Dark Desolation is a relatively young black metal band from Bangalore, India. Yes, you read that correctly. Even if you’re not a fan of black metal, you have to sort of admire these guys for playing this type of music in an area of the world in which it isn’t necessarily socially acceptable. This five-piece band plays a style of black metal similar to bands like Dark Funeral and Tsjuder, but they also have some death metal elements thrown in for good measure.
Earlier this year, Dark Desolation released their debut demo, Blasphemous Pestilence, via Salute Records. While Blasphemous Pestilence only contains five tracks and a little over twenty minutes of material, it provides a relatively satisfying helping of gritty black metal.
The production on this recording is very raw and adds a certain amount of grit to the music. I’m not necessarily a fan of gritty production, but it can be largely overlooked in this case because this is a demo recording and a lot of black metal recordings are produced to sound raw. The instrumentation is generally pretty good and the vocals sound tortured and rough. The vocalist is rarely intelligible, but the tortured sound of his shrieks usually fits in well with black metal. If you’re a fan of black metal, Dark Desolation is worth checking out. With more time, better production, and more widespread recognition, Dark Desolation could very well be a force to be reckoned with in the black metal scene. 
Links: Facebook
