Desolacion Desolacion 12″
Now, this is a record I had been waiting for, and I am quite pleased to have been graced with the opportunity to review it, which can be read as yet another sign that I might be becoming the official in-house crust annalist here (a noble position I’d humbly take, of course). DESOLACION is from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and is made up of members of the excellent RUINAS and the lesser-known CLAUSTROPHOBIA. Expectedly, DESOLACION plays dirty stenchcore for the true believers of the genre, those who gave up on soap a long time ago and embraced a life of devotion to filthy crust, a bit monastic in essence but with more booze and better-looking jackets. The music is downtuned, dark, and offers a good balance of fast, thrashing, gruff crust and slower, brutal metal-crust. The sound of RUINAS clearly informs this first LP that must be seen as an heir of the meaningful ’00s stenchcore revival, in line with the more BOLT THROWER-influenced school. STORMCROW or FEMACOFFIN are not far away sometimes, while CANCER SPREADING and FATUM definitely got good seats to the gig as well. The production is fairly raw at times, and this unprocessed authenticity gives the album a genuine punk vibe that feels fresh—well, in a fetid fashion—and primeval. This is for the crust lifers.