Diabolical Desolation

I was afraid that it will have to happen eventually; sooner or later every band must record a disappointing album (only very few never did). Centinex had killer first few years, great album after great album and then “Diabolical Desolation” happened. This album is nothing more, but a very mediocre and rather forgettable record. And when compared to the previous albums, it feels like a disappointment for sure. For me “Diabolical Desolation” is the first weak link in the hellish chain called Centinex. Not their last also, I’m afraid.

Of course, one may wonder why I think so, if basically all the aspects of “Diabolical Desolation” follow the well-tried patterns from the previous albums. It’s not like Centinex started to play power metal all of a sudden (they’re not Afflicted he, he). You’ll find here the sharp riffing, many fast, blasting parts, as well as lots of the traditional for Swedish death metal melodies. All these things were present in Centinex before and I always loved the band for ability to keep everything fresh, aggressive and totally interesting. Why do I complain now then? The reason is simple – this album doesn’t bring that certain quality I expected. And simply sounds boring.

Yes, I think that “Diabolical Desolation” is boring. There's a whole bunch of mediocre songs, which are much more melodic than Centinex's older material and lack aggression or energy, which characterized some of the earlier albums. Their focus on melody is much stronger here, they even decided to include couple of clean vocals and fuckin keyboards, which ruin already shaking foundations completely. I find all these keyboards as completely unnecessary and useless, to be honest. They don't make the music sound any darker or more atmospheric. I have the feeling like someone brought them into these songs just for the sake of having them here, without really thinking what is the purpose for them.

“Diabolical Desolation” is overfilled with too mellow parts, what basically softened their style totally, in many fragments the band start to sound like fuckin At the Gates, Gates of Ishtar or other such Swedish melodic death bands and that’s a disappointing to me. Where did their pure death metal vitality, the sinister feeling and ferocity go? Songs sound very repetitive. Too often you could feel like hearing the same type of riffs over and over again, so after a while you start yawn. Really. Your snooze is occasionally interrupted with songs like "Forthcoming Terror", "Soulcrusher" or “The Bloodline”, where I could finally find something more interesting, even blasting at neckbreaking speed parts. But there are also such poor pieces like “On Violent Soil” or the title track, so....

...So, even those "better" songs are nothing exceptional and killer. Just a bunch of good songs, that's it. Which is why the entire album too quickly starts to be monotonous and joyless. It's not a complete failure, I'm sure that some fans of melodic death metal from Sweden may like it. I prefer Centinex's earlier stuff.

Standout tracks: "Forthcoming Terror", "Soulcrusher", “The Bloodline”
Verdict: 60/100

The year 2002 saw the return of Centinex with a new full-length effort, Diabolical Desolation. With the previous Hellbrigade, our Swedish butchers returned to a more solid and natural death metal approach, forgetting a bit the black metal touches of the past albums. This new album can be considered as a natural continuation of the previous album because the death metal continues to be the strongest point here and also the production now exalts the classical death metal style of the band. The guitars have the classic Swedish touch but the sounds are not so clear and all the instruments seem melted down together; however, let’s analyze this album in a better way.

“Demonic Warlust” can be easily considered one of the best tracks here because the level of inspiration is excellent and the tempo is immediately fast. After awhile, we remain surprised for the more melodic sections we can find: the keyboards create a base under the less impulsive guitars and this has its climax on the solo. The rest is definitely faster and the vocals are in constant balance between the screams and the classic growl that, however, is never excessively screamed. “Forthcoming Terror” is straightforward death metal with fast palm muting parts and sudden blast beats. The atmosphere is pitch black and “Spawned to Destroy” adds more violence with heavy riffs and impulsive paces. However, going on we can notice in a clearly way that At The Gates band threw big shadows over this album. We can notice it from riffs and the structures: Centinex are not playing the old form of Swedish death metal, but a sort of a more modern one.

However, don’t be frightened because the violence remains untouched and the heaviness that lies on the mid-paced breaks is huge. On the other hand, we must also mark a few melodic influences that concern especially the solos. Sometimes they remind me Darkane style too on the great debut Rusted Angel because the modern touch is quite evident even in a song like “Soul Crusher” that has its power on the sheer frontal assault. The refrain is good and the guitars always hide a hint of melody on some parts as the first clean vocals come out too. The title track displays a melodic guitar intro to produce a gloom atmosphere in a crescendo of intensity on mid-paced moments. Here the melodic lead lines are far more present and we can notice it on the following “On Violent Soil” too. The tempo is faster, with more blast beats but the guitars riffs are always a bit melodic and the keyboards enter again to increase a sort of spectral atmosphere.

The Massive Killing Capacity influences reign supreme over “Total Misanthropia” song for the tremolo on the guitars and the up tempo. “The Bloodline” sounds more “classic death metal” for the use of some ultra low pitched vocals and the ultra heavy riffs. The speed is important here but the mid-paced break by the middle is something nasty and catchy at the same time. After all this brutality, the melodic lead notes of “A War Symphony” are more than welcome, even if the structure soon returns to death metal but it’s a death metal that never forgets the melodic hint. The final “Hellfire Twilight” is again incredibly influenced by the mid-era Dismember and the groove is also more present to give the right heaviness to these good riffs.

Well, all things considered, I must admit that here we have another good release by this overlooked band. One thing is sure and it’s that Centinex don’t like to be stuck in a fixed genre for more than one album and that’s good also because they can do it so well! Well, at least they remained always nasty and fast!

Centinex's Diabolical Desolation is a pretty standard death metal offering, but includes enough extra elements to set it apart from the pack. Firstly, the guitar work is top-notch caliber. You can almost detect the direct traditional heavy metal influence ala Iron Maiden. Most of the songs are hard driving, although they transition quite well into the melodic guitar solos. The title track is an excellent example of this.
The second element that sets it apart is the uncharacteristic, yet well-timed keyboard arrangements. They add some amazing atmosphere and feeling to make this album more than just run of the mill death metal.
What does hurt this album are the cliched death metal vocals. But if that is your cup of tea, than you will feel right at home. Also, the other drawback is the one-dimensionality of some of the tracks.
In closing, this was my first taste of Centinex and I was pretty impressed. If you like Death Metal with melodic leanings than you should check this out.