Album review: Desolated – Finding Peace

It’s been the best part of a decade since UK bruisers Desolated last dropped a full-length. Since 2016’s The End, there’s been a resurgence – worldwide, and notably on these shores – in the sort of heavy hardcore in which they specialise. Reanimating the thuggery associated with the early-’80s NYC and Boston scenes, with the influence of four decades of underground metal as embalming fluid, this is fearsome stuff. There’s precious little peace to be found on Finding Peace, though catharsis is here in abundance.

The title of the raging Endless Betrayal best sums up the lyrical tone: it does sometimes feel like this album is 24 minutes of having grievances shouted in your face. That’s not to say that Desolated have nothing worthwhile to say, however. Glass Ceiling gives voice to the view from the poverty line, while Bite Down is a paean to pushing through adversity. Elsewhere, though, Let It Slide and Enemy give the impression that these lads are mostly running on anger from a never-ending series of beefs.

Finding Peace is an undeniably fantastic-sounding record, mixed and mastered by Will Putney for maximum impact. Charlie Thorpe’s drums hit with particular power and clarity, no surprise given his hard-touring experience with Malevolence, but the whole band pack a mighty punch – listen to Lessons and images of a windmilling, two-stepping crowd immediately mosh into the mind’s eye. And new frontman Tony Evans puts in a memorable performance, his vocal flow helping to make Never Enough and Enemy stand-out tunes.

Beatdown fiends will be all over this long-awaited return from a rejuvenated, tougher-than-ever hardcore crew. The wheel might not have been reinvented here, but it’s been given a damn good polishing.

Verdict: 3/5

For fans of: Knuckledust, Terror, Madball

Finding Peace is released on May 30 via MLVLTD