Metal Reviews

I've finally managed to get a hold of SMR,C, an album that is a bit difficult to get a hold of currently. Or that is what most indie retailers claim. But I digress (already).

I'm a little bit underwhelmed by it. Massive praise and near-perfect scores served to hype it up for me just a bit too much. People are hailing it as the black metal album of the decade, but there are a few flies in the ointment.

1) Substandard drumming. Overall it's fairly solid, but the drumfills are often a bit crap and there's a lot of bass floating going on. I realise this is black metal, but when you're aiming at something a bit more technical this is inadequate.

2) Too long and all over the place. I find the album to go on for a bit too long, with some stuff dragging along and some filler. The sequence of tracks, more importantly, doesn't come across as balanced. The prayers should have been used to better effect in bookending the album's main tracks.

3) Weak riffs. Part of my filler criticism. Don't get me wrong, there are some fantastic riffs in here, such as in Sola Fide I, but others, like the opening riff to Hétoïmasia, are still rather close to the frequent blandness of their previous works.

By contrast, Kénôse and Fas are in my opinion by far superior releases, with Veritas stepping into the mixed bag pitfall once again. But let's leave the EPs out of it and concentrate on the full lengths.

When Fas was released, there were a great many people who liked it but preferred SMR,C. I don't get it. In Fas, the points I made above are mostly gone. The drumming is much, much better, the album has a much more focused and balanced feel, and the amount of fresh ideas is just larger. Riffwise it's probably in the same league as SMR,C (I guess they used all the good ones in Kénôse II, eh), but the increased variety hides that fact well.

All in all, I find SMR,C to be nowhere near the zenith of DsO's yield. Rather it is an album in the midst of the sublime transmutation of a rather uninteresting band into a league of its own. Like DHG's Monumental Possession, or Enslaved's Mardraum. Flawed but good, difficult to place but logical, and altogether a bit quixotic.

What are your thoughts?

I haven't heard anything past Kènòse, but Si Monvmentvm is my favorite Black Metal album. The first time I heard it, I was genuinely frightened, being about 14 at the time. However, it's a brilliant album. Probably my favorite aspect about DsO is their sound, it's so rich and organic, on SMRC especially, the album sounds like some kind of ritualistic devil-worship session or something. It is a very very long album, that's for sure, but they cover a lot of ground with it. It's really got everything I can ever ask for in a Black Metal album. That's why I love it so much.

I'm not sure one can adequately compare both albums, however, as Fas ite is a world unto itself in musical complexity. Some of the overall musical moments are akin to Immolation, lyrically the band dealt more with insanity on "Fas ite". You hit the nail on the head when you said the musical complexity on "Fas ite" was more complex. However, I got two different vibes from both of the albums, "SMRC" giving that dark and totally evil feeling. I didn't get that from "Fas ite", as that album was just something else, much more akin to "Here in after" then SMRC.

Lyrically, the band also took another 360, dealing with more themes relegated towards insanity/philosophy. Musically, Fas ite wins out over it's predecessor, but those dark vibes and the ambient tracks of SMRC; are lost in some fashion on Fas ite. Both albums are the very definition of extreme music, however, SMRC will always have my vote as their best.

I do believe that SMRC is the best black metal album of all time. I can only agree with the criticism that it's a bit longer than it should be but there is so much greatness to be found in it I think it more than makes up for the long playtime.

Definitely don't agree with your criticism about the drumming and the lack of solid riffs. This album is all about atmosphere. It is so intense that it's overwhelming. Also, there are some killer riffs in it which merely serve as a bonus because the atmosphere is what makes the album what it is.

I also love Kenose and Fas. Kenose was far more straightforward, filled with killer riffs and solid drumming. Fas is a completely different beast. The complexity of it is out of this world. Very few bands can make an album like this and make it sound listenable. The drumming on it is one of the best found in the genre, imo. Crazy stuff.


SMRC has also stood the test of time very well so far. Even though it might be a bit early, I think it already earned its place among the greats like In the Nightside Eclipse, Nattens Madrigal, A Blaze in the Northern Sky and such.




Karma, I think you should give it more listens. I do believe one day you'll get that chill in your spine which everyone who love this album must have had at some point.

I am about halfway there with you. SMRC is overlong, and continues some filler, but the Solar Fides, the Prayers, Jubilate Deo, the title track, and certainly Carnal Malefactor are largely standout tracks. As others have noted, the album possesses a tremendously evil mood, which simply doesn't exist on Fas. But I do confess to skipping around on the album generally when I listen to it. So much of DsO standout quality is the riffage, like that monster on Solar Fide, or the beast just after the choral part in Carnal Malefactor, or basically the entirety of Kenose. I like Fas, but the lack of standout riffs is a problem.

