MASTIFF: Decibel Magazine Premieres Deprecipice From Brutal Metallic Sludge Outfit; Full-Length To Drop Tomorrow, March 22nd, On MNRK Heavy

Photo by Nick Sayers

“…these are songs for when you’re at the end of your rope, when hopeless lyrics and vicious fight riffs make more sense than therapy or promises of better days…” — Decibel Magazine

Decibel Magazine is currently streaming Deprecipice, the latest full-length from brutal metallic sludge outfit MASTIFF, in its demoralizing entirety. The premiere comes on the eve of the record’s official release Friday, March 22nd via MNRK Heavy.

Everything MASTIFF does is in the name of intensity. Since forming amid the misery of Kingston-Upon-Hull in 2013, the UK five-piece have crashed extreme metal, sludge, and hardcore together to create the most brutal sonic onslaughts possible all in the name of keeping their music fresh, raw, and seething.

Signing to MNRK Heavy three years ago, MASTIFF’s commitment to blunt-force aggression remains untempered. Their 2021 album, Leave Me The Ashes Of The Earth, was described by Blabbermouth’s Dom Lawson as a, “horrifying slab of disgust,” and a, “sustained scream in the face of uncontrollable madness.” Now comes its long-anticipated follow-up, Deprecipice, an album that, somehow, smacks even harder than anything this band has unchained before, produced by longtime collaborator Joe Clayton (Wallowing, Ithaca, Tuskar) at Manchester’s No Studio.

“We’ve gone quite a lot towards a hardcore sound,” says vocalist Jim Hodge. “Where the last one was more death metal, this one’s a lot more staccato: a lot more defined, riff-wise.”

Unlike so many of their extreme metal peers right now, though, MASTIFF didn’t source this rejuvenated savagery from the anxieties and frustrations of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the lockdowns ended and real life started to resume in 2021 and 2022, Hodge and guitarist/vocalist James Lee Ross noticed the spirits of the world around them lifting. Feelings of trauma and isolation were beginning to enter people’s rear-view mirrors – and it was an overcoming that the duo couldn’t relate to. Ross was mourning the loss of his mother, while Hodge realized he was still grieving over the death of his five-day-old son, Isaac, in 2010.

“The album’s called Deprecipice, and that pretty much sums up where me and James were when we wrote it,” says the singer. “We were both standing back on the edge of a depressive void.”

With Deprecipice, MASTIFF has made a magnum opus that bleeds with genuine pain.

Writes Decibel Magazine, “As always, MASTIFF’s sound is rooted in aggressive sludge metal and metallic hardcore. On Deprecipice, they draw more heavily from the second, cranking out a steady flow of thick, chugging riffs and raucous mosh parts. The opening one-two punch of ‘Bite Radius’ and ‘Everything Is Ending’ sets the mood: these are songs for when you’re at the end of your rope, when hopeless lyrics and vicious fight riffs make more sense than therapy or promises of better days…”

**Stream MASTIFF’s Deprecipice, alongside an interview with the band, courtesy of Decibel Magazine, at THIS LOCATION.**

Watch MASTIFF’s previously released video for “Serrated” at THIS LOCATION.

Deprecipice will be released on CD, LP, and digital formats. Find preorders at THIS LOCATION.

To support Deprecipice, MASTIFF will hit the road begining touring the UK, which includes a stop at London’s legendary The Black Heart, alongside UK extreme metal outfit, Yersin. See all confirmed dates below.

MASTIFF w/ Yersin:
3/22/2024 Polar Bear – Hull, UK
3/23/2024 Audio – Glasgow, UK
3/24/2024 Bannermans – Edinburgh, UK
3/27/2024 The Black Heart – London, UK
3/28/2024 Green Door Store – Brighton, UK
3/29/2024 Crofters Rights – Bristol, UK
3/30/2024 Devils Dog – Birmingham, UK
3/31/2024 Rough Trade – Nottingham, UK

“The thunderous instrumentals, the vehement vocals, and the grim production throughout ensure this album has both listenability and staying power for many years to come.” — Ghost Cult

“…a twisted, angry shriek at an increasingly uncaring world. It’s exactly as cathartic as it sounds.” — Angry Metal Guy

“…a complete and all-encompassing descent into the void – a weight on your chest that simply won’t budge, a reminder both lyrically and sonically that nothing lasts and everything decays…” — Distorted Sound

“…an exceptional, emotional landscape and the songs lead you right to the precipice of pain that the members endured before expressing it here. There is no hope and it sounds absolutely divine.” — Echoes And Dust

“An album for the consideration of the angry and depressed alike…” — Boolin Tunes

“…one of the most heavy and uncompromising albums I have heard in the first three months of this year. That’s saying a lot because, as a reviewer and Doom Charts contributor, I have already listened to well over a hundred albums. This one makes the bulk of them sound like an after school special.” — Doomed 4 Metal

“Across the album’s 35-minute run time, Deprecipice continually crushes and takes names.” — Heavy Music HQ

MASTIFF:
Jim Hodge – vocals
James Lee Ross – guitars/vocals
Phil Johnson – guitar
Dan Dolby – bass
Michael Shepherd – drums