Sunday, December 14, 2008
Deathspell Omega - Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum
Ahhhh, this band is such a giving band. I hadn't heard a word about this release until a week before it's release so it was a very pleasant surprise. After umpteen utterly satisfying listens to the song "Chaining the Katechon." I am able to put it into words here.
Furthering their notoriety as purveyors of abandonment, even more morosely sour and disheveling harmonies are strewn about here, molding a capable and colossal pyre of intricate yet obscure morsels of sound. While there are certain negative things that can be said about this release, which I will get to later on, I am most happy with it because I feel like its the most fluent and lethal display of the arsenal of characteristics that they have mastered since their transformation on the "SMRC" album. Where virtually every other band in the black metal genre illuminate a facade or portray a pre-determined mythological demon with dull and worn out fervor most of the time only to live up to what has been done well in the past, Deathspell Omega have flayed another dimension in which their discordant tones and murky harmonies bind in an elegance mastered singularly by these strange fellows. Most note-able on this song is that intensely fast tempos are far more frequent and possibly a little less spurty. There's a lot less drawn out slower minimalist moments to get caught up in as was seen in their "Fas.." disc. The incredibly unique guitar work found on here is moreso the threshold upon which this song works from. While the rhythms are pretty vanilla albeit fucking furious, you'll find a plethora of strange riffing utilizing an all too perverse style of harmonizing that I don't think Ive heard anything similar to.
Apart from all the worshipful things I could spew about this band and disc, I want to point out a negative thing that could be said about this stuff. I only want to bring it up because I feel that it is arguably justifiable. Consistent with, and infinitely empowered by Deathspell Omega's abandonment of all things prior and known, I feel compositionally speaking that this song can be characterized a meandersome smattering of brilliance. In some ways it reminds me of the aural mind fuck that Blut Aus Nord's "Mort" album was. Some more lead headed metal fandom of the traditional ilk might find this sort of album a chore to listen to, what with the vapid air of renewal and innovation that I feel makes this such a unique and challenging listen.
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