DespiseD—Scortched Earth (2023)

Details

Produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Alex Roque at HOSPEDERO Home Recording Studio, Mogi Guacu, São Paulo. Vocals recorded at Gerneral Music Studio, Botucatu, São Paulo. Drums on “Welcome to your ruin” by Mauricio Weimar. All music by Alex Roque. All lyrics by Alex Roque, except 2, 4, 6 & 9 by Saulo Benedetti. Released Monday 13 February 2023.

For fans of Brujeria, Terrorizer, Misery Index

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Band

Rodolfo Carrega—Vocals
Alex Roque—Guitars, bass and drum programming

Tracks

Against your lies (2:47)
Force fed bullshit (0:31)
Chernobyl burns (2:58)
Urge to kill (1:38)
If you want peace, prepare for war (1:59)
Decomposing (1:40)
Raw display of aggression (1:13)
Torn to shreds (1:28)
Contaminated (0:29)
Chaos by the hands of God (0:59)
Coldblooded murder (2:13)
Welcome to your ruin (0:54)

Review

DespiseD is a duo band created during the Covid-19 pandemic in Mogi Guaçu, São Paulo in Brazil by Alex Roque (Disorder of Rage, Blood Trail, Oligarquia) who invited Rodolfo Carrega (Clawn, ex-3rd World Collapse) to take over the vocals with the intention of spreading the heavy and raw death/grind influenced by the likes of Terrorizer, Nasum, Born to Murder the World, Napalm Death, Lock Up, Repulsion, Defecation.

Some music is written to enjoyed as a bodily experience; this album is one of those. It is an unrelenting powerhouse of an album. I was watching a video this week about the cathartic nature of metal for heavy music fans—it offers an accepting place of solitude where you can let go of your pain and suffering and allow the music to heal. I have no doubt that this is one of those albums for me. Even on my first listen, I knew that this was ‘my’ music.

It is a short album, however, these twelve tracks do not even clock up 19 minutes. The shortest song is 29 seconds, and given the context, the longest weirdly feels like it is somewhat overstaying its welcome at about six times longer than that at 2 minutes 58 seconds! But I love albums like this. They are like the special forces of metal albums: they get in, get the job done, and get out again.

Conclusion

If you’re into brutal, unrelentingly heavy deathgrind metal then you will absolutely want to check out this new album from DespiseD. It is, without a doubt, one of the most intense and purely devastating albums you’ll hear and experience this year. Turn it up loud and feel that power!

Review score: 95%

Disclosure

MDPR contacted me inviting me to preview DespiseD’s forthcoming album, thank you. I have no connections to either MDPR or DespiseD. I’m not being paid to review this. But I did get a free digital copy of the album to review which is pretty cool. Many thanks to Zach from MDPR, and to DespiseD for continuing to create fresh, exciting new music.