Unveil in the Abyss

Desecresy is a long-running solo death metal project from Tommi Grönqvist, the guitarist of "cavernous" death metal progenitors Slugathor. With that out of the way, let's talk about the massive sound that is Unveil in the Abyss. This is a mammoth death metal album, one that certainly will appeal to fans of Slugathor but also Corpsessed, Cruciamentum, and Cerebral Rot (plus other bands who coincidentally start with "C"). I love this tone - when done right, it's totally overwhelming in a very good way. Combine that with some relatively clean leads like the beginning of "Rivers of the Nether Realm" and midway through "Necrolevitation", and you've got a death/doom album that's way more than just down-tuned tritones.

Desecresy is contemporary death/doom, but it bears stating that this isn't the kind of "death/doom" that's synonymous with "death metal played at quarter-speed". The breakdowns have purpose - and often sound incredible. The final two minutes of "Echo Beyond Time" are some of the best minutes in 2022 death metal so far, and "Rivers of the Nether Realm" opens with and eventually bridges to hard-hitting, fast-paced ripping power chords that transition to a mid-paced session rather than an immediate fall into half-time. "Cult of Troglodytes" dips a bit into the 2018 cavernous cliche, but at least it wears well its title.

There's one significant flaw, one that I thought was because my computer downloaded the digital files weirdly. The fourth and fifth tracks strangely dip hard in fidelity, suddenly losing much of the stereo sound as if they were down-sampled to 96 kilobytes per second. This isn't just my files: the Spotify version and Xtreem Music's Bandcamp pages have the same issue, as does any YouTube rip I was able to find. I don't own a physical version, so I'm not sure how that would sound, but it appears that at the very least the digital files have this strange production loss. The fidelity goes back up on the sixth and seventh tracks, which makes me wonder what exactly happened during the mixing of this album.

It's a shame - that issue kneecaps an otherwise awesome death metal release. I just find myself skipping those two tracks every time I listen to Unveil in the Abyss because the production change is so sudden - that's over 13 minutes of a 43 minute album. Both of the tracks are as good as the rest of the album in songwriting, but I can't look past that issue.

So if you check out Desecresy (which you should) and this album (which you should, too), just keep that in mind. This would easily be an 80%-ish album if the production drop didn't exist.

Desecresy’s discography is a joy to look at on Metal Archives. Seven albums and zero EPs, splits, demos, compilations, live recordings, or other gumph. Not to slag off the 99.99% of artists out there who by choice or circumstance have not restricted themselves to the LP format, but the clarity and simplicity of the Desceresy approach, which has seen them release an album consistently almost every two years since 2010 has become one of the few constants in my life.

Desecresy are one of those artists that found a distinctive niche for themselves very early on, and have deviated little from this formula ever since. Plodding, mid-paced death metal which structurally has more in common with minimalist industrial, owing to the rhythmically persistent percussive riffing philosophy. Melodic material is found in simple lead guitar refrains that – instead of offering up a tapestry of riffs by which to build a composition – instead circle round repeated licks or half formed ideas that echo out of the chugging, atonal rhythm section with strangely unpredictable menace, all supplemented by their trademark chasmic production values. Modern caverncore finds a recent superior precursor in this unlikely marriage of Bolt Thrower and Black Funeral

This is an idiosyncratic way of crafting death metal, reliant on repetition, subtle yet linear rhythmic manipulation, and a minimalist philosophy, features more typically considered the remit of black metal, which only served to make Desecresy all the more anomalous. But given the breadth of material they have offered in the style, the creeping spectre of laurel resting began to lurk behind this entity. ‘Unveil in the Abyss’ out this April, serves to answer these concerns however.

For an experimental incrementalist such as Desecresy, this album is the perfect mix of develop whilst maintaining a firm anchor in the key identifiers that makes their style so unmistakable. Structurally, compositionally, technically, little has changed. Pounding mid-paced rhythms hammer out of the speakers with simple, Bolt Thrower style chugging riffs filling out the mix, enveloping the listener in a mechanical wall of sound. Lead guitars jump out at frequently reliable intervals, adding harmonic complexity and tension when required, and fleshing out the doom laden atmosphere. Guttural vocals swagger forth with renewed confidence, bottoming out the mix with agreeable jeopardy.

So what’s new? It’s a similar feeling engendered by Hate Forest’s ‘Hour of the Centaur’. A well established artist with an unmistakable style releasing an album specifically designed not to rock the boat too hard. One is liable to be called out for phoning it in by lazily hitting all the familiar beats dictated by audience expectations. But then something happens. On putting the tracks together, writing, performing, arranging, mixing and mastering them, the artist gains a newfound love of their craft, one that is immediately discernible at the other end by us, the listener, in the finished product.

It’s as if they have suddenly rediscovered why they love what they do, and this love shines forth in every sinew of the music. Desecresy have offered by and large the same format we have heard six times before. But on ‘Unveil in the Abyss’ the production is beefed up, the drums sound fatter, the bass is weightier, the guitar tone richer, the focus on dark warmth rather than the previous mechanical and somewhat tinny aesthetic. But beyond this, the performances and compositions themselves present with renewed fluidity, demonstrative of an artist truly enjoying what they do, and allowing the music to flow out of them with ease.

This is the sound I have always wanted to hear beneath the Desecresy formula. And although there’s no denying that they have previously delivered on their promise of minimalist, atmospheric death metal, here their vision seems to have suddenly come to life with renewed vigour.

Originally published a Hate Meditations