renkls
Waltari's obscure hour long masterpiece that is the amusingly titled "Yeah! Yeah! Die! Die! Death Metal Symphony in Deep C" is one of the strangest metal albums I've heard, incorporating a huge array of genres in a spectacular mashup that, for the most part, is dizzyingly successful.
The elements shoved in this album in no specific order are; death metal, rap, techno, electronica, operatic female singers, bombastic/string driven orchestra. So a really niche, highly original album then. It's probably the only album I can recall that mixes orchestra and metal so effectively it's as if they were meant to be together.
Whilst the CD release lists eight tracks, it is merged into one hour long track; but for the ease of reviewing, I will discuss each section of the epic in detail.
1. Misty Dreariness (7:42) Opening with orchestral strings and staying that way until the seven minute mark, this intro doesn't quite prepare you for the eccentricity that lies ahead. A few sustained chords from a guitar and the swelling of the orcestra into a cresendo lead us ominiously into...
2. A Sign (8:34) Death metal. What is noticeable as the album goes on, is that although predominantly a metal album, most of the best moments come from the rapid interchange between the elements. One second the album is death metal, the next it's orchestral/techno pop. "A Sign" establishes this trend, visiting our female operatic vocalist, some clean almost pop-like vocals, and our death metal vocalist again in the space of a minute. Orchestral flourishes are beautifully used here. Some low key whispering and more guitar chords link us to...
3. Deeper Into the Mud (4:59) Here more orchestral and death metal interchanges itself frequently. What's interesting to note is that there's not a great deal of time where both elements are playing, one stops and the other enters immediately, rather then fading between, they throw you back and forth unexpectedly. The death metal is very catchy, less self serious and almost 'comical'. The operatic singer also gets some humorous vocalisations in. Some distorted screaming leads us to...
4. The Struggle for Life and Death of "Knowledge" (3:36) The most random section. Basically without discernable lyrics, the eccentricity levels go off the charts. The orchestra and death metal change places within the span of half a second, much to my amusement. It serves as a high energy closer to the first half of the album length track.
5. Completely Alone (12:10) No metal here folks. We're back to classical styled orchestra playing. Calming and like the title implies, carrying a feeling of isolation and loneliness. Goes on a bit longer then it needed to, but it's very well played nonetheless. Some electronica/ambient bubblings segue into...
6. Move (3:54) Ever heard rap backed by an orchestra? Well, this track is exactly that. Our opera vocalist is back too. The metal serves as backing to add more impact to the track. Catchy as hell.
7. Time, Irrelevant (7:58) Death metal returns, and the track grows more eccentric, more interchanges, more great mixtures of metal and classical as it leads up to another orchestral cresendo, signaling the close of...wait...
8. The Top / How Low Can U Go? (10:27) A techno pulse jars us into the final part of this journey. Classical and techno and metal. Great closing piece, 'The Top'. The lyrics here cover the whole spectrum, rap, growls and opera. And the album hits the close on a high note, all parties vocalising 'Yeah! Yeah! Die! Die!'.
...
Oh yeah. And there's an awful track after about two minutes of silence. It has nothing to do with the rest of the album and feels like a pointlessly tacked on bonus. Not only is it redundant, it's not really that good at all. The choice to bundle it with the album makes me only treat it as an bonus track. Once the brilliant symphony itself has finished, turn it off there.
Well, this album has many positives and a few negatives. On the positive side, you'll never hear so many elements and genres used in such an inventive way. This is probably the only death metal symphony out there, and it's in a league of its own in originality. Storywise, it's quite interesting too, maybe not completely unique but still entertaining, mostly in the interpretation. All adventurous music fans would do well to give this a full listen. It's difficult, lacking consistent choruses and structure, but unique for enshewing these structures all the same.
On the negative side, the bonus track is unneeded and some parts where the orchestra are the only element in play can go on a bit long. Also interestingly enough, in some parts the death metal feels like the weakest element, and whilst it's not the most dynamic and hard hitting aspect of the album, it's still got its merits, and for me is a vital part. It is a death metal symphony after all.
I give this a tenative four stars. I'm wavering between 4 and 4.5, a few more listens may see it bumped up a bit more. I recommend this to all metal fans willing to explore other genres outside of metal.