Reviews list for Desecrator (GBR) - Subconscious Release (1991)

I fucking love early Autopsy and so too did Desecrator, apparently. Hailing from Nottingham, Desecrator was formed in 1989 by brothers Mike and Steve Ford (bass / vocals and guitars respectively) alongside drummer Lee Hawke. After listening to "Subconscious Release" I have no idea, but I am guessing they formed after hearing Autopsy's debut "Severed Survival", released in Spring of '89, deciding that was what they wanted to play. Now, obviiously, this isn't as good as any of the Californian's early releases, but it is a decent stab at reproducing their style in a British context. Bear in mind that at this time the big UK death metal bands came at the genre from a grindcore background, Napalm Death, Carcass and even Bolt Thrower played a blasting, high tempo version of death metal, so Desecrator, looking towards the hulking, often slower-paced, abyssal-sounding death metal of Reifert and Co. were swimming against the tide somewhat. Even more atypically, the album boasts several quite long tracks with four exceeding seven minutes in length, the band unafraid to drop into a slower, doomier tempo to add variation and atmosphere during the longer track lengths. They don't completely turn their back on the prevailing winds though, with the quick-fire medley of "Insult to Intelligence" and "Deadline" on side 2 clocking in under two minutes they give a nod to the deathgrind brigade.

To be honest the album is front-loaded with the title track kicking things off and being, by quite some way, the best track on the album - think "In the Grip of Winter" or "Gasping for Air" level good. Second track "Nothing Changes Anything" is also pretty great with a hot opening riff and a gothicky, atmospheric mid-track break, but the rest of the album struggles to live up to the promise of these two opening salvos. Don't misunderstand, the rest is fine for what it is, but a faint tinge of disappointment is inevitable after such a promising start. I am no musician myself, but I get the feeling that the band are a little limited technically, as illustrated by the generally lacklustre guitar solos and the d-beat drumming not always cutting it, leaving the listener yearning for a good old blastbeat to shake things up and hit the gas pedal. Whilst I acknowledge that the band had technical limitations, these probably don't bother me as much as they do some metalheads, I am quite partial to a slab of loose-sounding deathly carnage and when the band are in full flow I am happy as a pig in shit. However, the uninspiring solos and the odd clunky transition do pull me out of the moment, fourth track "Repressive Acceptance" for example has a couple of instances where the leadwork is quite poor and ruins a good headbang as the main riff is decent and gets me nodding along quite effectively up until that point.

In 1992 the band changed their name to Consumed and went off in a more punk rock oriented direction, leaving us with this remainig as the only testament to a promising, if technically limited, early UK death metal act. It is interesting if ultimately inessential UK death metal release that even a Dan Seagrave cover couldn't save from relative obscurity.