DEATHSPELL OMEGA — Drought (review)

DEATHSPELL OMEGA — Drought album cover EP · 2012 · Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Xaxaar
Deathspell Omega has been a very consistent black metal band starting from their release "Si Monvmentvm Reqvires, Circvmspice", the first of the trilogy, and this EP doesn't break the chain. They have been releasing some of the most interesting releases in the modern era of black metal. And along with their black metal roots, they have been adding plenty of progressive metal elements to their sound, and especially in this EP.

With progressive metal, I can see I'm very picky. Now I know I'm generalizing here, but a lot of progressive metal just sounds very dreary, dull, drab, and dry. Sometimes it doesn't even feel like you're listening to a band, just a machine that makes music in some odd time signature. But I believe Deathspell Omega is far from that. When I hear this EP, I always hear the raw roots where they came from and that helps put life into this release for me.

The production helps a lot with this album as well. Everything is textured so nicely and everything feels so tangible and you can really hear the instruments...if you get what I mean. Everything just feels so rugged, raw, rich and real.

As the EP starts off with a very atmospheric and slow song, it quickly picks up. The guitars are...excited, as they never really stay in a single riff for all too long and just seem to be jumping all over the place, which I like, but is an acquired taste. If you like having a lot of song structure, this may not be the EP for you because sometimes it does sound a bit scattered. But in all the chaos, you still get to go back to the black metal roots with the types of chords they choose.

Also, besides the instruments, there are of course the vocals. They haven't changed much, they're still the DSO vocals you either love or hate. There still isn't much in the ways of singing as there are a narration, but for some reason I'm always attracted to that style, love the classics like Spiderland and Trout Mask Replica that have plenty of that style. But if you've been turned away by previous Deathspell Omega, I'd recommending checking out this release. It has to be one of their most accessible releases along with the last ofthe trilogy, Paracletus.

Some complaints are that I feel that the EP ends too suddenly. Not that the EP is too short, although it could be longer, it just feels like a sudden stop and I wish it could have gone on longer. But I know this isn't their last release, and I'm excited that after the trilogy, they're still releasing awesome music.
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