Poland’s Azarath return with their 7^th full length album, Saint Desecration.   Founded by Inferno, drummer of the mighty Behemoth.  Azarath play a fun style of black death similar to the likes of Krisiun, Immolation, and also country mates Hate.   Things open up with “Death, At Will” which starts with a nice clean guitar part before going into an all-out blast assault.    One of the first things I noticed when listened to this was the snare sound.  It almost seems a bit buried over the guitar and vocals.  To me that would boost the score of this one for me.

Sancta Dei Meretix” is probably my favorite track on this and totally has a “Conquerers of Armageddon” feel. Most of the tracks other than the last one is around 3 to 4 minutes and at a 38-minute run time this is just the right pacing for this. “Let Them Burn” is another great example of an absolute infernal monster of a song. I just wish we could hear the snare a little bit better.   This one also has a guitar breakdown that sounds like it was written by Robert Vigna of Immolation.  The guitar work of Bart is quite on point. The performances on this are incredibly solid and for the most part everything pops.  Again, I just wish that snare was more in front of the mix.   It almost seems like the mic that was used to record the snare sounds hot.

“No Salvation” has a cool layered guitar intro before segueing into a build up vocal line with drum accompaniment before going into another warfare inspired blast assault. “Life is Death, “Death is Life” is definitely the most Deicide sounding of all the songs on Saint Desecration.  The main verse sounds like an homage to Deicide or Aeon. Complete with the dual vocal lines.   The closing track “Beyond the Gates of Burning Ghats” which is the longest track on the album, has a unique build and is an interesting choice the close the album. To me, it is almost anti-climactic.

In a very busy 2020 for death Metal Saint Desecration is a record that could very easily be missed but it’s worth checking out.  Maybe not the strongest record from Azarath but it is still entertaining and worth the listen.  Check out some of their earlier records like Demon Seed or Praise the Beast.

 

 

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