Dekadent - Venera: Trials and Tribulations

Dekadent are a wonderful band. They are not known at all, sadly, but make superb music that is truely unique. Their debut (Manifestation of Seasonal Bleeding) and latest release share musical interests – Deliverance of the Fall (which I shall later review) is extremely different, for these purposes it probably won’t be referenced much, other than to say I don’t really mind that Dekadent chose their old sound again, as I love how unique it is too.

Venera : Trial and Tribulation is Dekadent back to their heavy-ass routes...but still with dynamics that I’ve never heard anywhere else, and to be quite frank, hope stays true only to Dekadent as they are such masters of their creation. I think one of the most important things about their sound is it’s light...not in a heaviness sense, in that respect they are pretty damn heavy. One means to say that they are not as dark as a lot of black metal bands...I’d almost say this is “positive” black metal...whereas so much black metal seems to be so dark – particularly in the underground (though I understand why, it doesn’t mean it should exclusively be so).

The opening track is a good example of this; Thralldom Decree. Not only are the growled vocals raw, gritty, and intense, but there are also clean vocals that help keep the song extremely emotional and personal. Raided I feel continues this theme, and this album as a whole flows far better than Manifestations and I feel is listenable as a single album – in one sitting – something I struggled to do with Manifestation. The only thing I struggle with is the pure intensity of this album – as I said it’s very personal...and when the piano comes in on Raided I feel a sense of empathy towards the lyrics and..though the sound is positive, it conveys the desperation and sorrow in the song extremely well.

The lyrics are something to be proud of. Dekadent write impressive lyrics. They are extremely good at depicting a situation or story that works well with the music, rather than a lot of bands whom seem to compromise lyrical content in order to satisfy a songs need. This is down right wrong.

There are faster songs too on this album, which makes nice variation when listening to it. Day of Solice and Beutiful Fire for example are ferocious tracks – they are monsters in speed...but they still have good interplay. Day of Solace for example see’s a lot more symphonic use compared to the other songs, but opens extremely with speed, and returns to it not so long after a small interlude. This is well contrasted by In Pulchritude Adorned which almost sounds like a love songs in some respects – it’s a powerful song about self-discovery and self-empowerment and I think it’s well displayed through the tempo and construction of the song.

Two of the more interesting songs are Providential Love and Sunday’s Lament (which are conveniently tracks 8 and 9 respectively) . The previous has creative guitar work that has a definite groove edge to it, that almost doesn’t fit in to Dekadent’s sound, but works purely due to it’s careful placement and occasional rather than constant use. Sunday’s Lament is interesting purely for the drumming – it’s impressive stuff for a small Slovenian band.

This album is something that should make the band pat themselves on the back. They’ve managed to survive the great pressure and shadow built upon by their symphonic masterpiece – The Deliverance of the Fall – and come out stomping high with pride and dignity – no selling out, no change of values...this is black metal with liberal values at it’s purest and, by far, most beautiful.

9/10

Epica - Design Your Universe

I have a soft spot for Epica. They were one of the first bands – back in 2003 when I just entered Secondary School – that I really admired for using death metal vocals. Sure, I’d listened to some black metal – but I tend to drift from the vocals and beautify the music inplace – that’s what listening to Classical music all the time does to you. One day, I was on the internet and managed to hear “Cry for the Moon” by accident. I craved for this artist and had to find out who it was. Epica. I was at that moment a long standing fan.

When Design Your Universe was announced I was nervous. I loved The Divine Conspiracy and I struggled to see which direction Epica would take – their last few albums had seen Epica develop dramatically to a creative peak with the 14 minute epic title track – The Divine Conspiracy.

When Samadhi played, I knew it was Epica. Only Epica could use chants in this way...and whilst I stared at the cover art on my computer screen (full screen, that way I could admire it properly) I was filled with glee. Resign to Surrender starts with huge bombast – epic choir, backing strings, and much less Simone-focused vocal approach. I was worried this wouldn’t work, but I found that it was still very much Epica in sound, and just took a little bit of adjusting to.

I’d hate to say, but I think Unleashed is one of the weakest songs on the album. Not because it’s commercial – I loved Never Enough and that sounded like Evanescence with an injection of testosterone – it just never really appealed as much as the rest of the album...it seemed like a lazy song that focused on Simone purely to be accessible as opposed to being structured around Epica...but, hey, a band has to make money when it’s such a huge part of their lives.

