Desolator "Sermon of Apathy" Review

 

The School of Riff Architecture is open for class, and the professors emeritus in Desolator have laid down their syllabus for the year

    Yeah, that's right, the boys from Sweden are serving up healthy helpings of speed and aggression as all the kids return to school. What better time to dole out relentless riffage than when it's time to start believing yourself a scholar once again? Straight out of Stockholm, Desolator are setting the scene for the world of sermons and seminars the world 'round with their second full-length album, Sermon of Apathy. I'll be the first to tell you there's absolutely no fucking around going on this time around either. Brandishing a species of borderline melodeath sensibilities mixed in with some of the sludgiest offerings of the modern OSDM revival scene, Desolator have set about showing everyone how shit is done; in style.

    Back in 2013 Desolator blazed onto the scene with a breakout album worthy of note for anyone whose denim vest has less than a few square inches of space left unpatched. Unearthly Monument was quite the logical extension of the old school mentality, paying homage to acts like "No Canonization"-era Carbonized and even a bit of Cianide if they ever played above 40bpm. Such an auditory assault can only be helmed by the sort of masters of riff construction that Desolator are. You see, I'm convinced that since the beginning Desolator have been playing on guitars made of solid tungsten carbide because the disgusting hostility they put to record then and now is fucking heavy. Forged by the pounding of kick pedals on the thickest bass drum heads in all of Scandinavia, the brand of death metal on display is masterful and unmatched by us mortals untempered by the tundra's harsh blows. 

    No bullshit was the name of the game then just as it is now. Sermon of Apathy begins without so much as a shred of warning fire, launching listeners unremittingly into "Portal Tomb" at the sounding of the ghastly howls of vocalist Jonas Bergkvist invoking Yog-Sothoth and "the lord of gates". I could listen to this intro on repeat for hours, and the riff that follows in the first verse is just delightful. There's both aggression and playfulness in equal measure, with rhythmic interplay keeping every second fresh. To be sure, this is dad's death metal thru and thru: blasts and d-beats and tremolo strumming riffs galore. But the polish and creativity is to a degree few modern bands strive for, much less achieve.

    Simplicity really is the calling card of Desolator, though, and I feel like I can't state that enough. I was just talking with Eric the other day and we were listening to "All Things Dead" by Origin. He said to me, "you know, it's funny how in a song full of fast sweeps I'm most interested in the riff that's two or three notes played really fast." It's a sign of truly great songwriting to use tried and true convention yet still feel like the progenitor of said convention. Every song on Sermon is a testament to how simple, yet effective, the old death metal adages really are. "Creatures of Habit" spends a lot of time on a few typical, well-executed riffs just to turn on its head for the last few minutes with several rhythmic variations that feel complicated - but aren't. They're just fresh; they make the listener stop in their tracks and really absorb what's being put to record. The closing track "The Great Law of the Dead" is an exercise in knowing exactly when to switch things up, and how to do so, alternating deftly between onslaughts of high energy riffs and laid back breakdowns. Did I mention that track features the almighty Karl Sanders? In case you needed another reason to love this shit, you've got Pharaoh Sanders and his signature brand of headstock-shaking vibrato wailing out to wrap up the album.

    I will say, it's a good thing Sermon is as short as it is. I feel as if it almost overstays its welcome. Most of the four or five listens I've gotten out of it have gotten to "Vaticide" and that's around when I'm feeling like something else should be playing. I'll chalk some of this up to a lot of my time with Desolator being spent welding and soldering while working ten hours a day, but the other part of it is a bit of truth to the OSDM scene. That is, despite how new and exciting bands like Desolator can make it feel, we know that it has been played out quite well already. The late-80s/early-90s type of metal that is often being called back to in these bands and records was already kind of finished off by about 1998-1999. The releases of albums like Obscura by Gorguts and The Sound of Perseverance by Death, and the presence of bands like Augury and, later, Necrophagist, solidified the transition into modern death metal. I appreciate the effort to bring back the feel of the early days, but it feels like a nostalgia for a time when metal was less mature, less made-to-last; a spark of the moment. It might be my degenerate, millenial brain speaking, but I want to be wowed front to back by an album, and when things slow down or drag too much, as they do around "The Human Condition"/"Vaticide", I just tend to lose interest.

    I don't want to detract from what Desolator are doing, because they are absolutely fantastic at it. They make this shit look effortless with how they have constructed Sermon and have constructed their previous work. But a step into, lets say, foreign territory, wouldn't hurt them in the slightest. In fact, they only stand to be bolstered by adding spices from the rack to their already solid slab of meaty goodness they've laid before us. Fuck that sounded dumb. Okay, go listen to Desolator now, give them your support, show them some love, and give yourself a neck injury because they deserve that under their belts too.

    Listen to Sermon of Apathy on Desolator's bandcamp, and follow Black Lion Records for similar music.

-Dalton