Left sightless and draining of the poisoned sting of adrenaline our sensorial overwhelm comes with a call from the edge, a wounded growl of spiteful warning which intoxicates the corrupted perception of our protagonist who won’t be denied this jog within the abyss. In a starkly cacophonic octagonal configuration set to maximal refraction Helsinki, Finland-based death metal project Desecresy present another exemplar rationing of cult and cryptic atmospheric death from their depths, an unreal and otherworldly realm so deeply imagined at this point that it begins to carry with it the weight of serialized, unbreakable hallucination. Album number eight on a sojourn I’ve followed from the start, ‘Deserted Realms‘ offers another hundred turns of every dial in order to further stylize the render on this vexing, morbid and mind-flaying eminence, a resonance that could only come from such intently focused specialization.

Cold, chasmic, raked across the ear like sheet metal being shorn in half describing the 2009 formed and still steadfast work of musician Tommi Grönqvist (ex-Slugathor) has warranted qualifiers as off-the-mark as “lo-fi” and perhaps right on every descriptor given to architecture or landscape per Lovecraft. The gist of the appeal here in terms of sheer sonic excess is actually minimalistic in modus, a true underground bit of sound design tailored to the extreme buzz and echoic nature of death metal traceable back to the late 80’s inspiration and slowly given life back in the late 90’s. The band had formed from the cessation of Slugathor, essentially, as Grönqvist‘d originally formed this project as a duo but as far as I understand the original vocalist, Jarno Nurmi (Serpent Ascending, ex-Nerlich) moved far north at some point beyond their fourth album (‘Stoic Death‘, 2015). If you are not familiar with their sound consider it stylized far beyond the ‘Vulgar Necrolatry‘ tape from Abhorrence, downtuned and horrified a la Gorement‘s debut (see also: early Incantation, Cianide) and given a syncopated step per a lingering obsession with Bolt Thrower‘s inimitable legacy of riff and rhythm. The actual result is unique to the guitarist’s vision and has evolved its cadence and repertoire into an entirely idiosyncratic body of work thus far, one which I’d hesitate to describe as repetitious since the evolution of the approach has been linear, never choosing to cannibalize the self or become sentimental.

Since I’ve written in some detail about each of the last four records from the project since 2017’s ‘The Mortal Horizon‘ most of what I’ll have to say will be pecking at nuances of performance and render. The most important point of reference in terms of my own writing is probably my fairly extensive review of ‘Unveil in the Abyss‘ (2022) which detailed the heights of the developing complexity of signature and the spaced-atmospheric lengths their work has pushed towards within each release. I think my biggest concern with album number seven (and the reprised Slugathor release that same year) was that I’d begun to feel the need for something new, different or at least wonder if getting another release in that exact style and enjoying the nuances might still have the same thrilling effect. Well, yes, in the sense that nothing else sounds like Desecresy and this eighth iteration of that sound only continues to develop in strange and interesting ways. It is possible I am just that much of a fan and I know how well these albums hold up as engrossing, transfixed and honest pure underground death metal releases.

The face value changes here should ultimately speak for themselves within a couple of listens where louder distorted bass guitar tones begin to break through the altogether clearer (read: louder) render which now sounds even more brutally downtuned per the low end’s more rounded feature. Drums are slightly more crisp in their presence with some attention paid to the cymbal work, breaking up the types of rhythms that Grönqvist typically messes with and lending a bit more variation to the descending vortex one would expect ‘Deserted Realms‘ to be. We first hit upon this change with “Spirits at the Cursed Ruins”, a different ripple to introduce the main rhythms before the tunnel is carved which helps to make this piece especially memorable for the trip it takes, anvil smashing and abyss groaning included. Otherwise I would generally describe this record as ‘brutal’ compared to the last few releases from Desecresy where deeper cosmic atmospheric noodling and disharmonic dual lead clashing and guitar effects were a big focus with odd-timed intersections being a bit part of their hex, this time I’m reminded of ‘The Mortal Horizon‘ in that some of the songs bash at it a bit harder even if the doom-slowed and effects shuddering work from the maestro’s guitar is still the focal point of signature and exploration. “Approaching Sound” in particular gives us the gamut, blasting away in a few impressive leaps but by the time we’re deep in the trench that is “Dark Chambers” you’ve gotten a lungful of their coal-black and heady sound at its current point of evolution.

What makes the echoing shuffle and thundered-at movement of Desecresy so effective is the momentum it builds as an alternative to death/doom’s tendency to rely upon either the ex-thrasher riff positioning of ‘To Mega Therion‘ or the pummel and pull back which ‘Onward to Golgotha‘ still does best and instead Grönqvist‘s approach to rhythm seems to have developed around jamming to a mid-paced double-bass rolled kick and slower doom metal beats, a tendency which first showed up on the last Slugathor record which I’ve always equated with the deeper cuts on albums like ‘Mercenary‘ in the late 90’s but taken to a new extreme. The difference of course is that this artist keeps the conversation ringing infinite, avoiding punctuating most of his pieces with ‘hooks’ but rather leans into the echo chamber created by cavernous production values and uses repetition to create a trancelike state. As we reach into the second half of ‘Deserted Realms‘ and find ourselves waist deep in the chugging storm of riffs a song like “Shroud of Mist” perfectly reflects this history and its exaggerations within its intensely dynamic movement, though this is another piece which benefits from some small changes made to the function of drums to shake up the song type a bit which reflects the effect of “Spirits at the Cursed Ruins” in an inverse configuration.

Of course as much of a fan as I am it’d be disingenuous of me to not be straight up and say, eh, that album art looks fuckin’ squashed down to the wrong ratio. There is a lot communicated in that image and it looks like it was meant to be two panels but got smashed down to half-width and with the exception of ‘Stoic Death‘ it might be one of their worst album images to date. Not because it is a bad illustration but because it looks like it was mashed down by mistake. Oddly enough the posterior image on the back of the vinyl sleeve would’ve made for an absolutely perfect cover image but eh, it doesn’t matter what I think plus I’d stopped caring once the music hit. Aesthetics aside, ‘Deserted Realms‘ is yet another fantastic release from Desecresy who’ve been unstoppable in their entirely based quest for dark and original death metal atmosphere from the start. As a longtime fan I am still getting mileage out of their 2022 release today and this one easily bumped into regular rotation thanks to some upgrades to both fidelity and oeuvre which feel both natural and unrelated to current trendiness or whatever else. A high recommendation.

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