Split to Kill
local metal masters Desolatevoid release split album spanning two states
Hell yes, in my hands is a split album that feels like some kind of body and not the grave-robbing and shoddy stitching- together of disparate parts. Eau Claire’s Desolatevoid is back, following 2008’s critical success and sophomore release, No Sign of Better Times. This time they’ve combined forces with South Carolina’s The Last Van Zant and Appleton’s The Parish to bring you a full length album. This is an alliance destined by genetics, and the riff is DNA, and to try and untangle one band from the other will unravel the whole damn thing.
Originally planned as a piggyback release to NSOBT, drummer Tim Smith explains the delay: “Everyone has jobs, bills, stress, and life outside the band.” Why a split as opposed to a new album? “We had a few songs left over from No Signs. Plus a split works out great in terms of exposure; each band’s fans experience new bands,” says Smith.
Desolatevoid sounds totally comfortable throughout their third of the split, and I do not mean that in the pejorative. If debut full length album Self Medicated Psycho Therapy (2006) portrayed a band in a race to acknowledge all its influences at the expense of coherence, the new tunes are an intensification of the consistent “voice” established through NSOBT. Opener -13 is as inflammatory and pissed as a urinary tract infection. Reburn rollicks like vintage Motorhead, if Lemmy’s vocals were being transmitted from the flight deck of the Event Horizon. Ungrateful Bastard dissolves into serpentine streaks over a pitch black sea. And, underlining the point, the band has re-recorded the closing track from the debut, Broken Bones and Bullet Holes.
“With SMPT, we were a young band that had enough songs to do a record, so we did,” offers Smith. “Then devastation hit with Pat. [Pat Sova, founding guitarist, had a car accident that robbed him of the use of both his legs]. We matured as a band dealing with the tragedy of our friend.”
The band now boasts two lead players whose idiosyncratic styles add much to the split’s character. Band veteran Brent K assesses, “I think we have a Hanneman/King approach. I’m the sloppy, chaotic, improv guy while Mark (Stolp) is more structured and melodic.” As new-ish addition Stolp sees it, “We have pretty much the same abilities and many similar influences. Our styles are similar enough to be in the same music, but different enough to give a distinct sound.”
Vocalist Andy Howard handles the lyrics; he’s penned such nightmarish imagery as “It’s like searching for something in a pitch black room that’s been filled with corpses and sharpened knives.” Perhaps revealing a softer core beneath the blackened crust, Howard says, “Whether crazy or negative, they are actually an outlet to positively release intense anger that potentially could be harmful to others. The words are meant to be moments like the split second you get punched in the face and realize the seriousness of the situation.”
The split is out now via bassist Nick Carroll’s label, Crimes Against Humanity. “The next full length will be out sooner than later. Over half the songs are written,” promises Carroll.
“It will be dark, it will be heavy, it will be Desolatevoid,” adds Smith.
For now, get your grubby mitts on this split – three bands for the price of one. There’s no need to skip around the disc, no need to declare some kind of “winner,” and certainly no need to pick your poison. It’s already in your system; all that’s left to do is press play and succumb.
Desolatevoid plays the House of Rock on May 15, and the split is available on iTunes and CAHrecords.com.
