Desecresy are an outstanding Finnish death metal act, that in their brief inception since 2009, have released now their fourth album.  They play an older style of death metal that mixes in influences from Autopsy to a lot of Bolt Thrower rumbling, tank like heaviness.  Never opting to go into blast beat territory this 2 piece outfit is intent on smothering the listener with dense, heaving & cavernous guitar heaviness.

The mighty Chasmic Transcendence was released a mere 1 year ago and that album was ultra-memorable.  The band focusing on shorter songs, thus increasing the amount of songs, 14 in all.  Stoic Death focuses on 8 songs, averaging at 4 minutes a piece.   The production is a bit thinner, than their 3 previous recordings; however I still love Stoic Death and Desecresy are still one of my favorite Finnish bands.  “Remedies of Wolf’s Bane” gets things started and the rumbling heaviness comes in and is smothering.  Song picks up some speed, before going into a monstrous heavy beat equipped with an awesome guitar melody, from Tommi.  Jarno’s vocals, this time around, sound a little more like Chris Barnes, from the first and best Six Feet Under album, Haunted.  Some of the beats, sound a bit like old Six Feet Under too, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

One of the things that Desecresy does so well is the atmosphere.  Blending in a bleak and cold feel to their sound I always feel like I am in a desolate, stark landscape when listening to them. I love the feeling their music emotes.  I have to mention “Funeral Odyssey”.  I was cranking this in my truck and my 5 year old son said “that’s a catchy song”.  I nearly fell out laughing and told him how right he was.  The beginning has a menacing guitar melody with an ultra-heavy bass guitar thumping bottom end that will create sink holes in your neighborhood.

Let me go off on a tangent for a moment.  Desecresy’s bass guitar sound has more distortion this time around.  A monstrous tone, that resembles early Napalm Death.  I’m loving this and the way the bass guitar is isolated at certain times.  Anyway this particular song is hypnotic with the guitar melody that comes and goes throughout the track.  Add in the rumbling double bass and you have a mixture of bleak, darkness, yet an undeniable catchiness that will stick in your head.

The layout has lyrics, but no liners of where/when the album was recorded.  I imagine they have used the same studio like previous releases.  Tommi does all the bands artwork too and the band has tweaked their logo once again.  I have loved all of his art and the last album he experimented with the addition of light into the art.  Exceptional choice of white to contrast the surrounding darkness, on this album as well.  Each album has a color.   Arches of Entropy was red, The Doom Skeptron blue, Chasmic Transcendence green and now Stoic Death, is purple.  And let’s not forget the skull creatures, that are always popping up.  The color and music are an extension of one another and I love how the band pays attention to this.  Desecresy’s Stoic Death is awesome and an addition in my best of this year.  Buy or Die!!

[Visit the band's website]

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