The Desolate – Track by Brutal Track
The wait has been unbelievably long, but hell finally arrived on earth on the Lord’s Day, January 15, 2012 in the form of Inferion‘s The Desolate. A face melting assault of traditional black metal, The Desolate is the result of many years of writing and recording in fits in starts and in myriad locations, including Iraq when main man guitarist/drummer/vocalist/composer Nick Reyes was deployed with his U.S. Army Unit. Album recording began back in 2005 when Inferion was a quartet and was finished this past year by Nick with bass work provided by Frank Gross (ex-Kult Ov Azazel). The wait was well worth it, as The Desolate bleeds malice and is delivered with a fiery passion. This album proves that black things come to those who wait.
Perhaps no one understands desolation and bleakness as well as the tormented who served time in the soulless abyss of war in Iraq. Nick Reyes has taken his desert experiences and infused The Desolate with caliginous emotion. Destruction, devastation, pain, rage, despair. It’s all there for the taking.
On the day of its release Nick sent over his track by track commentary on The Desolate. You can listen to the album in full below, and get your own copy for only $6 at inferion.bandcamp.com.
Among the Twilight: This song was actually one of the last songs written for the album. It was the toughest ones to do drums for because I had to do each passage one at a time then piece them together because, well, I’m not a drummer. Lyrically it is about the furthest reaches of our solar system and how science and nature outweigh religious beliefs. It also describes the awesome destructive nature of our solar system and the cosmos.
Forgotten Ethereal Visions: Most of the guitar riffs were written by our good friend and former band mate Armando Martinez currently in (Evil Throne). It probably dates back to the late 90’s because I have early versions of the song still on cassette. The reason why we chose this song was for its thrashy verses and its mid-paced melodic riffs at the end, which I don’t think existed in the original version. Lyrically it’s about putting aside our dangerous obsession with beliefs and realizing what we were really put on this earth for, survival. It’s a concept that has become something we can’t obtain.
It Began With Blood: This song is definitely my favorite because of theguitar atmosphere overall especially the noise towards the end. Armando Martinez was responsible for that blast beat in the chorus that just makes thesong. Lyrically it’s about our warring nature and how it’s been something thathas been with us since before we were human, and how it will always be withinus.
The Killing Process: I enjoy the way Frank’s bass complements all the guitar work in this song. He doesn’t just play what I’m playing an octave lower; he makes a unique aesthetic that drives the song. Lyrically, it glorifies the fractions of a second after the bullet leaves the barrel of a gun and people’s lives are changed forever. Vengeance on someone who has destroyed your life without regard for anyone is the “Joy far beyond the limits of comprehension”.
Moment Of Anger: We wrote this song with Diego Angee (Evil Throne) when he was helping us rehearse our material. He never got around to recording any guitar for the album, but some of the melodies in the song were his idea. This song was also difficult on drums because the number of fills. I had to stop and patch in the fills separatelybecause as I said before, I’m no drummer. Lyrically, the song is about putting aside religion and seeing the story of Christ for what it was, just a story. It makes the point that without these “stories” dominating and dictating our lives we can find a way to survive and move forward.
Numerous Lacerations: This song is instrumental. The name came from the amount of cutting (of audio) I had to do to find the perfect delay loop and audio samples. The audio samples are of various rallies because I needed something to make the song sound larger.
Purest Evil: This is Frank’s song. He did all the vocals on it and wrote all the guitars. I actually enjoyed playing drums on this song because I didn’t have to just play a piece at a time. I would have liked him to do more vocally on the album but most vocals I redid when I was in Iraq and getting more of his vocals before the final mix was impossible. Lyrically, it is about the rites to evil, it’s an abstract to ones thoughts on how they would ritualize.
Underlife: This is another favorite of mine. Riffs, structure, depressive melody, blast beats, it’s all there. This song actually got me a good talking to from my CO in Iraq. Ha ha. I was doing the vocals for it in my CHU (combat housing unit) someone was walking by, heard me screaming, got freaked out and informed my CO. I had to explain why I was yelling at myself and sign some “Im not going to kill myself and I don’t need medication form”. Plus, while I was tracking vocals for this song, our LSA (Life Support Area) lost power and I had to do the rest of it on laptop battery and I sweat my nuts off doing it. Lyrically, it is about the power of fear and how it can destroy you if you can’t control it.
Withering Deities: The guitar track in this song is the only track that survived the numerous re-recording of this album dating back to 2005. I was never able to reproduce the ambience that the guitars naturally produced so I just left it. I wrote the lyrics while I was living in Tennessee in 2006. Lyrically, it’s about imminent global annihilation and what people will do in the final moments. More specifically, it’s about your typical hypocrite that poses to hate xtianity for unfounded reasons or because everyone else is doing it. It goes on to suggest that their last moments they’ll spend back-pedaling in hypocrisy and for what? Who’s listening? Who was ever listening? Don’t believe or not believe in something just because the music you listen to or the people you hang out with influence you to do so. Because in those final moments were all fucked, so suck it up and move on.
