Finding Peace
Artist: Desolated
Genre: Alternative, Hardcore, Metal, Rock
Record Label: MLVLTD
Release Date: 30 May 2025
The UK’s Desolated are a bit of a phenomenon on the alternative/hardcore scene. They rose to major prominence in the merch mad 2010’s era of UK hardcore. It was a golden age. Would’ve been just as likely to find a Tupac or Hatebreed reference as you would an obscure Simpsons design on a tee. They also proved to be more than the sum of all that hype with an excellent release across the decade, the latest offering, A New Realm of Misery. That was both an entire era of the band and a pandemic ago, and it’s time to test the waters on a new album. Finding Peace is our May 30th, here’s what you can expect:
The intro track ‘Stomper’ is both appropriately titled and likely to be used as an intro live. It’s short but sweet, clocking in at just over a minute, it captures some of that old Desolated energy while leading into the new album. It feeds directly into ‘Lessons’, and as the first full album offering with Tony Evans on vocals, to paraphrase his lyrics, he has our attention. Not only is the track an absolute scorcher for Charlie Thorpe on drums, but the ‘Lessons’ brings back that old sense of aggression from the peak hardcore years, whilst also really showing how they fit the bill to open for Paleface Swiss in Jan/Feb recently. There is a distinct sound with Evans on the mic that can only be described as shrillness; the sound doesn’t imitate past efforts but does honour them, and marks a very exciting new direction. That direction had obviously started with the release of the next track, ‘Bite Down’, which was released as a single in February. This track feels emblematic of the Desolated you may have seen 10 years ago at many an all-dayer like Outbreak (though they are yet to play the UK instalment). It is a bit slower than the riff side from Rich Unsworth and Les Law, but has a bit more bounce to it. As witnessed firsthand, expect many a pit to open up when the guitar of this track starts to fill the room.
‘Glass Ceiling’ is a track that, in the band’s own words, comes from the lockdown era and from “frustration that makes you want to kick someone’s head off”. It puts a lot of perspective on the journey that Desolated have had in the lead up to this album, as it’s almost easy to picture each component of the track being born in isolation. The theme of the track is to target a “relentless system that barely rewards hard work”. In this instance, that graft has paid dividends for them. Given the significance of when ‘Glass Ceiling’ was written, it blends seamlessly into ‘Never Enough’. Desolated have long stated their love for the old school New York Hardcore scene, and this 75-second scorcher feels the most influenced by that. Everything is played that beat faster, there is a heavier emphasis on gang vocals, as well as at least 50% of the track being the breakdown before a cold cutoff.
That then means the wailing guitar of ‘Endless Betrayal’ stands out even more, and opens a section of the album that strongly features guest spots from other artists as well. In terms of ‘Endless Betrayal’, this introduction wouldn’t feel out of place on a more thrash-tinged record. With an opening minute devoted to the more shred friendly hardcore fans until the bass of Dan Ford creeps in, you can’t help but feel the ghost of mixer/masterer Will Putney on the track. The weighting of the track is perfectly balanced and keeps its focus with some sharp tongued lyrics by both Evans and and the guest feature from Ninebar, whilst still being a thumping instrumental offering. ‘Let it Slide’ is another track that feels very rooted in the NYHC inspiration that Desolated have cited on more than one occasion. This time it reads the Geist feature for Thailand’s Whispers, and blisters its way through a 2 minute run time. ‘Let It Slide is a much needed track at this point in the album, being swift, aggressive and direct. The final feature track on the record is ‘Victim 2.0’, again featuring D-Bloc as it had when the track released last year. A repurposing of the original single, this time with Evans on vocals. This track carried a substantial amount of the promo for the album prior to Desolated’s switch on vocalists. It feels appropriate to honour the track with a re-recording, but also not have it tent-pole the album cycle as their other singles championed a new sound a lot better.
The album starts to close out with ‘Enemy’ which boasts a lot of the same praise as ‘Lessons’ and ‘Bite Down’ that kicked the record off, though this time features some brilliant but unexpected pinched tones on guitar that are sandwiched between a performance from Evans that is clean, but not polished, raw, but not messy. Finally there’s ‘Dead End 2025’. This is spiritual successor to the band’s breakout moment from the 2011 EP The Sixth Day. Re-recording something from this EP specifically helps marry all iterations and eras of the band quite definitively, as it’s a tribute to the years Desolated spent toiling on their sound before the peak years of Disorder of the Mind and The End. This feels thoughtful, but not too nostalgic, it feels like they are still running forward full speed.
There’s a refreshing honesty to Finding Peace. This is not the band overtly trying to reinvent anything, and it doesn’t need to. What it does instead is tap directly into the vein of hardcore’s most enduring qualities: grit, weight, and absolute conviction. Front to back each of these tracks seem tailor made for the live scene, with a couple already having years of playtime. The inclusion of other artists on a worldwide scale from Ninebar, Whispers, and D Bloc feels very much like Desolated doing all this by the beat of their own drum. It’s an exciting time to be a fan, although with Desolated, when hasn’t it been?