Next week, Richmond underground metal warriors Inter Arma will release New Heaven, their first proper album in five years. The record is shaping up to be a motherfucker. We’ve posted two grand-scale, brutal early songs, the title track and “Concrete Cliffs.” Today, we get one last single before the LP arrives.
“Desolation’s Harp” is an absolutely hellacious blast of old-school blackened death metal. The double-bass hammers away so quickly that it almost has nothing to do with rhythm. The vocals sound like demons trapped in ancient caverns. The whole thing pulsates with eerie, malevolent atmosphere. In a press release, guitarist Trey Dalton says, “‘Desolation’s Harp’ is basically our take on a straightforward ‘metal’ song, something very riff-forward. We wanted to write something that felt like us but compact and edited without sacrificing the nuance or complexity. It has a lot of the hallmarks of us — slow riff over blast beat, discordance, and harmony guitars — but in a more concise final form. I’m stoked on our flirtation with brevity, and we hope you are too.” Check it out below.
New Heaven is out 4/26 on Relapse.
