Desolat – Songs Of Love In The Age Of Anarchy 12″ Picture Disc (Bloodshed666 Records)

It’s been a while since I covered a band like this on our pages. Desolat is a relatively new Austrian band based in Vienna, which arose from the ashes of sludge/stoner group Cyruss. Since 2018, Desolat appeared on a couple of compilations such as Ihr Werdet Euch Noch Weundern and 1998-2018: 20 Years BloodshedD666 Records. After a while, the group released a debut 10″ recording called Shareholder Of Shit EP, which unquestionably shifts the boundaries of extreme underground music. However, nothing matches compared to their latest material named Songs Of Love In The Age Of Anarchy EP, released on a picture disc in 2020 by Bloodshed666 Records. Therefore, I would like to talk a little bit more about this material today.

Songs Of Love In The Age Of Anarchy contains five immensely aggressive compositions that will, without any doubt, satisfy even the pickiest fan of extreme underground music. Desolat is one of those bands that cleverly avoids any classifications into a singular genre. Their music is thoroughly detailed enough, so you can’t just pinpoint their style to a particular genre. It seems that Desolat solely relies upon their fondness towards sludge, doom, stoner, but as is usually the case, there’s more than meets the eye in the first place. You may also notice generous portions of Swedish death metal, black metal, neo crust, hardcore punk, and noise rock popping out from their numbers here and there. These ingredients are glued to the sludge/doom/stoner foundations of Desolat, but more as smaller chunks that are highlighting the base of their sound.

Songs Of Love In The Age Of Anarchy heavily resembles the sound of bands like Entombed, Obituary, Celtic Frost, Bolt Thrower, Neurosis, Unsane, Iron Monkey, Amebix, Discharge, From Ashes Rise, and many others who incorporated elements of sludge metal/noise rock in their music throughout the careers. Still, it seems that Desolat reached the harmonious singularity by embracing all these ingredients under one branch. Their music unquestionably represents a heavier side of all these genres, decorated with loads of marvelous ideas, segments, structures, and arrangements. Every involved musician understands the demands of all these ingredients. Therefore, the entire band appears as a colossal slow-motioned slab of noise, sonically illustrated by heavy guitar shreds, fuzzy basslines, and series of moderate rhythmic sequences. Desolate sometimes goes into extremes, as slow as it possibly could go, but you may also stumble upon some tunes that are leaning towards the classic d-beat sound.

Just as you expected their sound couldn’t expand more, these guys are considering all possible solutions to explore even further into the depths of extreme music. Their beauty lay down in their basic need to push the boundaries of extreme underground music as much as possible, which always results in ear-appealing experimentations. Songs Of Love In The Age Of Anarchy comes on a beautiful picture disc vinyl, decorated by a meaningful photo manipulation done by Lisl Matzer. Head over to their Bandcamp page and preserve your copy of this well-hidden gem of underground music.