Album Review: Desolate Tomb – Scorned By Misery (Rottweiler Records)

After nearly five years of silence the extreme metal force that is Desolate Tomb has reawakened. The blackened deathcore and brutal death metal band will release their brand-new album, ‘Scorned by Misery’, on February 23rd, 2024, via Rottweiler Records.

Holy f**king hell, it doesn’t get much heavier and brutal sounding then this. It’s not hyperbole to suggest that everyone who listens to this album is going to come away feeling absolutely wrecked. It’s simply absurd how sick and twisted the riffs are, how punishing the percussion is, and how violent the vocals are. Every time you think you’ve heard the most serrated and savage of sounds, they up the ante again.

Don’t even get me started on the breakdowns this album has too.

All of this, yet the question remains… is it actually any good? I’d say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but Desolate Tomb ripped it out and are pissing in the hole.

Music this extreme, music this brutal, and music this unforgiving, is always going to be a tough listen for anyone outside of the fanbase. If what I’ve described so far gives you heart palpitations, then it’s probably best you give this a miss.

That being said, it’s f**king great, but I am a glutton for this kind of punishment and can enjoy every second of Desolate Tomb’s heavy sound. Especially because it does genre-bend, albeit while still being wholly focused on the extreme end of the scale. I love a bit of blackened death metal, I love a bit of brutal death metal, and I love a bit of deathcore. Desolate Tomb cover all those bases here, and then some, but also make great use of guest vocalists in certain tracks to add even more flavour to things. Ok, it’s the kind of taste that makes you wretch, but it’s flavour none the less!

It takes talent to make this kind of noise, but it takes even more talent to make it so likable. Scorned by Misery is a banger, but it will f**k you up. Excuse me while I go find a first-aid kit.

Desolate Tomb – Scorned by Misery Track Listing:

1. Scorned by Misery (feat. Jon Davenport)
2. The Hands That Mar
3. Writhing in the Bowels of Hell (feat. Jaden Pruitt)
4. All is Dust (feat. Matthew McNamara & Sam Dishington)
5. Tormented by the Succubus
6. Sheepskin
7. Spitting Nails
8. Yearning Maw of Persecution (feat. Jaden Pruitt)
9. Trail of Tears
10. The Suffering Fields

Links

Bandcamp | Facebook | Rottweiler Records