I just recently wrote about this fantastic album in our latest installment of Death’s Door, and my initial statements regarding it bear repeating: Desecresy are one of the most underrated death metal bands working today and it’s an absolute shame that their releases haven’t received more widespread coverage. Their sixth full-length record, Towards Nebulae, is a space-based odyssey that catapults listeners straight into the heart of cosmic darkness with a lo-fi production aesthetic and enough riffs to fill a fleet of space cruisers. So strap in and prepare yourself for a new round of chaos from one of Finland’s premier death metal exports.
Fans of spacey death metal in the vein of Blood Incantation/Spectral Voice, Timeghoul, and Gorephilia will find plenty to love in this excellent batch of tracks. Opener “The Gate” is a nasty piece of work that introduces solo contributor Tommi Grönqvist’s nasty guttural vocals, sharp guitar work, and intense kit smashing with an intensity that maintains itself throughout the record. The lo-fi production work, while not always the most welcome aesthetic in the death metal world, works wonders here as an atmospheric tool. “Trophies of Death” feels as if it’s been pulled directly from a cave on some distant planet, ripping and roaring through its sequences of riffs like the vengeful spirit of a murdered extraterrestrial. Even when the music opens itself to more spacious performance and songwriting like it does during the opening of “Fringes of Existence”, the record loses none of its suffocating atmosphere and general intensity. Towards Nebulae, honestly, feels like a chunk of the purest strain of early 90s death metal that’s been shot into deep space, and returned to wreak havoc on our unsuspecting planet. In short, it’s just the best.
If you’re a death metal fan looking for something new to pollute your mind with this week, I’d wager a guess that Towards Nebulae will scratch whatever itch you have. This record has been growing on me like a weed since I first heard it a few weeks ago, and I have a hard time imagining it not landing on my death metal best-of list at the end of the year. It’s an exceptional, highly entertaining listening experience that highlights death metal in its purest, spaciest form, and I cannot wait for more. Snag your copy, released through Xtreem Music, now on the band’s Bandcamp page.