Written by Zax
Dessiderium – Shadow Burn
Progressive Death Metal from Arizona, USA
Released June 25th, 2020
Self-Release
8.5/10
I almost let this album pass by me, it just about slipped under my radar. For months I heard people name it the best progressive death metal album I hadn’t heard this year, but with the amount of music I take in, this one just kept getting brushed off until just recently, and boy am I glad i gave this a chance, because it is truly marvelous!
Beginning to describe this is a bit tricky, because truth be told there is a ton going on here. It’s progressive death metal that ventures into symphonic, melodic, technical, and blackened territories. It’s very diverse and unique in delivery.
It’s actually a very dark and eerie record, perfect for this time of year. The synths are very creepy which makes for a dark and sort of grim atmosphere when coupled with the black metal adjacent screams. These guys really have an ear for melody that makes the album fun to come back to. The riffs are heavy and textured, and the drumwork is very well done. They certainly have all of their bases covered.
The vocals are very well performed with their jagged disturbing tone, to the point where a lot if the lyrics can be made out. They seem to cover a lot of themes regarding suicide and misery. It evoked more emotion than you’d expect an from an album of this nature.
I know that my description so far has made this out to be a very bleak listen, but the instrumentation and the song structures make it sound epic as hell. The album is cool feeling, cool like a walk home on a brisk fall night, the vibe is very specific here.
This is really an album that you have to experience for yourself, it’s incredibly unique and it spoke to me in a way that no other metal record has in a long time. Wishing big things for these guys, they certainly have the chops for success.
8.5/10
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