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Death Metal Album of the Week: Dark Tranquillity – Skydancer

For the true disciples of our thanatical religion, Gothenburg exists in the shadow of Stockholm as a spirtual centre for Death Metal; the latter being associated with the nobley barbaric masterpieces of Dismember, Therion, Necrophobic and their Sunlight Studio-powered comrades, while on the opposite coast, the city of Göteborg managed to establish itself as a breeding ground for faggots, feminists and pop musicians to collaborate on what has become one of the most abhorrent and effete styles of the genre. By eliminating the primal sensory and cerebral patterns by which Death Metal defines itself in order to communicate horror-tinged revelations through dead eyes, the Melodic Death Metal sound of Gothenburg relies on a few aesthetic reminders to bestow the illusion of being musically relevant, while remaining based entirely on the harmonic and rhythmic interplay of Iron Maiden, serving as the melodic ‘antitode’ to the chaos of Death Metal, or rather, a cheap excuse not to engage with it and instead delude the mind with pleasant riffs of insignificance that form the basis of roadkill which the most recent incarnations of this style along with metalcore and other forms of rock music that can trace their influences back to early 90′s Sweden all resemble.

Prior to this great epidemic of weakness that has not since ceased, the power of harmony in Death Metal music was becoming integral to the compositional framework of important bands, adding to a melodic lexicon established by the disharmonic experiments of Slayer, Morbid Angel and even Darkthrone albums, moving from traditional riffing to an almost contrapuntal sense of melodic tremelo style in ‘Soulside Journey‘. Atheist’s apex of fusion music, ‘Unquestionable Presence‘, handled Jazz harmony competently within Death Metal epics and back in Gothenburg, At The Gates were synthesising Atheist’s complexity with what began in Stockholm as Dismember and Unanimated‘s more Classically-aware debuts. This incessant emphasis on melodic development would see Finnish neighbours Sentenced refining the use of harmony with their ‘North From Here‘ album that rendered Iron Maiden technically obsolete, and following in Taneli Jarva and co.’s footsteps came Dark Tranquility, representing perhaps the last great height of this scene before Melodic Death Metal subsequently descended towards the cheap and childish music it became. That’s not to say ‘Skydancer’ didn’t verge on the edge of wimpish territory, as this album alongside At The Gates’ ‘With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness‘ could probably be described as the Phyrrhic victories of Melodeath (mellow Death), opening the therapist’s door to concepts like ‘hurt’, ‘loneliness’ and a general sense of agnostic and angst-ridden confusion. Nevertheless, what we’re dealing with in an album like ‘Skydancer’ extends far beyond the broken human spirit, reaching into both the depths of the cosmos and the self to find the same, ultimate source of power.

Where At The Gates’ seminal masterpiece, ‘The Red in the Sky is Ours’ was an autonomous quest for spiritual awareness from out of the ruins of Christianity, painted in all it’s pain, struggle and disharmony, Dark Tranquility’s ambitious sophomore effort exalts the harmony of nature as the goal of union for the human soul, the spiritual imperative of a ‘Skydancer’. The album is built around this ideal in relation to the darkness of modern reality that makes the beauty of the natural world seem like it only exists in a fantasy, and the experiments with harmony and counterpoint represent the voices of the real and ideal in a kick-drum punctuated dialogue. The highly courageous ‘Shadow Duet‘ takes this even further, using two vocal personifications of this theme to battle out in an aggressive, almost Grecian discourse. The riffing style, drawing equally from Scandinavian folk motifs and Baroque melodic interplay is reminiscent of the Romantic composers’ desire to create a holistic music that united the earthy folk tradition with the transcendental heights of Classical music. In the same way that Varg took Paganism away from the neo-Pagans and revealed the underlying Essence of what is usually otherwise depicted as a quaint and obsolete mythology of demigods, the mystical Paganism of Niklas Sundin is totally panentheistic in nature, where transcendence equals the ‘communion with the Oversoul of the universe’. The weak link lyrically, is Mikael Stanne who lacks this dimension, although his nationalistic references add another Romantic flavour to the album. Another In Flames member, Anders Friden, provides the vocal work, which sounds quite drunken and doesn’t meet the demanding lyrical placements within the songs. The yearning in the voice of a Tomas Lindberg is totally absent where the lighter, but still highly emotional melodic guitar work not distorted by discordant riffs would have complimented it very well. On a similar vocal note, the addition of clean vocals (the male singer is very bad) were totally unnecessary but it seems like even at this stage in their career, the band needs to make certain thematic elements and contrasts unbearably obvious, which is why a discriminating listener will stick to this album and not bother with the subsequent exhibitions. Bassist Henriksson draws no such complaints, accompanying the guitarwork to provide a deeper foundation for the melodic development, as expressive as the two other guitarists, adapting the sound to slower, heavier or tremelo riffing.

