Drowning (Paris, France)

As requested by one of our readers, here are the Drowning/Restrain split 7" from 1997 and the self-titled MCD from 1999 by this French band. Hailing from Paris, Drowning started out in 1996 as a heavy NYHC meets beatdown band and over time became a full-on deathmetal band. On the split 7" with Restrain they still played their old tough hardcore with their old line-up, which featured Jean-Marc on vocals, the guy who did Inner Rage Records (Starkweather, Overcast, Kickback, etc...). I have 2 versions of this 7" which was released on Back Ta Basics Records (Rick Ta Life's label for those who don't know... tho I doubt anybody didn't already know this). I scanned in both covers, which are the usual sloppy xeroxed and badly cut covers which were so typical for most BTB releases. The split 7" was released after the band did a demo (which I only have a dub of, so I didn't include it), with this line-up the band also contributed 2 songs to the 'The Nightmare Remains... In This Other Land' compilation I posted not too long ago. Restrain, from Ozone Park NY, play raw mid-tempo NYHC... I also have their 1996 demo, not sure what else they did. Good stuff either way, and a solid split 7" all around.

In mid 1998 singer Ridwan and bassist Stéphane, formerly of Cemetery/Garden Of Silence, joined Drowning, and the band switched their style around quite a bit. They dropped most of their NYHC influences and the metal side of their sound took center-stage. In 1999 the band returned with a self-titled MCD on Belgium's hardest label, Released Power Productions. I remember the first show they played with the new line-up, shortly before the MCD was released. They started their set with 'Veil Of Disguise', the second track of the MCD. Pretty much everybody knew they'd switched to a more metal-oriented style, but very few people had already heard the new songs. Awesome stuff, people loved it. A night to remember. And this MCD is definitely the best Drowning release to date in my opinion. Afterwards they became pretty much a full-on death metal band and they lost me there. But this is a damn good record.

Drowning/Restrain split 7"
Drowning - s/t MCD
Drowning myspace