Album Review: Dessiderium – Keys to the Palace (Willowtip Records)

Long running and critically acclaimed melodic/progressive death metal project, Dessiderium, enters a new chapter with their forthcoming release for Willowtip Records, its first for the label. The new album ‘Keys to the Palace’ will be released on CD, double-vinyl gatefold LP, and digital formats on March 14th, 2025.

A staggering showcase of creativity, there are so many moments where this album will leave you stunned into silence, mouth agape. Yet perhaps the most impressive thing of all is that it comes from one person. Sole member and founder Alex Haddad is a bit of a musical genius, and all the proof is in this incredible six track record.

Take a deep breath, it’s a big one and there’s a lot of heavy, melodic, and progressively pleasing music to unpack. Beginning with the starry stunner that is In the Midst of May, a grandiose experience that cleverly balances big melodies with dramatic progressive twists, while having a thick vein of death metal running through it. It’s inexplicably brilliant, and each subsequent listen reveals more layers of unique instrumentals and vocal styles.

…and it only gets bigger from this point onwards too.

Dover Hendrix, the first of three tracks that pass the ten-minute mark (but the shortest of those three), is next. Bringing a cacophony of fast and furious sounds, so much death metal vigour, and an ever-increasing level of dramatic splendour that twist and turns constantly. It’s hard to keep up, but it’s so exciting to try, especially as this epic is the matched by the following monumental track, Pollen for the Bees. Which, if you can imagine, is a wild showcase of powerful riffs, relentless intensity, erratic shifts, quivering melodies, emphatic symphonic infusions, and so much more. What else would you expect from a band like this?

Hilariously, it’s not even close to being over either, as the second half of the album arrives with mighty aplomb via the A Dream That Wants Me Dead. A wistful listen that uses moodier melodies to enhance its power. The end result is quite emotional. Whereas Magenta has progressive meatiness and metal ferocity that grows and grows as the track goes on. Of course, these brief summations cannot do the tracks, or the album as a whole, justice. There is so much detail to unpack that you could be listening to this in a month’s time and still discovering new things about it.

Hell, that applies to the finale alone. Where, for over sixteen minutes, Dessiderium push and pull the mind back and forth in forceful ways. Delivering a piece of music that can be called ‘transcendent’. Sit back, close your eyes, but make sure those neck muscles are warmed up as head banging is required too. It’s an unhurried listen but is all the better for how it takes its time, adding intriguing elements bit by bit, until it is something quite different, but so naturally evolved.

Phew. That’s was something, wasn’t it?

Dessiderium – Keys to the Palace Track Listing:

1. In the Midst of May
2. Dover Hendrix
3. Pollen f or the Bees
4. A Dream That Wants Me Dead
5. Magenta
6. Keys To the Palace

Links

Bandcamp | Facebook | Willowtip Records