Another note, those EP/Split long single tracks DsO is so fond of are quite good, well at least 'Mass Grave Aesthetics' or even more so, 08's 'Chaining the Ketchon', which actually struck me for the bass riff sections.

deathspell omega is the most overrated black metal band.

yep. I still voted for SMRC though. The last GOOD Deathspell Omega album IMO.

Even if you consider some parts fillers, there are just too many amazing parts that make up for it. It sure could have been split into 2/3 of what it is but i never really cared. To me it still is with The Work Which Transforms God the ultimate black metal album. FAS is just a madness album wouldnt be so sure to categorize it as a black metal album, but still, more chaos for us...
I'm probably just to biased to give a solid comment on this band anywho...

Perhaps. I think part of not 'getting' the album is the fact that I've been so busy lately that I can't find 77 subsequent minutes to devote to music. It's too long, both from a songwriter's and album crafter's point of view and in a certain convenient way. As far as atmosphere goes... it's instant hit or miss for me. I instantly loved stuff like Borknagar's debut, Onyx by Nocternity, Satyricon's Shadowthrone etc.... but not here. I don't know. I haven't had that special kind of connection for quite some time, so perhaps I've just grown out of it. All that is left for me is taking black metal at face value, and that is what I'm doing right here.

Synopsis: SMR,C is better than Fas because of a certain mood I'm not (yet) perceiving. Fas is better in almost every other way. Right?

ok, so which band happens to be better?

Also, lack of standout riffs on Fas? I disagree. Listen to Bread of Bitterness again.

Wow, a Nocternity mention!

Onyx>>better than both Fas or SRMC, imo.

Yeah, I can agree with that. Also, there is one other album that comes close to this kind of atmosphere, Salvation by Funeral Mist. I'd recommend it to you if you haven't heard it already. Suffocating atmosphere, solid musicianship, the best vocalist in business right now and killer riffs all around. I'd even go as far as to say it is "the perfect black metal album" but compared to SMRC, which is less than perfect, Salvation still somehow can only get second place.


Also Dago kicks ass for mentioning The Work Which Transforms God.

Dude, Crucify Him in its 22 minute goodness blows %99 of the genre out of the water.


So, yeah, Nocternity

And you get for mentioning Funeral Mist's Salvation! And Karmakosmonaut gets bonus points for throwing out Borknagar's debut.

It's like a grandiose black metal reunion! Complete with Skartasis as curmudgeonly but respected uncle, and husker as the cousin everyone ignores.

Well, it's not so much about the flies in the ointments, as much as the ointment growing rancid faster than anticipated.

I voted Si Monvmentvm over Fas, however, that's not because I believe Si Monvmentvm was the album of the decade. I really disliked Kenose when it came out, and that's when my like for Deathspell Omega really began to stale. Fas was even worse, imo.

I don't really agree about the drumming, and you say that "when you're aiming at something a bit more technical this is inadequate." I also don't think they were aiming for something particularly technical with Si Monvumentvm, that seems to be something they started picking up with Kenose. Infernal Battles and Inquisitors of Satan were still pretty straight forward and simple black metal, and it wasn't until Si Monvmentvm that they started notably deviating from that, and more in the way of the orthodox bm atmosphere, not really in the way of becoming more technical. Personally, I don't see much wrong with the drumming for what it was.

I do agree with you on the filler points, though. When I first heard it, what appealed to me was that ritualistic feel in the first four songs and Third Prayer. But even when I found those songs appealing, I thought the album was far too long, and that more than half the cd was filler. The songs other than the prayers and Sola Fide I and II didn't help maintain the atmosphere that those first few songs developed. In a way they also make the album feel like the band started out wanting to do a concept album, then decided to add in a bunch of unconnected bonus tracks that make up most of the album. In that respect, I agree that it feels like a disorganised album, but it still had a bit of atmosphere going for it initially and so it's a step up from Fas in my books. I also find they lose their atmosphere quickly. Those 5 songs were interesting when they were new, but eventually lost their effect unlike some songs that are able to imbue a lasting dark/ritualistic/evil impression. I'm thinking of songs like Samael's Into the Pentagram that sounds just as dark, evil and empowering today as it was the first time I ever heard it. Makes me think of DsO as a kind of "evil" by numbers thing than the real deal.

Anyways, that's my 2 cents. Better than Fas, but definitely not album of the decade as far as I'm concerned.

I voted SMR,C too.

If you find it too long, stop after Carnal Malefactor. (Drink the Devil's blood is by far the worst song on the album anyway)

.:c:.

Aaah. The good old days.

wat? Drink The Devil's Blood is awesome. It's probably the most straightforward song on the album, but that doesn't mean it's bad. For an album filled with such oddness and obscurity, it's refreshing to have a song that you can actually to.

I agree. It sounds different because it's a remake of the old song by the same name but they changed it a bit to fit the album. And the result is pure