Unlike some R.K.T. Records "funny metal" bands (Lawnmower Deth and Metal Duck come to my mind), Desecrator are anything but funny. The band's one and only full length album is uglier than seeing 70+ year old couple making it out.

Desecrator threw death metal and crustcore into their melting pot and came out with a winner. This is definitely one of the better albums alloying those extreme styles together, that I've heard. The album starts with the title track and its perfect intro depicting horrors of a mind. Soon the song explodes into slow grinding, and as the vocals are fucking low growling, at first I thought I was listening this at the wrong speed at 33â…“. The pace picks up soon and the thrashings begin. The music fluctuates between death metal (eg. the title track) and crust (especially songs 5-7). Desecrator created very primitive music here, both uncomplicated song structures, and playing-wise. Some hints of horror-style melodies can be heard here and there, but many times buried under other noise.

While performed with furious energy at the best, sometimes the drumming gets pretty sloppy. The drums are mixed up to the front, so this makes the sloppiness even more evident. Actually the drums are too loud at times, so loud that they began to bug me. Mostly, the drumming is not metal style stuff (e.g. not much double kick drums), but more punky (????) and actually happened to be quite a fresh experience for a metal head like me. Generally, this has a feel of recorded live, minus doubled guitars of course. The guitars are absolutely ripping, but the bass could be a bit louder. But sometimes the "lack" of bass is simply caused by the loud drums! The lyrics smear religions, lifestyle, money and other every day shit of human life.

I can't get any similar sounding bands to my mind right now, so if crusty death metal, or deathy crustcore, is your desirable dirt, I wish you good luck for hunting down 'Subconscious Release'!

Rating: 7 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
08/04/2006 12:05