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The Doom Skeptron - 85%

todesengel89, January 27th, 2013

I never really took notice in Desecresy until the recent surge of interest in old school Finnish death metal. Formed from the ashes of the equally excellent Slugathor, Desecresy continues their chaotic onslaught, with The Doom Skeptron being their second full length release.

And The Doom Skeptron hits the listener like a fucking juggernaut, making this album, this band sound like a worthy follow up to what Slugathor had created before. Sure, the influences from other classic Finnish legends such as Depravity and Convulse are rather clear, but the dark and suffocating atmosphere and trem-picked riffs with the crushing guitar tones are all rather reminiscent of bands like Incantation. In particular, the buildup on the intro of songs like Forged from Chaos easily remind one of bands like Witchrist and Ignivomous. Apart from the rhythmic section that help to emanate that sinister mood, the lead guitar lines of Tommi also help to reinforce that haunting overtone in the music, and while speed and flamboyance are not of particular importance here, the lead guitar lines easily send a chill down the listener’s back. These also often help to build the climax in the track, before allowing all hell to break loose on the listener.

The ominous growl of the bass also help in creating a fuller sound on the record, further intensifying the already crushing impact of The Doom Skeptron, especially on tracks like The Sceptre of Damnation, with the band displaying their doom influences in full glory. In fact, the bass lines are one of the more interesting things on the album, at times even providing an odd, contrasting sense of calm despite the tension that it provides to the songs, like on Vortex Unwinding.

The band’s chemistry is also evident, with the tightness that the duo display in the execution of their brand of crushing old school death metal, like on that percussive segment on songs like The Sleep of Titans. The Doom Skeptron often moves at an excruciatingly slow pace, and even with double bass pedals abound, the songs progress rather slowly, allowing for the full weight of Desecresy‘s art to sink into the listener, making short tracks like The Sceptre of Damnation feel like an eternity, let alone the album closer, the 7-minute The Solemn End.

For a deeply unsettling listening experience, Desecrsy‘s The Doom Skeptron is certainly recommended, being one that will please fans of classic Finnish old school death metal as well.


Ancient death metal - 80%

lordazmolozmodial, September 14th, 2012

As most of the modern death metal bands are letting the classic influences behind their back, there are many musical groups around the world that cant live without these classic influences and they cant record any music without reflecting these influences within the structure of the songs, one of these groups is the Finnish death metal band Desecresy.

Desecresy has presented the great debut album "Arches of Entropy" before two years, and there are a lot of death metal fans around the world kept their attention toward their second album, and now the band is back with the great full-length album "The Doom Skeptron". As the Finnish extreme metal scene is thriving with a lot of amazing bands in the last decade, the death metal movement misses the classic sound and the taste of the old school death metal because most of the death metal bands there are wearing the dress of melodic death and the melodic death/power numerously. Desecresy is proving for all the old school death metal bands around the world that Finland can also wear the dress of pure death metal with this amazing release.

The Doom Skeptron contains eight tracks full of real pure and classic death metal flavor, some of the tracks are flowing slow riffs and numbing drumming (like the track "The Solemn End), and some tracks like "Declined Resplendence" and "Burial Adorations" are sending shivers of blast-beating drums and killer bass-line to the spine of every listener. Many interesting elements have been placed into this record to make it look genuine and breathtaking, one of these elements is the gorgeous balance between the roughness of the melodies and the dynamics of the mastering, the tracks like "The Sleep of Titans" and "Vortex Unwinding" are great example for this glamorous balance.

The vocals of this album are deeply influenced by the old school death metal movement, and the bass-lines are vital enough to overtake the sledgehammer sound of the distorted guitars that capture most of the final atmosphere. I would recommend this album for all the fans who love the pure death metal music that doesn't need so much progressiveness and melodies to sound perfect, and I would also recommend this album for all those who are into the modern old school death metal movement that tries to restore the original death metal sound of the early 90s.

Overall, this album is a solid piece of classicism and intensity, if you are ready to put a lot of killer death metal riffs inside your ears then you have to get a copy for this album right now. I will be keeping my eyes on this band for the future, and I hope they will record more genuine and hammering riffs in the next releases.

Originally written for:

Worship at the sceptre of damnation, ye dogs - 91%

joncheetham88, July 8th, 2012

Arches of Entropy, the debut Desecresy offering, seemed to show a band that had a bit of growing to do before they could be welcomed into the grimy tomb that houses Finland's elite old school death metal bands. What's more with Ascended and later Krypts and Corpsessed around, I might not have given it as much attention as it needed to unlock the morbid treasures disguised by the repetitive pacing and somewhat skewed vocal volume.

No matter though, the sophomore The Doom Skeptron knows no such inhibitor as it boasts a suitably booming and filthy resonance from the very get go. All the nihilistic, wailing dissonance of the initial wave of demos from Abhorrence, Amorphis, Depravity, Convulse and Purtenance is here, plus the more forceful weight boasted by later proponents like Lie in Ruins and this band's forebear Slugathor.
There's more of a grave-born destructive nature to this album, which piles thumping, bestial death metal onto the atmospheric opening of 'Forged From Chaos' before we even get a sample of the whining Finnish leads we all signed up for. 'Declined Resplendence' and 'Sons of the Burning God' are as bestial and filthy in their charging openings as Archgoat or Dead Congregation, before the tracks gradually slow into more grooving, booming territory. Throughout the album, Desecresy are more wont to burst into faster paced sections than before, with cuts like 'Burial Adorations' hurtling up a gear midway and giving this beast a few more spikes to its thick armour. The twosome supply a heavier, more Cruciamentum-esque bottom end to this recording, with a chunky bass line and crushing drums typical of the rotten renaissance of Finnish death metal. It's pure, nasty bliss in the many rollicking slow sections, which compel a serious-natured head nodding at almost all times.

However, whine those leads do, a miasma of eerie guitar melodies unfurling like decayed wings over the rhythmic pulse that keeps the album shambling forward at its still mostly creeping pace. Standouts might include 'The Sleep of Titans', which truly sounds like the soundtrack to a ritual unfettering ancient beings from centuries prone. It's all black and white and grainy and evil. They might also include 'The Sceptre of Damnation', just under three minutes of rolling drums and malevolent leads that seems more of a connecting track than a song in and of itself. Really, the whole thing melds together pretty nicely, and songs like this do it a favour. If you like the first 30 seconds, you'll dig this album.

But on top of that guarantee, you'll get a lot out of it on repeated listens, given its far denser nature as compared to the previous Desecresy album, and indeed probably a bit of compositional edge over most of the other bands doing this sound right now - these are one of the olskool revival type bands you should be checking out. The Doom Skeptron puts Desecresy out ahead with Corpsessed, Krypts, Lie in Ruins and reformed elders like Purtenance and Convulse, as well as the band's own split-up forefathers Slugathor. Why, I think the Finnish death metal underground is pretty much back where I want it.