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Brisbane based Descent are among a group of excellent metal of all kinds making their way out of Australia’s underground into broader notice – at least until the world when arse up. Metalheads are never too perturbed though, and the band gathered in the studio to bang out another sure-fire death/grind/fucking metal hit.
Descent leave nothing to the imagination with Tempest wasting no time snapping necks and kicking bodies. The only let up amongst the first half of the album is the steady, though still unrelenting, Resolve.
Here the band allows the music to encompass the listener a little more with surges and pulses at a relative trickle compared to the sonic chaos around it.
Rattling along further, Fester creeps up like the earlier quiet moment in Resolve, with an aim at create a sense of sonic unease going as far as creating a hollow drone in middle before assaulting the ears with a build up capable of bringing down buildings.
The playing time is perfect at the 30 minute mark and Descent know it as they (dis)gracefully bow out on top. Perfect because the mix and production gets grating. Kurt Ballou’s usual chaotic, everything-turned-up-to-11 mix creates a dry and tinny guitar tone that, despite its best intentions, takes away some of the ferocity of the music, particularly burying the venom in the vocals.
That said, this is the sound of a band that know what they want, and know how to lay it out. Nothing special, nothing too different. Just brutal fucking riffs, played extremely loud. Get it.