Deserted Fear – My Empire

By RingMaster Review on October 1, 2012 • ( 0 )

Easily one of the more impressive debuts to turn up this year, My Empire from German death metalers Deserted Fear easily sets the band up as one to watch closely over the years ahead. Finding their influences and inspiration in the early nineties scene the band amass classic American and Scandinavian death metal into a warring corruption upon the senses. It does not break down boundaries or forge new avenues but as an accomplished and well structured use of existing armories of sound it is impressive and imaginative.

From Eisenberg/Thuringia, the band formed in 2008 and from the release of their first demo two years later, and first live shows, took no time in building a loyal fan base. At the end of last year the band decided to record their debut album and approached Dan Swanö who subsequently mixed and mastered My Empire at Unisound Studio. The band then reached an agreement with FDA Rekotz for the release of the album, an unleashing which should thrust the band into the view of a welcoming worldwide audience. The album certainly deserves full exposure, its thunderous and intense sounds leaving only satisfaction and intrigue for more ahead behind them.

There have been a fury of bands to appear over recent months and years to pull on the past with varying success, those seeding days still inspiring a wealth of new hearts, but what sets Deserted Fear apart is they never tread predictable roads. Yes as mentioned there are not ground breaking but each one of their songs develops an individual character amongst themselves and to their contemporaries, each pulsating with inventive guitar play, keenly crafted and compulsive enterprise, and most of all quite simply impressive ideas and musicianship. Not one song offers a familiarity to another and all captivate with their precise and thoughtful soundscapes.

The album opens with Intro, a minute long premise setting with daunting foreboding ambience and dawning intimidating atmospheres, the first breath of the battle or confrontation ahead. So many bands now use this device to open up their releases that it is rare anything is particularly new or surprising, the same here, but there is something thrilling to that sense of impending danger, though many bands then fail to live up to the promise, not something you can accuse Deserted Fear of.

The Battalion Of Insanities marches, or rather stomps with a stormy mass through the ear, its riling riffs a forceful scurry as the beats of drummer Simon Mengs jab and punch with sharp and unbridled aggression. As the track leaves its caustic brawl over the senses vocalist Manuel Glatter scours the depths of his venom to growl with deep caustic effect. His delivery though is not overpowering and as with everything on the album, it is blended perfectly into the sonic tempest, as are his and Fabian Hildebrandt’s sparking guitar/bass strikes. The touch of Swanö is so evident and shows any aspiring band they can do little wrong by waiting and trying to fund a recording with someone who understands and knows how to expand their music.

The following Pestilential rages like a bush fire, its energy crackling under the thrash driven riffs and tightly wound melodic veins, the riffs drilling their way deeper as the song progresses to bring a total captivation by its final slap around the ear. It is a step on from the impressive start, and the first to fluctuate within many levels, all impressive and heady.

Tracks like the bruising Nocturnal Frags and the barbed Morbid Infection with its corrosive aural scowl, test and tease through their coarse yet magnetic sonic breath whilst the likes of persistently grazing Scene of Crime and the ravenous Field of Death, a track soaked in malevolence and insidious melodic intrusions, take the contagion to its richest potency, the last especially a remarkable and wholly infectious poison to devour greedily.

There is no real weakness on My Empire, the title track and final song Bury Your Dead as formidable and pleasingly imposing as anything else on the release. For all who have a passion for the likes of Immolation, Dismember etc, Deserted Fear will easily excite their ears and more.

http://www.desertedfear.de/

RingMaster 01/10/2012