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Desolate Shrine – Heart of the Netherworld

Jan 8 • News, Reviews, The Slumbering Ent • 3149 Views • No Comments on Desolate Shrine – Heart of the Netherworld

Dipankar Mohanty reviews the new album from Desolate Shrine titled Heart of the Netherworld, released via Dark Descent Records.

Artwork by the man who does all instruments on the album, LL himself

The Finnish who dropped a megaton of suffocating death metal in the form of “The Sanctum of Human Darkness” are back with their sophomore release – “The Heart of the Netherworld”. “The Sanctum of Human Darkness” was one of my top five releases in 2012 and in my opinion also blew away a lot of recent black/death metal releases and still continues to do so.

In a nutshell, “The Heart of the Netherworld” is a worthy successor to their first album and similar to it. One, the most critical trait – the production that drives the suffocating nature of the album is still intact and claustrophobic as ever. Two, the band focuses on creating an album rather than a bunch of songs. Three, once more there is enough variety within each of the songs to keep the listener interested; and finally, the dark and dank atmosphere remains as the core of the album.

Straightaway, the “Intro” is enough to soothe the senses of the hardened death metal fan by releasing a barrage of riffs led forth by a huge wall of sound. “Black Fires of God” ups the ante immediately and lays bare all the traits of the album – tempo changes, meaty riff passages and that eerie atmosphere which seems to be influenced by the twisted works of Deathspell Omega. The album is created on the base of this atmosphere with all the other parts layering over it. Songs like “Desolate Shrine”, “We Dawn Anew” and “Heart of the Netherworld” expands the atmospheric elements further and considering that they are 10+ minutes long, the band has enough time to intricately arrange them. They are not slam bang affairs but a very controlled exercise in intensifying the dark elements, be it the riffing or the atmosphere. The shorter songs are more straightforward but still remain attached to that ghastly atmosphere, case in point – “Leviathan”.

The Finnish horde has managed to carve another monstrous piece of monolithic death metal, one that is going to stand the test of time. The only issue that death metal fans might face is keeping up with the long songs because they are intense. Long songs, especially by this band have a greater chance to overload the senses. Like the previous album, this personally for me is not an everyday listen. This one again needs to be devoured in its entirety followed by a period of recuperation.