lista zespołów Black Death Inferion The Desolate

After almost 9 years since the release of Inferion's Firewar in 2003, the band finally releases the follow up album. More than 6 years in writing and production, The Desolate can certainly be summarised as an album containing the band's blood and soul, what with band mastermind Nick (aka Thor) recording parts of the album while deployed in Iraq with his army unit.

One would almost expect then, the elements of emotions encountered in deployment in a country as unstable as Iraq to show through in The Desolate, and this would definitely leave a certain level of expectation in the listener as one begins playing the album. For one, the music on the album is mostly aggressive black metal, and this is evident right from the start as the listener is greeted immediately by the growls of Thor on Among the Twilight, with little warning at all. Songs on the album mostly travel at a blistering pace, with little time for the listener to breathe. Throughout the album, Thor displays his abilities as a musician, easily handling both guitar and drum duties and displaying flair in playing these instruments, with most of the album travelling at an almost urgent speed. While the guitar lines are mostly trem-picked riffs with little flamboyant moments, what is impressive is his ability to handle the intensive drumming on the album as well.

That said though, below all the aggression and chaos above, there is a certain sense of desolation and even a slight tinge of sadness in some of the melodies in some of the riffs that are written on the album, such as those on Among the Twilight and the intro of Moment of Anger, sounding almost as if the psychological effects of being deployed in a less-than-ideal scenario had gotten to Thor. The interlude/instrumental Numerous Lacerations even makes use of some sort of vertigo effect on the introductory guitar parts, giving listeners a sense of unease. The track stands out as one of the more unique one as well, with the play on the lead guitars and the emotional guitar lines, despite the odd sense of calm that is present on the track.

Also, for an album that is self-produced, The Desolate has a pretty decent production quality, though at times the tone of the drums can get slightly synthetic and overbearing, threatening to drown out the rest of the instruments. The thin sound of the drums and guitars, and the loudness of the album can get slightly irritating initially as well, though one gets used to this pretty quickly as the album progresses. Overall though, The Desolate is a pretty enjoyable album, though the number of years and amount of effort that has been put in does not really show, with few memorable moments on the album. The knowledge of the background of the recording of the album though, definitely helps in giving credibility to the more emotional moments on the album.