Release Date May 15th, 2026
Format CD/LP/Cassette/Digital
Genre Blackened Doom Metal
Origin United States
Desiccation is a California-based blackened doom metal outfit formed in 2022 by the husband-and-wife duo of James Bratt (guitars, vocals, synths) and Soell Bratt (vocals), together with Patrick Hills (drums, bass, synths, background vocals). Rooted in the forests of Northern California, the trio draws from the absorbing sounds of Emperor, Evoken, and Blut Aus Nord to forge a sound that merges doom-driven patience with atmospheric extremity anchored in black and death metal. Their music circles around ritual, grief, and transcendence, translated through layered sonic atmospheres that paint a world of collapsing nations and burning ecosystems.
"Legatum Mortuorum" arrives as the band's second full-length and a clear step forward from their 2022 debut, "Cold Dead Earth." The record sits in that specific zone where blasting drums and tremolo-picked
guitars crash against slow, open riffs and sprawling synths, and the contrast is handled with enough intent to make the forty-something minutes feel earned. The three vocalists are used across the album in a way that shifts the atmosphere from track to track, from corrosive black metal extremity to something more restrained and mournful. "All Light Is Gone" and "Cursed In Cold Silence" open the album with enough aggression to signal this is not background listening, while "Lamentations Beyond The Veil" stretches the longest and closes things with a presence that lingers.
The guests add something real here. Alex Miletich of Vile Rites and Mortuous contributes lead guitar on the title track, and his presence is felt in a way that elevates rather than distracts. Karl Cordtz of Feral Season and Chrch brings additional vocals on three tracks and adds guitar to "Lamentations Beyond The Veil," reinforcing the album's more atmospheric passages without diluting the harder edges. The synth layers across the record are deeper than on the debut and give the album a cinematic quality that suits the lyrical themes of loss, grief, and glimpsed transcendence.
Where the album occasionally drags is in its pacing. The slow-heavy dynamic has been done by enough bands in this space that simply executing it well is no longer a distinction in itself. Desiccation does it better than most newer entries into the genre, and the songwriting across the six tracks is patient without becoming passive, but there are moments mid-album where the formula starts to show its seams. The production balances the extremity and the atmosphere without flattening either, which counts for something in a genre where records either lose the dirt entirely or bury the melody under sludge.
"Legatum Mortuorum" is a solid and occasionally impressive second album from a band that has built a clear and committed sound in a short time. It does not land every punch, and a couple of passages could have been trimmed without losing anything essential, but as a statement of where Desiccation is at two years in, it makes a case for their place in the conversation around current blackened doom metal.
|8.3
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