‘Skydancer’ is often the subject of complaints for it’s relentless flux of melody like an amphetamine-influenced violin concerto but this is not an unfocused, Liers in Wait experiment in seeking the limits of riffcraft. The compressed but pregnant structures bring the listener to focus on the narrative of the melodies and truly experience the restlessness of this spiritual life, rather than just passively drool at the ear-pleasing harmonies and other musical sensations as the success of Melodic Death Metal would later rely on. Hail to this once great band, so full of youthful ambition to widen the musical palette of Death Metal without resorting to cheap gimmicks but exploring the polar opposite of colour and texture in order to see the beauty of the cosmos through the symbiotic language of the Divine.

My yearning to be part
of nature’s truthful solitude
Of wisdom’s inner light
that shines in mystic multitude
The guiding source within,
so few of us will ever know
And few will ever climb
the great world-tree from which we’ve grown
But those who seek will find
the rhythm that vibrates high and far
And rearrange the cosmic threads,
the pattern of the Weave of Stars

Death Metal Album of the Week: Necros Christos – Triune Impurity Rites

After the backfire of metalcore and ironic jokes wrapped in death metal clothing, failed reunions and commercially motivated Bloodbath-style tributes a new breed of death metal bands obsessed with funereal, paranormal and asphyxiating atmosphere above all else penetrated the ground from beneath. While originally celebrated exclusively by collectors and geeks who possessed tremendous tape and vinyl collections, gradually metal fans from differing backgrounds gathered to see the tours and savor the albums of new more authentic seeming bands like Dead Congregation from Greece, Deathevokation from California and Deutschland’s Necros Christos. While these bands were all firmly rooted in the abominable legends told by Incantation, Mystifier and other anti-musicians, they took care to use the organized polish and visual design of 21st century black metal to appease also the generation raised on dramatic, ideologically motivated “art”.

As for the music, it’s far from impersonal or humble. Mors Dalos Ra and his team of qabbalists indulge in goofy rituals, hyper-exaggerated pauses and gestures, horror organs, chanted spells and minimal doom riffs almost like going for a parody of satanic metal through the ages. However, the songs are joyous, exhilarating, morbid and alive with unholy fire. The guitarists use their knowledge of classical guitar and oriental scales to wrap the death metal themes in a progressive procession of movements that seem to mimic an inverted Passion play, the journey of a goatborn Christ to relinquish his throne to undead gods, while sodomized angels weep over the mythical ziggurats appearing somewhere in the moonlit wasteland near Bethlehem. Sounds hilarious? Well, that’s what it is – like Impiety or Impaled Nazarene, Necros Christos throws all the mockery and analogy squarely in the face of the philosopher, eschewing subtlety and relishing madness. The music is surprisingly controlled, as there is no chaotic blasting nor disembodied screams floating all over the place. Instead, we get an organized meditation of lurking and crawling Sabbathic (in various senses) melodies, from extravagantly beautiful (“Gate II – Offenbarungen der Mayrim”) to grating and dissonant (“Skulldoom of Sumer”) while many leads toy with Baroque ideas and desolate urges fitting for a Paradise Lost demo. Especially recommended for a listener who doesn’t consider “cheesy” a curse word.

Windham Hell – South Facing Epitaph

Darkthrone managed to conjure something far more stimulating to the imagination when they were inspired by horror and science-fiction movie soundtracks to create vast journeys of cosmic Death Metal. Windham Hell’s first album also follows from the deeper recesses of popular culture and cinema, fucking with the senses and expectations of the Metal listener through this Lynchian maze of psychological horror and ominous mortality. The first thing that’s evident about the musicians at work here, particularly the late Eric Freisen on guitars, is the uncustomary level of formal training demonstrated in these pieces, which bear close stylistic resemblance to the famous concertos of Antonio Vivaldi. The riffs that make up the bulk of actual Metal songs on this erratic album are nothing spectacular or unconventional but formed with the lead guitar in mind, acting much like the movie samples and vomitory vocals do to provide a kind of ambient feeling of suspended horror and panic that the leads then magnify through their virtuoso performances, building on the looming fear with sporadic outbursts of mental excitation. The rest of the album is a feast for those who would enjoy the subversion of popular culture through a post-modernist cutting and pasting of morbidly curious voices bridged with Classical flourishes, although may lose the attention of others. There is enough tastefully executed technique on show to keep this as engaging as possible, and a far superior album to the following ‘Window of Souls’.