Dear Desolation is the fourth studio album by Australian deathcore band Thy Art Is Murder. The album was released on 18 August 2017 by Nuclear Blast.
Background
Following the release of their third full-length album
Holy War in 2015, vocalist CJ McMahon briefly left the band. In January 2017, the band announced McMahon's return and released the stand-alone single "No Absolution" (a B-side from the
Holy War recording sessions) as part of the announcement.
According to Eliran Kantor, the artist behind the album's cover, the image of the wolf feeding a baby lamb serves to convey the album's primary themes of greed, oppression, cynicism, preying on and misleading the weak, and the connection of fear & hope; the wolf feeding the baby lamb outwardly portrays kindness, while in reality, the wolf is helping the lamb to grow in order to prepare a bigger meal for herself.
Critical reception
The album received generally positive reviews from music critics.
Exclaim! called it "the band's strongest album to date",
noting the band's stylistic shift from
deathcore towards conventional
death metal inspired by bands like Behemoth and
Cannibal Corpse.
It has been described as continuing their prior
deathcore sound by
Metal Hammer.
praised McMahon's vocal performance, and wrote that though the album is "short on the penetrative hooks that
Holy War possessed in abundance,
Into Chaos We Climb and
The Final Curtain's seismic jolts and haunting leads leave an indelible mark for deathcore disciples to latch onto."
Track listing
Personnel
Thy Art Is Murder
-
Chris "CJ" McMahon – vocals
-
Andy Marsh – lead guitar
-
Sean Delander – rhythm guitar
-
Kevin Butler – bass guitar
-
Lee Stanton – drums
Production
Charts
