Duskwalker - Underground Forever

Duskwalker is a death/thrash metal band from Canada, who formed in 2015 as The Offering but changed to their moniker in 2018.   They released one album as The Offering but  “Underground Forever,” is their third full-length album as Duskwalker.

This album is highly infectious, taking thrash and death metal, putting them into a blender and spitting them out as a surprisingly catchy album.  This is a rip-roaring time, checking off all the boxes for what makes a good, even great, death/thrash album. 

What tends to turn me off from most modern thrash is that it often sounds overly dated, a modern touch that tries to be relevant but can’t seem to let go of the path.  Another issue tends to be the vocals, which have been average at best in my experience.  However, Duskwalker and “Underground Forever,” don’t have to worry about either of these issues.  Their sound is modern enough to actually sound like they had fun playing it and didn’t spend the night before listening to old Megadeth and Slayer records instead of honing their craft.

The vocals are impressive too—Joey’s growls and screams are insane!  I’m so glad he uses this extreme route instead of doing clean vocals that sound like a constipated Mustaine or something.

The most impressive element of the album is the exemplary songwriting.  Yes, it’s thrash.  Yes, it is death.  But it isn’t nonstop speed or unrelenting brutality.  The two genres are melded pretty well here so the sons get to breathe a lot.  Yes, the album does offer plenty of moments containing nonstop speed and unrelenting brutality but it also contains actual riffs, groove, and just enough melody.  

The album opens with “Crippled At The Core,” and it is a 100% certifiable banger.  I love that scream around the 20 second mark that leads the charge of rampaging riffs and drums.  The drums double down as the vocals spit out the lyrics with fury.  Offering slow to mid-tempo changes throughout the song keeps it all memorable, sticking in your head even as it blazes through like a bullet to the brain.

“Never Going Back,” opens with a nod to the old school but quickly upgrades into death/thrash fury, razor sharp riffs that bring the punishment to the edge.  The middle part of the song is utterly devastating.  The riffs break off with pinch harmonics and pull themselves back together to enter a groovy riff paradise.   

“City On A Cemetery,” begs with dismal, clean melodies that are washed in a veil of grime.  Around the 30 second mark, the song begins to hammer its way through.  The slower tempo lends the song a horror theme, perfect considering the title and subject matter.  The solo is very well done and the riffs are so unrelenting it’s almost dizzying. 

Thankfully, the album is consistent all the way through with a few of the later songs being amongst the album’s best.  Case in point is “Artillery Communion,” is a massive song, dense, with a real death metal aesthetic.  The tone of the riffs is freighting and deep, offering a visceral performance. The ending is a highlight with the way the solo steers the direction of the song.

If that song was more death metal oriented then “Vanquisher,” is placed right where it needs to be because it’s a thrash attack that just doesn’t let up.  The urgency grows as the song reaches an apex, conquers it, then climbs another one.  The bass just after the halfway point is wonderfully melodic and steps out from behind the solo, making its presence very well known.  

“Inhaling The Dust of Bones,” is perhaps my favorite song on the album, due to its horrific, blood drenched nightmarish atmosphere.  The bass is the MVP here, creating a low end sound that adds so much to the song’s evil dimensions. The first half is a dirge and maybe even a bit doomy but it soon grows into a mid paced battering ram. 

Duskwalker “Underground Forever,” is indeed an album that represents just how much good music is beyond the public’s eye.  The album has a firm grasp on how to truly combine thrash and death, and is unafraid to lean into one style more than the other when the need arrives.  On top of all that, it has a tone and atmosphere that is hard to beat.