Døden Læger Alle Sår

This is a “best of the month” list for this month, but making the title “Best of May 2015” sounds like giving too much of a spotlight for such a short span of time, and devaluating the word “Best of” somewhat, in my opinion. Therefore I chose a title to reflect reality more clearly: these are the only albums we heard of on this website this month that were decent enough to not be considered utter disgraces to the metal genre (those were in the SMRs or were ignored). The “decent” are those that show consistency in style, coherence, a direction and a clear artistic voice and goals. The “rescuable” are those that are still confused in their composition — unclear, or that seemed to be impeded from development by their own approach to music-making (or that of their own genre).

The Decent

Ascended Dead – The Advent review
Blasphemic Cruelty – Crucible of the Infernum review
Exhumation – Opus Death review
Luciferian Rites – When the Light Dies review
Necrophor – Exterminatus review
Nekromanteion – Cosmic Horrors review
Perversor – Anticosmocrator review
Shroud of the Heretic – Unorthodox Equilibrium review
Undead – False Prophecies review

The Rescuable

Blind Guardian – Beyond the Red Mirror review
Bureviy – Concealed Beyond the Space review
Dew-Scented – Intermination review
Maruta – Remain Dystopian review
Undergang – Døden Læger Alle Sår review
Wende – Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukunft review

4 Comments

Tags: Anticosmocrator, Ascended Dead, best of May, Beyond the Red Mirror, Black Metal, blasphemic cruelty, blind guardian, Bureviy, Concealed Beyond the Space, Cosmic Horrors, Crucible of the Infernum, death metal, Dew-Scented, Doom Metal, Døden Læger Alle Sår, Exhumation, Exterminatus, False Prophecies, Intermination, Luciferian Rites, Maruta, metalcore, Necrophor, Nekromanteion, Opus Death, perversor, Remain Dystopian, Shroud of the Heretic, Speed Metal, The Advent, The decent and the rescuable, Undead, undergang, Unorthodox Equilibrium, Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukunft, Wende, When the Light Dies

Playing a cavernous underground music, Undergang have crystallized a style in Døden Læger Alle Sår that harks back to the sound not only of obvious Scandinavian forefathers but also to that of Morpheus Descends and Demoncy. Rather than spiraling through serpentine corridors as Incantation does, Undergang uses vocabulary from the Swedeath lingo here, and then the atmospheric death metal riff of Morpheus Descends there, only to descend into a the more inconspicuous atmospheric tremoloing of Demoncy to further the expression. Enriching this mixture of influences, we can also find unexpected doom-like moments with the economical and spacious approach of Worship.

Even though all these are present in Døden Læger Alle Sår, the style parade that a collection of influences often results in is not present here. It is also very important to stress that Undergang does not fall into trope repetition nor does it wink at the listener with a cliche here and a cliche there. The band expertly appropriates the different stylistic conventions under a overall Swedish death metal mantle and, more impressively, escapes the cliches of the latter as well. The reason why it can work is because the grindy Nihilist, the American Morpheus Descends and the decorative ends in Demoncy and Worship – like breaths are all compatible. It is only unfortunate that while all this has been accomplished, Undergang’s own voice still seems only visible as a blurry image behind this coherent, translucid tapestry.

4 Comments

Tags: 2015, death metal, demoncy, Døden Læger Alle Sår, morpheus descends, Nihilist, Scandinavia, Swedeath, undergang

May 2015: The decent and the rescuable

Undergang – Døden Læger Alle Sår