and for me; what a worthy wait it was! I was fortunate to see one of NZ Metal’s best and brightest in support to Suicide Silence and the absolutely stunning Down, as fronted by Phil Anselmo; formerly of some really rad metal band from the 90s and earlier, you might of heard of `em… Pantera or something. So needless to say, the air of reverence in The Powerstation was thick on this particular night! Depths, based in Palmerston North, are no strangers to international support slots and they seem to know that; when you’re the ONLY Kiwi support act for an international billing, there’s really only two options: Be really good or, be so face melting-ley technical and awesome that you completely dominate the entire crowd. Depths chose the latter.

Putting on an economical and taut set, Depths dredged everyone’s eyeballs up from their feet or their beverage glasses and firmly onto the stage where they slayed their set. A collection of very clean-looking and pleasant young men, tuning their instruments and standing calmly on stage was replaced by a many-headed beast, undulating in perfect unison to their impossible down-tuned riffs with a Reagan from The Exorcist type of physical abandon. In a word, brutal. Most certainly the picks of the set were the pulverising Illumination and also, new-ish track The Cattle of Man. Essentially, this was a ‘stun and run’ mission, come out, play and get off the stage in the limited set time allocated. Hence, Bain was thrifty with his between song banter; in all honestly it felt viscerally entertaining to watch and I couldn’t help but whoop out loud with pride, that heaviness of this quality comes from our little islands that just love the dark side so much… a solidifying performance worthy of respect and further investigation from the Depths uninitiated.