black metal / death metal
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Well, since we're writing again, we might as well continue with sheer brutality and dynamic riffing. To be honest, I wasn't planning on writing any more metal reviews today. In stead, I was ready to focus on something calmer. But what the heck did they throw into my inbox now? A stunning piece of blackened death metal, or deathened black metal, whatever you choose is fine. So please excuse me while I indulge myself in crushing bleakness for another three quarters of an hour.
Dalkhu was formed in 2003 in Slovenia, seemingly as a solo project for J.G. Other members joined and left during the years, currently leaving J.G. on guitars and bass, P.Z. on vocals and a session drummer in someone named 'Spawn of the Void'. 'Descend... into Nothingness' is their second full-length and it's completely different from the debut, according to the biography that is. I haven't heard the previous album so I'll just focus on what I hear here.
What we hear on this album is a fierce blend of death and black metal, poured into complex song structures and loaded with a dark, morbid atmosphere. Songs like opener 'Pitch Black Cave' or 'The Fireborn' are massive slaps in the listener's face, combining massive riffs with a deep growling voice and a decent variation in drums. 'In The Woods' takes on a more melodic approach, borrowing the epic feel of some old heavy metal bands and combining it with vintage black metal riffs. So far in this album, 'In The Woods' is my favorite I guess.
So there's a lot more going on with Dalkhu than just spawning some brutal extreme metal through my speakers. In a way, the music feels a bit Scandinavian, mainly because of the heavy yet melodic approach but there's a lot of room for blast beats driven madness as well as complex songwriting. In 'Distant Cry' they even take on a bit of a fuzzy stoner rock approach, which obviously turns into extremities after a while. Nonetheless, this amount of variation is impressive.
For me, it's impossible to drag other bands into this review because every single band I mention would be an incomplete description to the songs on this full-length. I can mention bands like Tiamat, Arch Enemy, Dimmu Borgir, Immortal or In Flames but, a. Dalkhu is a lot heavier and b. you have to combine all these names in one single song and then add a few more. Besides, even with all those names to grasp on, there's still this avant-garde feeling of experimental metal present.
The best way to approach this album is with an open mind and a head ready for some extensive headbanging. So the only thing you need to remember from this writing might be: 'an excellent progressive death metal album with black metal infuences'. That being said, I'll just finish by recommending it to anyone who is used to a little something by now. This is not beginners metal, only the advanced metalhead will appreciate this and that might be for the best...
Serge
Dalkhu was formed in 2003 in Slovenia, seemingly as a solo project for J.G. Other members joined and left during the years, currently leaving J.G. on guitars and bass, P.Z. on vocals and a session drummer in someone named 'Spawn of the Void'. 'Descend... into Nothingness' is their second full-length and it's completely different from the debut, according to the biography that is. I haven't heard the previous album so I'll just focus on what I hear here.
What we hear on this album is a fierce blend of death and black metal, poured into complex song structures and loaded with a dark, morbid atmosphere. Songs like opener 'Pitch Black Cave' or 'The Fireborn' are massive slaps in the listener's face, combining massive riffs with a deep growling voice and a decent variation in drums. 'In The Woods' takes on a more melodic approach, borrowing the epic feel of some old heavy metal bands and combining it with vintage black metal riffs. So far in this album, 'In The Woods' is my favorite I guess.
So there's a lot more going on with Dalkhu than just spawning some brutal extreme metal through my speakers. In a way, the music feels a bit Scandinavian, mainly because of the heavy yet melodic approach but there's a lot of room for blast beats driven madness as well as complex songwriting. In 'Distant Cry' they even take on a bit of a fuzzy stoner rock approach, which obviously turns into extremities after a while. Nonetheless, this amount of variation is impressive.
For me, it's impossible to drag other bands into this review because every single band I mention would be an incomplete description to the songs on this full-length. I can mention bands like Tiamat, Arch Enemy, Dimmu Borgir, Immortal or In Flames but, a. Dalkhu is a lot heavier and b. you have to combine all these names in one single song and then add a few more. Besides, even with all those names to grasp on, there's still this avant-garde feeling of experimental metal present.
The best way to approach this album is with an open mind and a head ready for some extensive headbanging. So the only thing you need to remember from this writing might be: 'an excellent progressive death metal album with black metal infuences'. That being said, I'll just finish by recommending it to anyone who is used to a little something by now. This is not beginners metal, only the advanced metalhead will appreciate this and that might be for the best...
Serge
