Dark Desolation
“Blasphemous Pestilence”
2012
Dark Desolation is a black metal band hailing all the way from India. Their 2012 demo Blasphemous Pestilence is an exhausting but successful first release by the band. It contains enough brutal speed and dark imagery to hold it’s own in the black metal community. I might go so far as to say Dark Desolation has a touch of grindcore in their music. The pop to the blast beats is more reminiscent of grindcore, but these guys are black metal through and through. There is plenty of anger on this demo and it materializes though the speed and ferociousness of how four of these five songs are constructed. The fifth song on the demo, Secrets of the Black Arts, is a Dark Funeral song covered extremely well, right down to the way it is mixed. This song is mixed a little differently that the others. It sounds older and the guitars are muted. The drums and vocals are loudest in the mix and it works very well. On vocals we have Maggot. He is a great vocalist that can jump between black metal and death metal perfectly. I wish he did that a little more because the music is so ambiguous. It really could be either. And that is the only problem I have with this demo. It is fast, brutal, and angry, but also a little redundant. There is not much variety here. Songs start ferociously fast, slow a bit half way through, allow for a guitar lead, than speed back up. The stand out song to me is called Futile Dogma. That song includes a few tricky leads and more variety in the way it is played. Maggot jumps styles and the little bit of variety lifts the song. I did enjoy this demo. It is not going to change the world. You have certainly heard stuff like this before. But I can hear Dark Desolation have great potential. Most of the guitar leads and riffs have an epic feel to them. The way they cover the Dark Funeral song shows they know black metal. Plus, the way Maggot can jump styles should be utilized more in the future. This is a strong demo that is well constructed, but extremely exhausting because of the relentless pace it sets. But, I guess that’s the point.
Tracklist:
1. Dark Desolation
2. Catechetical Somniloquence
3. Futile Dogma
4. Incestuous Catacombs
5. Secrets of the Black Arts (Dark Funeral cover)
https://www.facebook.com/dark666desolation
Members:
Shredaj – Guitars
Dharni – Guitars
Maggot – Throats
Jake – Bass
Kartik – Drums
Rating: 7 out of 10
~Kris