Do you have thirteen minutes to spare? That’s all you need to hear Desiphon, the raging new EP from midwest deathgrind killers Choke. Weighing in at five tracks, Desiphon packs in as much grinding goodness as they can; the EP moves at a swift pace, with a guitar tone that feels like sandpaper to the brain and drumming that can only be described as ferocious.
Vocalist Dusty Hansen oversees the chaos, growling out lines about the seemingly-crumbling state of the world as the other members of Choke create a fitting soundtrack for it. The only negative about Desiphon is that there isn’t more. Last track “Wraith” is nearly six minutes long, making it four-or-more times longer than the average song on the EP, and it shows the full potential of what Choke can do.
“As a collective, creating this release was an amazing experience from start to finish,” says guitarist Caleb Cheslock. “Overall all aspects were extremely cohesive and naturally easy flowing, but there was also a lot of time and detail put into making it. The songs themselves speak volumes about where we stand in the realm of personal integrity.
“It was an incredible experience getting to work with everyone who was involved in the making of this thing and we can’t thank those people enough—Kurt Ballou and Brad Boatright contributing their audio mastery, Matt Lombard gracing us with visceral artwork, and Dave Jackson bringing media to life in more than a few ways. As a band we’re nothing short of totally elated and anxious to pull the curtains back and let this thing out. As a whole, the final masters for the EP have been finished since June of 2021- so stoked to get this thing to everyone’s ears now!”
Desiphon is out this Friday on Translation Loss but you can listen to it in full now.