Desolate Shrine

Hailing from Helsinki, Finland, arrive one of the most awesome albums of this year. Desolate Shrine's "Tenebrous Towers". This album captures, in a very well executed way, the best of two worlds, the Death and Black Metal. The main foundation of the songs seem to be Death Metal compositions, though there's no denying that there are some Black Metal influences thrown in for good measure, really making it somewhat hard to distinguish which is which at times. The production on "Tenebrous Towers" is also worth taking note. The quality of the material is pretty clear, but still a little raw and seems to use a strong echo effect on the vocals that makes them sound a little more hollow at times. The slower pace and discernible Black Metal influences to the crushing Death Metal performance and music really makes the track sound melancholic and feel as if it's bathed in moonlight from the most sinister of nights, cascading you in a moonlit graveyard in the middle of Fall with wolves howling, an ambience brought on by some of the wails sounding like howling thanks to this echo effect as the winds licks and stings your skin, pummeling away at you as the song continues build up with fire and intensity. Although Death and Black metal walk hand in hand in the entire album, sometimes one hand pulls more than the other but no matter the methodology, the result is always stunning.

For a newer band on the scene, Desolate Shrine does not at all come off like one. Please note that this band just skipped the Demo phase, no EP, no Splits.. just headfirst to the Full-Length. The music throughout the recording is brutal, and seemlessly moolds together the best of the Black and Death Metal styles to create a seemlessly blasphemous full-length debut recording. There's a reason this band is quietly taking the underground world by storm, and it's their solid music they seem to perform effortlessly. If you have yet to experience this group, then now is your chance to get in on the ground floor and watch this band that shows plenty of potential continue to grow and become a bigger monster in the Metal world. Highly Recommended.

bandcamp | shrines of blackened death