The album has an extremely positive view I’d say though. As opposed to most death-influenced symphonic metal bands the lyrics aren’t just about pointing out flaws or constructing an argument – they point out points of progression towards a solution as well. And though a lot of the arguments result into Quantum Mysticism (which for anyone who is interested, has resulted in many interesting essays and experiments into quantum dualism/dualistic theories). I’ve always considered Epica to be more positive to delivering negative messages...like 80’s synthpop/new wave used to.

The 3 highlights for myself have to be Kingdom of Heaven, Design Your Universe (for once, the title track is not the longest song on the album), and Deconstruct. I know that many who read Deconstruct as a favourite must think I’m crazy – this is true, but it’s not why I chose it. Deconstruct is just a well crafted song that is fun to listen to. Something that is very often neglected in an album...luckily Epica created a varied album where most of the latter half actually flows together seamlessly.

Kingdom of Heaven will always be what draws most people’s attention though. This song is incredibly written, and unlike many songs of its length, it doesn’t sound like several songs with recurring themes glued together – it’s one cohesive song that’s not only brutal (which has had several fans ruling the band a sell out of the trends of music...erm...lol?) but also incredibly beautiful. Moreover, lyrics like “Misled by science, Our wake up call, Conditioning cannot fool us 'till the end” and “Scorn shall be directed at the genius, Represses subtle theories of the light, to the questions of life” show something rare; a band attacking theology and science at once. (Of course, I’m aware of the deeper purposes of this song).
Overall this album is beautiful, blinding, and surpasses all of Epica’s previous work (but TDC still remains my favourite, and always will probably) in terms of technicality, originality, and lyrically.

9/10

Dimmu Borgir - Abrahadabra

I got into Dimmu Borgir a lot later than a lot of people. Having grown up listening to mainly classical music, with the odd bit of symphonic black metal – Cradle of Filth and Emperor being the first I got my hands on – and gothic metal, such as Theatre of Tragedy, I was surprised I hadn’t heard of Dimmu Earlier. I must of found them around 2004/5 when I was 14 and really loved them. Luckily I found them when the fantastic Death Cult Armageddon was in it’s prime – an album that today still excites me when it begins to play.

So, having been relatively alright with In Sorte Diaboli (which I may review at some point) I eagerly awaited Abrahadabra – with half my excitement arising purely from the idea of a live orchestra returning to Dimmu. Live orchestras always sound better than keyboards and always do - but they need to be used carefully to be a worthwhile investment.

Xibir isn’t really the best intro I’ve heard. To be honest, I wasn’t that excited when I heard it. It was pretty generic as an opener, even if beautiful – it didn’t stop it sounding like the same song I’ve heard on Cradle of Filth intros from when I was a kid, and most symphonic bands I listen to tend to skip the intros. I was frustrated that when Born Treacherous ended, there was no continuity from Xibir either, which then made Xibir feel even more pointless. However, Born Treacherous was an alright track. I didn’t think the orchestra was used that well, but it sounded lush and rich and supported the band well.

This is something I hoped wouldn’t run through the album, luckily it didn’t; the rest of the album used the orchestra and choir far more creatively and effectively. Gateways – the lead single – demonstrates this well, which has hence resulted in me starting the album from Gateways a lot of the time. The interplay between orchestra and guitar on that track is what I expected from the beginning, and though at around the 2:20 mark, Born Treacherous does this – it wasn’t a special interplay that would be found on the rest of the album.

There are heavier moments – Chess With the Abyss, for example, reminds us that Dimmu Borgir are at heart a black metal band. But this doesn’t overshadow the rest of the album or stop it’s continuity when played as a whole. If anything, the self-titled Dimmu Borgir interrupts the flow, if only to restart it with more passion and greater momentum. It is this track, along with my personal favourite – The Demiurge Molecule – that demonstrates how well Dimmu can use their orchestra.

Overall I’d say this album is essentially In Sorte Diaboli mixed with more modern orchestral work and a better variety – an attempt to find personal identity once more. It’s an album that helps Dimmu re-create their identity and put them towards the top of the more extreme end of Symphonic Metal (I’ll avoid Symphonic BM for all those who don’t think DB deserve it). It’s a great album, but sadly I feel that it lacks enough cohesiveness to be a real album. This might just be me, but I don’t think it’s anywhere near as impressive as Death Cult Armageddon in terms of an album – but Abrahadabra definitely has some of their best songs.

On the plus side, their orchestral versions are incredible, and show how – though only on a few tracks – Dimmu know how to utilise an orchestra, and if they did this for a whole album – they could be kings of their genre, sitting alongside Septic Flesh, Nightwish, and Epica – all of whom I would say are top of their respective fields in the SM universe.

7/10