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██▌ Artist...: Desecrator ░▐██▌
░▐██ Album....: Subconscious Release ░██▌░
▓▐██ Year.....: 2012 ▓▐██▓
▓▐██ Rel.Date.: 2021-02-13 ░▐██▓
▐██ Genre....: Death Metal ██▌░
░ ██▌ Label....: Mosh Tuneage ██▌
▐██ Source...: CD ▐██
░▐██▌ Type.....: Reissue ▐██▌░
▓▄████ Quality..: VBR, 44.1kHz, Joint Stereo ████▌░
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1. Subconscious Release 8:00
2. Nothing Changes Anything 7:17
3. Ineffectual Condition 5:40
4. Repressive Acceptance 7:59
5. Killing Joke 5:07
6. Insult to Intelligence / Deadline 1:50
7. The Suffering 7:03
8. Exit Through the Weakness (Bonus Track) 5:19
9. Breathe Change (Bonus Track) 4:23
10. Our Division (Bonus Track) 7:28
11. Bleed It's Character (Bonus Track) 4:38
------
64:44
Bonus tracks from an unreleased 1992 demo.
So, again by another chance encounter on beloved YouTube I have the good
fortune to stumble across this rare gem that is Subconscious Release by
short lived band Desecrator. Intros aside, let's take a look and see
what this album has to offer, shall we?
I'd like to start off this review by talking about the cover artwork of
this album, which just so happens to have been done by veteran cover
designer Dan Seagrave, and I have to say I am very impressed with the
style and design shown here. A dark, menacing and yet intriguing
impression is created by mechanical looking beast showed his artwork,
which, in my opinion, fits the musical and lyrical themes of this album
very well.
Desecrator played a style of raw and aggressive, if on a few occasions
somewhat progressive, form of death metal that, let's be honest, is very
common for death metal bands of the 90's. First off we're greeted with a
fairly creepy atmospheric, and maybe somewhat standard intro to the
first track, "Subconscious Release", before being greeted with the kind
of death metal one hopes for when digging up a less well known old
school release. In this case it is an angry, raw, and pretty damn well
punctuated intro at that. The songs in this album generally seem to
utilize a very low and deep doom-like feel, which in my opinion adds to
the atmosphere nicely.
The production seen in this album is what anyone should hope for when
looking for a classic piece of 90's death metal. In this case the drums
are very well punctuated and maintain a consistent rhythm throughout the
album, snare, double bass, crash cymbals and even the ride cymbal is
used to good effect. The guitar and bass are also used superbly while at
the same time effectively creating a raw and dark atmosphere, with even
a few impressive guitar solos, that you can really get into once you get
into the second track "Nothing Changes Anything". The vocals are also
effective by the fact that, while not being anything particularly
distinctive, are deep and sound just a tad strained in order to create a
consistently performance throughout the album and add a little more
flavour to the themes of despair and hopelessness.
Not only do you get a full aggressive force that shifts between a more
rapid assault, you also get a them that leads to a progressive build up
and raw release of energy, to even a few creepy instrumentals on
"Nothing Changes Anything" and "The Suffering". As if all this wasn't
enough, after "The Suffering" you also get 4 tasty bonus tracks from a
demo recorded not long after the original album was released, in which
the production of this demo is just as good as the previous tracks if
not a little better in some cases. The tracks, while being a nice finish
to an already good album, also hint at where Desecrator could have
headed had they stayed as a death metal band. And even among them there
is an impressive guitar solo in "Our Division", which I'd say is
probably the best one on the album. They even up the tempo of the album
a little bit and certainly help to maintain interest when listening to
the album.
However, if I do have one slight criticism of this album, it's that at
on a few occasions the overall sound/rhythm of the music is just a tad
repetitive, especially the drums. But, other than that, there is plenty
of variation in these songs which keep grabbing my attention when
listening to this album.
Overall, this is an excellent slab of old school death metal that any
collector should be interested in, I bought both the CD reissue and blue
vinyl. It's worth getting, and this album is well deserving of it's old
school death metal tag.
---
Nowadays people tend to praise all death metal albums or demos from the
early 90Æs; even if back then they were considered to be just mediocreà
it seems like it is enough that something was recorded back then to be
now called ôa classic and cult releaseö. But we must realize that not
everything what has been recorded back in the early 90Æs and is death
metal, must mean it is a worthy, killer and classic gem. Among many
killer and truly essential releases there were also few, which I think
were just not that good and which arenÆt that obligatory to have. There
are many examples for that and it makes me laugh sometimes, when the
labels re-release demo from such Abhoth or Embryo / Stigmata, call them
cults, but in reality they were just very, very mediocreà and still
remain like that. Here is another such example û Desecrator from UK. To
be honest IÆve never heard of this band back in the old days; they never
popped up in the zines or magazines, which I had, so first time IÆve
ever seen their logo and the artwork for their only album ôSubconscious
Releaseö was only few years ago (and the artwork caught my eye
immediately, as it is one more Dan SeagraveÆs work and the blue
colouring of that horrid, unearthly creature really reminds me ôAltars
of Madnessö). Few years after I saw this album Mosh Tuneage has
re-released it on CD, so I thought ôOK, IÆll buy it, as usually British
bands were awesome, even those less known like Impaler, Burial or
Decomposed, so maybe Desecrator will also be goodö. So, I got the CD,
gave it few listens and I can say that I wouldnÆt lose anything, if IÆve
never heard this music. ôSubconscious Releaseö belongs to those totally
mediocre and quite forgettable albums from the old daysà I donÆt want to
sound like I didnÆt find anything worthy in their music; no, it is not
so bad, it is just very, very mediocre and I am afraid that with 43
minutes of music plus additional 20 for the bonus tracks the whole CD
turned out to be just boring.
