FAS - ITE, MALEDICTI, IN IGNEM AETERNUM

Hello, it is here, by I "here" mean me, Frippism. Dropping a review after god knows how long...

I would like to review this here album by Deathspell Omega. They are a French avant-garde- technical-orthodox-black metal group. They have, without a doubt, released the single most terrifying album I have heard in my life.

Half a year ago I was almost completely unaware to one of the more interesting and "far- out" world of avant-garde black metal. When I saw reviews of this DsO album, with that, I was keen to try it out. Let's clear things up: I'm not a "metalhead" and never considered myself to be. I never really listened to metal until about 2 years ago, when Sleepytime Gorilla Museum blew my mind. I was completely unprepared for the challenge I had facing me. That's an understatement. I had no real idea what black metal was, neither of its origins or its infamy. So to skip a bit let me just recap my first listening to this album: all I remember is being absolutely terrified and confused. It felt like a sociopath- it was a claustrophobic and unnerving feeling. My ears could not truly understand what was going on, but with that, I knew there had to be more to this album than just noise, and that by disregarding it as just noise I would be closing myself to an absolute plethora of bands (which now with my growing affection of the genre haven't seized rewarding me with new sounds, approaches to songwriting and such).

But to the album!!! That's what matters, not my stupid rambling.

The best I can do to describe the tunes is this: it is pretty much black metal, only about 50 times more aggressive, abrasive, unrelenting, uncompromising, than any album I've heard from the genre, and is by far the heaviest album I've heard in my life (though DsO's 2008 EP "Chaining the Katecheon" is probably as heavy). After about 70-80 listens to the album, it's still hard for me to describe the album, beyond the term "black metal". It is obvious where the root of DsO lay, with that, I can't figure out what makes so damn unique. The absolute wall of distortion, which at first puts you in a state of bizarre dementia. The bizarre moments of ambiance, of silence. Most of all though, DsO has one of the strongest elements going for it with the drums. Dear god, I have never heard blast beats more incredible blast beats. When DsO gets fast in "Fas Ine...", the blast beats are so freaking fast. Moreover, the thing that shocks me most about these blast beats, is the weird asymmetric feel of his blast beats. It almost feels like his snare hits a tad bit off, but in such a good way. Can't really explain, you'll just have to listen. The vocals here, while of course being sung through growls and rasps- are some of the more interesting elements of DsO. A low growl which punctures your mind and scare the living crap out of you. May I also add, that the lyrics (not that you can understand most of them in the growling, but can just read them)- are by far the best lyrics I've heard out of pretty much any metal band. Mostly based on Satanic ideas, DsO does well what so many metal bands have done awfully. Their lyrics are thought provoking and address the many questions in the story of god and Satan, and instead of trying to go crazy "satan woooooooooooo", they manage to raise questions which were intriguing and powerful.

I feel like I can't really talk about the tracks. The album feels somewhat as a whole. With that, I feel as "Shrine of Mad Laughter" and a "Chore For the Lost" are absolute standpoints. With insane blast beats, some wacky time signatures and great songwriting. The two "Obombration"s are two absolutely terrifying ambient-ish pieces.

Overall, I feel that while the album isn't perfect (There are very few parts which drag a bit and could've been shortened), it is pretty essential. If you're looking for black metal, and you're not trying to ease yourself in at all, and just want to jump right into the most extreme, heavy stuff there is like I did, you can't go wrong with DsO. An absolute emotional rollercoaster, which is rewarding and thought provoking and challenging, but with that will at least curious you if you want to get into black metal.

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