For a past writing gig, I would spend hours browsing Bandcamp to find the newest heavy metal releases that resonated with me. Much like Everything Is Noise, I focused on finding and providing exposure to smaller bands. It is really easy for lesser-known bands and new artists to get lost in the avalanche of new music. Bands who aren’t signed to the hyped-up label du jour and don’t have PR people pushing their music into the blogs, websites, and social media accounts that have the most followers can’t compete with the ones that do. 2022 was a great year for metal, as well. Undeath, Helms Alee, Dream Unending, Chat Pile, and Wormrot all dropped killer records.
One record that fell under too many people’s radar that year was Cold Dead Earth by Desiccation. The Nevada City, California band’s debut album falls into the blackened doom category, but they add in some post rock and goth elements that make it not only a slow burn of a record, but also one that stands out from the crowd. I listened to this record a lot that year, buying it on cassette and convinced that bigger voices in heavy metal writing would also love it. Somehow, virtually no one mentioned it. So, when I heard that Desiccation was back in the studio working on a follow-up album, I knew they would be a great Weekly Featured Artist.
James (guitar/vocals) started Desiccation during the Covid lockdowns and the wildfires that plagued California at the time. He and his wife Soell (vocals) on the genesis of Desiccation:
‘We were stuck at home quite a bit. James couldn’t play with his other band Aequorea, and had some song ideas percolating that didn’t quite fit with that project, anyway. He started writing the songs, tracked the guitars and vocals from home, and enlisted the help of our friend Patrick Hills to fill in some of the other parts and engineer the final product. He asked Soell to add some vocals (we’re married so it was easy for us to work together).‘
Cold Dead Earth, musically and lyrically, captures the desperate and harrowing feelings from that time. For me, it was the ideal album to confront the massive uncertainty with a clear, yet remorseful mind. The longer song structures that embrace post-metal’s hypnotic repetition of themes, sounded like the feelings in my brain about the world at large, lumbering monoliths of doom riffs, like Wolves In The Throne Room and Aseethe toying with John Carpenter‘s synths to soundtrack the results of our neglect and exploitation of the environment.
‘[we were inspired by] The horrors of end stage capitalism, wind storms, Wild fires (eco catastrophe/anxiety). The struggle of surviving and parenting, raising a child, wondering what kind of future awaits them (we have a 13 year old kiddo). An attempt to transmute the darkness and anxiety of all of that into something constructive and beautiful, that may reach someone else and make them feel a little less alone, a little less hopeless.’
Therein lies the importance of politically charged music. Just like how pop music can turn a song about love or love lost into something millions of people can identify in themselves, a song that shares your fears, anxieties, and anger can be cathartic, reassuring. I wouldn’t call Desiccation comfort music, but the tortured rasps of black metal vocals over heavy hitting doom hit harder when they are more relatable, an outlet to cope with systemic violence. This is especially affirming when Desiccation is influenced by some of your favorite bands – ‘We have a wide range of musical taste, which we believe is what makes this project sound unique […] Godspeed You! Black Emporer, Mayhem, Emperor, Neurosis, Yob, (to name just a few) have all helped shape our sound.’
On their new record, yet to be named, Desiccation says ‘it will be just as heavy [as Cold Dead Earth], longer, steeped in darkness with a touch of light on the horizon, and we can’t wait to share it with everyone,’ which sounds perfect to me. Cold Dead Earth was such a promising debut, I have been eager to hear more from them. ‘We just wanna share what little bits of our souls and creativity that we can during the short time we have on this earth. We’re not getting any younger, and there’s so many songs to make!’, they say.
We are also lucky that Desiccation wasn’t a ‘pandemic only’ project. Not being able to leave your home certainly can lead to creativity, but when things opened back up, it could be easy to lose steam. They have stayed at it, though, offering the following about highlights for the band:
‘James Rauschenberg of Transylvanian Recordings did us the honor of releasing our debut album which was amazing and definitely helped it circulate to more ears. His continued support has been much appreciated. It was pretty well received when we released it, which was a pleasant surprise, and it made us so happy that folks liked it. Playing live shows has been amazing, this band is Soell’s first experience with performing and she’s overcoming her lifelong stage fright to do so; which is pretty rad. We’ve had the pleasure of playing with some amazing bands so far, and it feels great to be part of a beautiful underground scene where there’s so many talented people working so hard.’
Desiccation is still looking towards the future, despite the struggles of end-stage capitalism, climate crisis, and increasingly atrocious election cycles. For the rest of the year they anticipate ,’More live shows for sure, hopefully we’ll get this new record wrapped up and we’d love to tour eventually!‘ When asked what strategies they employ to survive today’s increasingly hostile world, they say, ‘finding whatever bits of joy that we can, to get through each day. Trying to live our lives rooted from a place of love and compassion. We refuse to lose hope and to stop dreaming of a better world. And of course the hustle never stops, haha, California is expensive.‘
Be sure to check out Cold Dead World, out now on Transylvanian Recordings and keep your eyes open for their upcoming project!
