DEATHSPELL OMEGA — Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum: Chaining the Katechon (review)

DEATHSPELL OMEGA — Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum: Chaining the Katechon album cover

EP · 2008 · Black Metal

4/5 · 2011-08-04
Xaxaar

If any of you read my Isa review, you'd recall me calling "Return to Yggdrasil" my favorite black metal song. Well, it has been dethroned by none other than "Chaining the Katechon."

I am fairly new to the world of Deathspell Omega, but "Fas – Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum" was the album that got me hooked. Let me tell you, that is also an amazing piece, but that is a review for another time. They're primarily a black metal band, but they do have elements of avant-garde thrown in every-so-often. This is both technically powerful along with musically. I can imagine the excessive blast beats being a bit too much for some people, but not I.

Well on that note, let's grade the drumming. The blast beats are something I really like in this track. They don't sound repetitive because the drummer really knows his stuff. He changes the blast beats around with the cymbals enough to it doesn't sound like he's rehashing the same thing. Looking beyond the blast beats, I also do like the parts where his bass drum aligns with the bass to really get a full sound. The fills are really nothing to write home about technically, but they complement the feel of the song and feel so seamless that it is easily forgivable. The drummer is the spine of the band and this drummer certainly provides a very strong one. Exceptional in its context.

Since I already talked about the bass a bit, I'll continue on that. It pretty much does the same thing as the drums job which is make the song feel that much more powerful. The bass never really steals the spot-light, but like I said with the drums, the bass is perfect in its context. It does what the band wants it to do, all though I do find myself wondering how it would have sounded with a different bassist. Sometimes the bass really surprises me on albums on how good it is, but not really this one. I'm not saying it's bad, actually quite the opposite, I still love it, but it never really "WOW'd" me at any point besides when it doing some slides behind the guitar or really giving more power to the song on the powerful kick-drum hits.

Now the guitars are just fucking great. I mean, they're technical and atmospheric. This album does have an evil sort of vibe to it and the guitars definitely help. Their tone is absolutely perfect for an album like this. There is quite a lot of variety. Everything from the slow atmospheric, haunting feel to the blazing fast technical feel, but while still retaining the mood of the album. The guitars definitely make the album what it is. I honestly can't think of any down-sides.

Now the lyrics and vocals. The majority of the song are growls, but there are some clean vocals too. The clean vocals do their job, helping the song play out. They're very welcome in the whole atmosphere, nothing to complain about, nothing really exceptional either. But now, I do think the growls are exceptional. They have an excellent amount of force to them and he balances them quite well. Another plus is I think they are quite easy to understand. I'm not saying that your mother would be able to, but if you listen to black metal often I'm sure you can as well. The lyrics are also great. If you read them just on a website I know you won't think too much of them, but the way the band presents them through-out the song is exceptional. Being able to understand these powerful lyrics is certainly an upside. Nothing at all to complain about here.

There are also misc. instruments around the album that add to the feel of the album so very well. They don't get played enough for me to really crack down on everyone, but they're all great (especially the brass instrument near the end!). All in all, this is a 22 minute epic that no black metal fan, or even any metal fan who isn't afraid of growling and blast beats, should check out. It's just too good to pass up. Also, listen on full-blast! This song definitely has a lot of things you won't notice the first time through, but every detail adds to the mood.