Spring Break
MADE OF METAL: Black Metal is black tie only
by Daniel D. Snyder
Associate Editor
Music | 9/11/07
Posted online at 8:22 PM EST on 9/10/07
/ Last updated at 8:02 PM EST on 9/10/07
Any seasoned extreme Metal veterans worth their salt should be immune to shock value by the time they ditch their training wheels. Fans of gore-themed bands like CannibalCorpse, or comically satanic acts like Deicide and Vital Remains (both of which coincidentally feature everyone's favorite hokey bible-basher, Glen Benton), are most likely in it for pure musical enjoyment, not because they are still trying really hard to weird out their parents. In my long and storied career as a master of the Metallurgical arts, I've borne visual and auditory witness to an endless march of these acts, and frankly, it wears thin. Violent satanic imagery, though it has its untouchable place in Metal's heart and history, is often snooze-inducing when placed next to the cosmic psychedelia of, say, YOB (R.I.P.)
Why do I bring this up? Because despite my exposure to endless hours of Christ-rapinglyrics and their accompanying screeches, wails, burps, growls and gurgles, Deathspell Omega still really, really creeps me out. Black Metal bands are no strangers to ridicule, stemming from their often laughable obsession with all thinks satanic, grim and gangrene.
Yet on their new long-player, Fas-Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum, Latin for, "By divine law, go, you cursed, into the eternal fire," (I feel so cool saying that) these French Metal warriors blaspheme with such class, intelligence and atmosphere that even the most besmirked skeptics will find themselves pledging their allegiance to the Dark One.
Though the Deathspell Omega's first two albums were based in the Darkthrone school of primal, screeching Black Metal, it was their 2004 opus Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice (If you seek His monument, look around you), that saw them transform into a more sophisticated beast, complete with long passages of dissonant atmospherics, Gregorian chants and heavily researched occult themes. But for all its greatness, the album was a little overbearing. At almost 80 minutes, it becomes a chore to listen to. This time, DsO has trimmed down the album to a healthy 45 minutes, resulting in a much more digestible meal of wickedly clever evil.
Why do I bring this up? Because despite my exposure to endless hours of Christ-rapinglyrics and their accompanying screeches, wails, burps, growls and gurgles, Deathspell Omega still really, really creeps me out. Black Metal bands are no strangers to ridicule, stemming from their often laughable obsession with all thinks satanic, grim and gangrene.
Yet on their new long-player, Fas-Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum, Latin for, "By divine law, go, you cursed, into the eternal fire," (I feel so cool saying that) these French Metal warriors blaspheme with such class, intelligence and atmosphere that even the most besmirked skeptics will find themselves pledging their allegiance to the Dark One.
Though the Deathspell Omega's first two albums were based in the Darkthrone school of primal, screeching Black Metal, it was their 2004 opus Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice (If you seek His monument, look around you), that saw them transform into a more sophisticated beast, complete with long passages of dissonant atmospherics, Gregorian chants and heavily researched occult themes. But for all its greatness, the album was a little overbearing. At almost 80 minutes, it becomes a chore to listen to. This time, DsO has trimmed down the album to a healthy 45 minutes, resulting in a much more digestible meal of wickedly clever evil.
Be the first to comment on this story