Technically speaking there should be nothing wrong about ôSubconscious
Releaseö. Desecrator played some nice, chunky, aggressive death metal
riffs, with a slight thrash metal touch here and there and generally
their style reminds me Death a lot, from ôLeprosyö and ôSpiritual
Healingö era; even the production is quite similar (just listen to how
the drums and guitars sound). There may also be occasional similarities
to some other, more known and certainly better, British bands such as
Cancer (my eternal favourites!) and Benedictionà and as I said thereÆs
nothing really wrong about the whole ôSubconscious Releaseö. But I donÆt
know whether it is the sound of the album, what makes it so
unpassionable or maybe the material just isnÆt that strong and is too
unoriginal and repetitive what makes it sound so damn boringà? I donÆt
know. There are some really nice riffs here and there (for example in
the title song or in the very Death-influenced ôRepressive Acceptanceö),
I generally like such style of death metal, but somehow Desecrator is
not able to excite me totally. I would mainly blame the production for
it, as it certainly lacks the spark, the aggression and brutality, it
isnÆt powerful enough, being also quite rough, so it is almost lifeless
and I hate how theyÆve done the whole mixing and mastering, as the
guitars are so quiet, especially when compared to the drumsà I can
imagine that if only the album had the sound comparable to the mighty
"Dreams of the Carrion Kind" or ôSpiritual Healingö for instance then it
would definitely be much better, I think. But the songwriting also isnÆt
perfect here. Sure, there are many solid, fine moments, I like love some
of these riffs, the material certainly sounds very old school, but also
incredibly archaic nowadaysà I like also these longer instrumental parts
here and there, but I am afraid that for the 40 minutes of music and
each song being quite lengthy (up to eight minutes, what for sure wasnÆt
something common among death metal bands at that timeà) it feels like
thereÆs just too much of everything and the music isnÆt effective enough
and straight forward enough, especially as the whole albums has
constantly the same mid paced tempo. That monotony doesnÆt help this
music at all. There are no real standout or classic tracks there,
Desecrator didnÆt compose their ôPull the Plugö or ôHung Drawn And
Quarteredöà So in the end the album isnÆt terribly bad; it is listenable
and decent, but nothing more than that.
Nowadays many old albums or demos are being re-released. And I have
nothing against it, as the prices of some old pressings are ridiculously
high and it crossed the limits of common sense long time ago, so having
so many old items re-released is good thing definitely. Maybe not
everything what has been recently repressed deserved it, but who caresà
I am not going to lose my money on some utter shit. But I certainly can
say see why Mosh Tuneage has decided to release ôSubconscious Releaseö
once more. All in all originally the album was released in small
quantity of 500 copies on vinyl only, by R.K.T. Records in 1991 û and
that label wasnÆt too prolific, having such third league thrash metal
bands as Metal Duck (fuck, what a name!) or Hydra Veinà Well, I am
afraid that ôSubconscious Releaseö was also a third league death metal
albumà Nowadays the price for original vinyl pressing goes up to even
150 dollars, so it was a wise decision to reissue the album, there will
definitely be many maniacs, who will want to have it in their
collections and I also purchased the CD. I did hope to get some high
quality death metal, so I feel slightly disappointed with this mediocre
albumà but I will keep it and give it a listen once every decade. Sadly
the booklet for this CD hasnÆt been done the way I like û without any
liner notes from the band members or bandÆs historyà Since the band
authorized this re-release then it would be nice to get something extra
from them, you know? OK, there are these four bonus tracks from ôDemo
1993ö, which was recorded already after Desecrator changed their name
into Consumedà this demo sounds very much like a proper continuation of
the album, the sound is slightly better in my opinion, heavier and more
brutalà I wonder what would happen, if Consumed released an album, but
that never occurred, as sadly all of a sudden Consumed changed their
music style for punk in 1994 and even recorded two punk albums, before
splitting up in 2003 (you can listen to them on youtube, if you want û
to me they sound like that shit pop punk similar to Green Day or
Offspring, so I can see these guys were just chasing the trends!). I
could never understand all these sudden changes in musical directions of
some old bands, like Disgrace for instance, but thatÆs a history now.
Desecrator history finished two decades ago, quality wise ôSubconscious
Releaseö is not on the same level as ôDeath Shall Riseö, ôTranscend the
Rubiconö or so many other death metal albumsà So, it is not a legendary,
cult album, but just a mediocre effort. I can recommend it to all
diehard death metal collectors, but if youÆre more picky then you can
forget about it, as this album isnÆt really anything special.
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