The rise of nu metal has reached The Netherlands too. The genre has been back for a while now and more and more bands are getting back into nu metal genre and new bands are popping up everywhere. Durden is one of those bands from The Hague in The Netherlands. Combining rap metal with low tuned guitars. Durden has been around since early 2019 according to Bandcamp when they released their very first single ‘shit Away’. Now releasing on the 11th of November, ‘Sense Of Self’ in digital format and on digipak cd which will be available through the band

 

Not being really familiar with the current state of the Dutch nu-metal/rap metal scene, I am ready to be surprised. ‘Land Of Pain’ is the first track of ‘Sense Of Self’. One of the first things that we notice are the lyrics that are about the tough troubles and issues in life. Very good topic because nowadays that is important to share with each other. ‘Land Of Pain’ is filled with a lot of metaphors which can get confusing at some points. There are a lot of hooks in the song where you can get back to if you get lost in the vast amount of lyrics that the vocalist blasts towards us. We even get treated with a fitting solo which is a pleasant surprise to the song. After the solo, there is a bit of mainly guitar music that I don’t get even after a couple of listens. 

 

During the next two songs, ‘Pro Hater’ and ‘Creepin’, the old Korn-ish riffs and grooves are being introduced, especially during ‘Creepin’. It does contradict the aggressive ‘Pro Hater’ a bit which can get confusing. During this song, the deep bass is really taking the upper hand. A good choice to go with a strong and noticeable bass sound. Like ‘Land Of Pain’, ‘Creepin’ has got an outro which is hard to place after such a groovy song. 

 

To round up the EP, Durden does give us a quite heavy breakdown during ‘44’ which is a refreshing thing after the previous songs going all over the place. Maybe that is because Durden combines rap metal with alternative metal and nu-metal. It feels like they got to find their exact sound and for me that is during the song ‘Creepin’ where they take the more Korn-ish style which suits their musicianship a lot more than the more upbeat ‘Pro Hater’, ‘44’. I am sure that every song will have more power when visiting a Durden live gig. That is the case with a lot of nu-metal/rap metal bands/projects. I am sure Durden will find their sound and evolve more and more in their field of work.