Hey there tech fiends, it's that time of the week again. Before we dive into today's focus, here's the usual weekly reminder that if you're looking for even more sick bands, all prior editions of this series can be perused here.
I've been a huge fan of Tokyo natives Desecravity ever since they dropped their debut album, Implicit Obedience, in 2012 through the always fantastic Willowtip Records. Then album number two, Orphic Signs, that was released in 2014 saw the band advance further and reaching new heights against all odds. The group’s third full-length, Anathema, will see release through Willowtip Records this Friday, January 25th. We’ve got a few days early exclusive stream of the album for you to check out below. This is one hell of an album and one I suspect many of you will enjoy.
For those new to the group. Desecravity plays a very extreme form of technical brutal death metal which blends the best and most insane aspects of Hate Eternal and Origin together to create the foundation of their sound. The band then incorporates in a lot of old school influence from acts such as Cannibal Corpse, Immolation, and early endlessly blasting frenetic Cryptopsy styled ideas among others.
So, what you get throughout Anathema is insane sweeps and bonkers level tapping fretwork spliced with meaty visceral death metal inspired by numerous old school gods. The end result is, as it’s always been with Desecravity, over-the-top and incredibly intense material not for the faint of heart. Too often, bands who play this form of extreme and speed focused technical brutal death metal are often quite boring and one note, both in the riff department and in the songwriting department. To be blunt, a lot of the bands who play this stuff don’t seem to have a lot of creativity, just a desire for extreme speed with brutality at the heart of things.
Fortunately, Desecravity has never fallen prey to those amateur pitfalls, sure Desecravity blast and sweep their hearts out but the more normal death metal within what they do and the well-crafted songwriting makes Anathema a standout effort. Truthfully, those are twin traits they've always had, but, Anathema sees the band for the third time, somehow further pushing their own limits and the scene at large with a truly memorable offering of crushing brutal minded technical death metal. Fans of Archspire would probably dig this one big time for similar reasons.
To describe it succinctly, Anathema is rabid, chaotic, and extended blast heavy insanity much of the time. Hearing their songs is the equivalent of being pulverized to death a thousand times per track. In spite of that sounding rather “normal” per se, the material on Anathema can get real quirky and unconventional at a moments notice in a way that reminds me of Gigan which is awesome. For the first time for Desecravity, a bit of black metal makes it's way into their music in a few songs too. And some sped up sounding Vektor-ish oddball proggy thrash tinged riffs also add a new element to what Desecravity has to offer this go around. While it’s always been a part of their sound, it’s a big plus as always that the prominent noodily bass playing adds much to the experience similar to all Mike Flore’s adds to Origins similarly extreme form of technical death metal.
This album is one of the most insane things I’ve heard in some time, and I’m happy to report it’s consistently brilliant and headbang-inducing from start to finish. It's not for everyone, but for those who enjoy this kind of style, Anathema is going to be one of the most memorable releases of 2019 for you as far as technical brutal death metal goes. It's that damn jaw-dropping consistently, while infused with plenty of original death metal roots and driven by well-crafted compositions that stand out from their peers. To put it simply, Desecravity are just better riff writers and stronger songwriters than 99% of the technical brutal death metal bands around. So jam our early stream of Anathema below, and if you’re digging it, pre-orders are available here and here. You can follow the group over on the Desecravity Facebook page.
