Maximum Metal Rating Legend

British extreme metal duo make their Metal Blade debut with "Desideratum", another solid effort from this band who uses an amalgam of black metal, industrial, grindcore and death metal to create a malevolent cyclone of sound. The tracks on the album use the aforementioned sounds to create an atmosphere of evil, creepy, discordant melodies that would cause the lesser demons of Hell to shriek with delight. "Acheronta Movebimus" starts the album out with a creepy synthesized scream that is backed by screeching guitars and wicked synths. Interspersed throughout are cries and screams that just make your skin crawl. When "Unleash" kicks in, the vocals that greet your ears are distinctly in the vein of the black metal style and there are death growls, grind squeals and clean vocals throughout the album giving you a veritable smattering of vocal entrees. Tracks "The One Thing Needful", "Idol" and "Rage and Red" are the standouts to me as they all combine all the elements the band has a fondness for into blisteringly hateful tracks that spew forth vitriol and make you want to bash someone's head against a wall. The production is a bit lacking on the album with the screamed and shrieked vocals sounding a little muddy at times but the clean vocals and synths blast your eardrums to oblivion without a moments warning. The guitar tone on the album goes from a classic black metal crust to a downtuned pummeling that is fat with groove. Overall, this album is definitely an adventure of the sonic sort and the mixture of genres may not sit well with everyone. But if you can take the time to actually listen to the album, you'll learn to appreciate it for what it is and let the waves of sound crash over your body with no concern for your soul. Kudos to Irrumator and V.I.T.R.I.O.L. on delivering a solid release that spans so many genres and ties them together ever so evilly.