Deathspell Omega — FAS - Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum

The Latin of the title of Deathspell Omega's highly anticipated new release is taken from the Bible, Matthew 25:41, which says, "Go, you accursed ones, into the eternal fire". The turmoil that commences has indeed become an all-consuming vortex of progressive and technical black metal performed with an energy bordering on hysteria.

Obombration casts you into dark shadows after which you'll find yourself surrounded by a hellish, burning darkness. The band who still doesn't credit anyone involved builds a complex architecture of brutal riffage and dark grumblings. The drummer manages to find his way through this maze and not only that: he adds something I'd like to describe by the somewhat inappropriate term 'groove'. Bordering on chaos sometimes, there is this unnameable flow that will keep you on your toes. Within this maelstrom, upon repeated playing, you will find all kinds of intrigueing details. Small guitartextures, odd dissonances and sometimes the battering abruptly stops to linger on softly, barely audible. In these moments you'll find the Gregorian apparitions that were hovering darkly over the metallic structures to add a special atmosphere. Some doomy slow parts are incorporated as well but overall the pace is extremely high. The sixth track, also called Obombration marks a return into the shadows and the circle is closed.

This is typically an album to play again and again and experience it differently every time. The lyrics are a great augmentation to ponder about (if you interested in theological ideas and the phenomenon called 'kenosis' anyway), although the lyrics are a bit less scholarly and don't seem lifted from theological treatises and essays like before. Still Deathspell Omega, certainly by black metalstandards, are almost academic. A real accomplishment is that they manage to maintain a perfect atmosphere but with topnotch, very aggressive metal that 'kicks ass', if you forgive me the banality. A candidate for the number one position in my yearlist (although a serious competitor just came in).