It would be nice if we had something positive to talk about for a change, and while it may be easy for some to look away from the horrors, but for many of us, it just isn’t a thing we can do. Clinging to something, anything, that provides a bit of hope is like thirsting for water after days and days of wandering the desert.

I’m not saying listening to “Legatum Mortuorum” is going to solve that which ails you, because it is a dense, macabre, interesting blend of doom and black metal that is well aware of which world it inhabits. But Desiccation—vocalist Soell Bratt, vocalist/guitarist/synth player James Bratt, drummer/bassist/synth player Patrick Hills—manages to find pinholes of light in a decaying society on these six tracks and 44 minutes. It’s an engaging, battering record that doesn’t follow well-beaten paths of sound and instead works to make each element that much more engaging and devastating, still reminding you to look for solace in a dead world.

“All Light Is Gone” rushes out, atmospheric black metal rising, howls lashing as the chorus lulls, deeper singing bathing in murk. The pace then blisters, beastly howls flattening, ramping up the temperature as the shrieks scorch, and a melodic rush seizes, the anguish disappearing into a cosmic void. “Cursed in Cold Silence” is foggy with growls snarling, screams belting, and swirling doom mashing you into gargantuan heaviness. Horror house keys immerse and hypnotize, the shadows growing more immersive, sweeping hard as the melodies freeze. Sooty playing flows into thick smoke, crumbling into sound. The title track gushes, savagery landing blows, keys pulsing as monstrous wails flatten landscapes. Guitars melt as the fumes subside, singing falls to the earth like thick raindrops, and ghouls haunt deep into the night.

“The Alchemy of Grief” delivers heated riffs, battering howls, and utter harshness, fantastical keys letting ice daggers fall. The brutality meets up with spacey strangeness, the singing rousing as guitars soar, washing over and mesmerizing ripe minds. “Ashes Unto the Abyss” folds in, howls battering, stomps leveling as grainy melodies trickle, guitars gusting into a gothy froth. Pained cries bruise as leads numb the senses, the drama encircling before dissolving in mist. Closer “Lamentations Beyond the Veil” runs 11:05, basking in dark energies, drubbing with doom as the wails strangle, a thick pall blocking out the sun. Howls scrape as the playing feels both beastly and adventurous, the calm stardust spreading through universes, washing into a long oblivion that stretches into the eons, only briefly resurfacing for alien zaps to leave some final scarring.

“Legatum Mortuorum” is an exciting, and immersive take on black metal-influenced doom (or is it doom-encrusted black metal?), and all of the strange twists and turns to which Desiccation commit. It feels like they’re branching beyond this world, further than their minds have before, and the results are physically and emotionally intense. This is not music to approach lightly; it must be considered with your full heart and mind because you will go on an excursion that will return you battered for the better.

For more on the band, go here: https://desiccation666.bandcamp.com/

To buy the album, go here: https://carbonizedrecords.merchtable.com/?

For more on the label, go here: https://carbonizedrecords.bandcamp.com/