death / black metal
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THISISNOTABANDSHIRT collection, created by Merchants Of Air members.
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A black/death metal band without a drummer? Is that legal or acceptable in the extreme metal scene? There's been a time when metalheads frowned upon drum computers and programming. Even I have been weary of keyboards for a while. Luckily some bands changed the general opinion about electronics in metal. Bands like Fear Factory, Samael and, why not, Atari Teenage Riot created stunning songs, using synths, programming and whatnot. Besides, sometimes you can't even notice there's no live drums.
Take Dulia for example. This Sicilian trio celebrates their first birthday today and what better way to do that than with a splendid ep. This is a blend of death and black metal with plenty of power and aggression to remain interesting. Yes, the drums are programmed but they are programmed by someone who seems to know a little something about metal drumming. These are not mere repetitive, industrial like drum patterns but resemble human drums quite perfectly. So we're going to stop whining about programming, ok?
The ep opens with a prelude, created by dark, eerie 'gothic' keyboards and turning into a first glimpse of Dulia's metallic abilities. From there this trio comes with some great songs, reminding me of something between Samael, Candlemass, Rotting Christ and even Woods of Ypres. The majority of the music is quite slow, hence the doom metal reference. Yet, there's plenty of uptempo passages to please even the fiercest headbangers among us.
Besides coming up with this highly versatile blend of some of the most extreme musical genres, Dulia shows a great deal of technical ingenuity. This results in complicated song structures with surprising hooks and breaks. Highlights of those aspects are the songs 'Theurgical Purification' and 'Sword Of Martyrs'. At the end, they come up with a nice cover of 'Beelzebuth' by Mystifier. In all, this is simply an excellent piece of blackened doom death and a welcome addition to any extreme metal collection.
Serge
Take Dulia for example. This Sicilian trio celebrates their first birthday today and what better way to do that than with a splendid ep. This is a blend of death and black metal with plenty of power and aggression to remain interesting. Yes, the drums are programmed but they are programmed by someone who seems to know a little something about metal drumming. These are not mere repetitive, industrial like drum patterns but resemble human drums quite perfectly. So we're going to stop whining about programming, ok?
The ep opens with a prelude, created by dark, eerie 'gothic' keyboards and turning into a first glimpse of Dulia's metallic abilities. From there this trio comes with some great songs, reminding me of something between Samael, Candlemass, Rotting Christ and even Woods of Ypres. The majority of the music is quite slow, hence the doom metal reference. Yet, there's plenty of uptempo passages to please even the fiercest headbangers among us.
Besides coming up with this highly versatile blend of some of the most extreme musical genres, Dulia shows a great deal of technical ingenuity. This results in complicated song structures with surprising hooks and breaks. Highlights of those aspects are the songs 'Theurgical Purification' and 'Sword Of Martyrs'. At the end, they come up with a nice cover of 'Beelzebuth' by Mystifier. In all, this is simply an excellent piece of blackened doom death and a welcome addition to any extreme metal collection.
Serge