Pathway to Deviance
Review from www.sonicdeath.co.uk
Desecration "Pathway to Deviance" :: May 2002
In my opinion Desecration are one of the heaviest bands going in Death Metal today, and if you think otherwise, I suggest you pick up a copy of their new album. 'Pathway To Deviance' begins with possibly the most sickening, stomach turning intro I've heard on any album.. which is obviously a good start! Whilst on first listen I thought it was quite innocuous, after a few spins, the sound of a cleaver being sharpened to effortlessly carve it's way through meat and bone is just too gratuitous for its own good. I love gory noises as much as the next man, but this sounds too realistic for comfort. Don't say I didn't warn you.
After these first few chunk inducing seconds, the first track 'Cleaver, Saw and Butcher's Knife' kicks in, and from here you are about to embark on a thirty-minute journey of horror, death and brutality. Whereas the last album dealt with a few varied subjects, this one appears to concentrate particularly on butchery and dying in the most torturous, barbaric manner imaginable. Awesome tracks like 'King Of The Missing', 'Swollen', 'They Bled' - which has a breathtaking fast bit about a minute in, and the heavy-as-fuck instrumental 'Let's Have A Hanging'(!) are some of the most intentionally spiteful abominations you're ever likely to hear. In much the same way that Immolation are the epitome of truly nasty anti-Christian DM, 'Pathway..' has for me established itself as the very definition of what brutal, gory DM should be.
The bludgeoning riffs are abrasive in a way that makes them the musical equivalent to barbed wire - just feel each one hook into your skin and rip at your bruised flesh! The soloing is great yet understated, and the drums - opposed to the immense power they received on 'Inhuman' sound harder and much faster (- note the break in the last track). Ollie Jones' guttural vocals are of course masterful, and he even throws in some more high pitched Benton-like noises for extra necrotic ferocity. I'm not sure whether this record might be a bit more technical than 'Inhuman' - it sounds more accomplished to me, and is a superior follow-up regardless.
DEATH FUCKING METAL!
Jamie Wilson - 15/05/2002