Despised Icon are officially back and their fifth full-length album Beast (which comes nearly seven years after 2009’s Day Of Mourning) certainly does have an apt name because it is an absolute beast!
It feels like Despised Icon has never been away – Beast packs the same punch as the band’s last efforts and it’s relentless from start to finish. There’s a hell of a lot of energy packed into the ten tracks and the delivery is absolutely fantastic. The band are all in sync with one another, moving as a single hard-hitting unit, and it really is something to behold.
Beast also does well at summing up the band’s live show; the energy exerted within the 29 minutes is tremendous and tracks such as Inner Demons, Grind Forever and One Last Martini will get your head banging and fist pumping – in a live environment these would surely go down an absolute storm!
The only minor complaint with the album is that at times it can be a little repetitive, with some of the songs lacking variation, but it’s nevertheless an absolutely banging album and if like me, you’ve been eagerly awaiting new material from the band since 2009, this album will definitely tick all the right boxes.
8/10
