DESECRESY: Deserted Realms
Release year: 2023
Label: Xtreem Music
Finnish Desecresy are one of those bands, who’ve been plying their trade for a good while somewhat out of the limelight, chip by chip whittling away excess and piece by piece honing their expression. Essentially since their debut album Arches Of Entropy in 2010, the band – originally a duo, now a one-man act – have been doing the same thing. Their brand of cavernous death metal of cosmic horrors hasn’t had major shifts or turns of direction, nor any massive evolution, but still each album moves forward. Even if it sometimes seems like it’s at a slug’s pace.
And so, we’re here at their 8th album, Deserted Realms. In many ways, it’s another brick in the wall. The band are keeping up their steady pace of one album per year or every other year. No significant stylistic shifts to be found. Essentially, anyone familiar with the act will know exactly what to expect.
And inherently, there are both pros and cons to that. To the latter bracket can be chalked up stuff like predictability, a certain level of sameyness, constant treading of already trod paths, and so on. To the former bracket, sticking to what they know, consistency and not changing a working recipe.
Which bracket weighs more depends ultimately, I guess, on how much you like Desecresy’s sound and style.
I’ll be honest with you: on the whole, Desecresy sometimes bores me a bit. We’ll get to the why’s of that in a while, because these things haven’t changed on the newest album. The thing is, that even so, one thing I’ve always liked about Desecresy are the atmospheres, and how sole member Tommi Grönqvist manages to express them in the music. The album covers always look mystic, subterranean, cavernous, cosmic and oppressively eerie. And that’s how Desecresy also sounds: cavernous, chugging riffs that sound like unfathomable monoliths in vast darkness; eerie, melancholy melodies that speak of cosmic tragedies; guttural vocals that seem to emanate from unseen depths. And for the most part, steady mid-tempo rolling tempos, which churn unrelentingly on like some juggernaut monster from the subterranean void.
This, too, remains on Deserted Realms. And chip by chip, Desecresy are perfecting their expression: this is probably the most mature and streamlined expression of Desecresy’s almost obsessive sound. Especially the presence of eerie, dark synths here and there assist in creating atmospheres.
But the downside, which I alluded to already above. Well, simply put, Desecresy don’t write particularly interesting songs or riffs. Picking the album apart, it devolves into a uniform pulp where no track rises up to become either a highlight or a letdown. The riffs aren’t very memorable, the guttural growl lacks variation. This seriously cripples long-time appeal.
In the end, Desecresy’s main draw is the mood more than the music. Of course the two cannot be separated, but I think you catch my drift by now: Deserted Realms, like its predecessors, is strong in atmosphere and the cosmic, cavernous darkness it evokes. In terms of tracks that stick with you – considerably less so.
And that’s pretty much my bottom line. Deserted Realms is probably Desecresy’s most desecresyest album to date, so to speak; the most mature expression of the concept they’ve been aiming at since their inception. And there is a lot to like here. But also non-trivial things to criticize. A good album, but that with some reservations.
Only Death Is Real 