Deathspell Omega : "the Synarchy of Molten Bones"

Dark and more melodic than expected are my first thoughts going into the first few moments of the French band's new album. They soon blast off into a more dissonant murk. The mathy acrobatics are still in play as the chaos gets stirred up rather quickly. The vocals stay at a lower death metal like growl. Some how grooves form amid the madness. The first song was something I knew I was going to have to go back and listen to again in order to soak it all in as they throw a lot at you. The blinding blitz of drums opens "Famished For Breath". The snarls are multi-tracked to keep the narrative otherworldly. The technical intensity of what goes down almost makes this feel for like blackened death metal rather than progressive death metal as it is more about the attack than the atmosphere.

Their brand of sonic crazy is not as cohesive on "Onward where Most with Ravin I may meet" . There are some guitar melodies that are a little catchy, but there are buried under the land slide of blast beats and jagged guitars coming at you from every direction. The last song is every bit as manic. I am listening for what is setting this part from all the other blinding walls of sonic filth they have flung at my ears like a possessed monkey with molten poop.

 I think this album got off to a good start, but in the crazed frenzy the song writing got a little lost in the blur. The vocals begin to take on more of an Inquisition like croak. This might be the album's fastest song. The blast beats are most effective when the guitars drop out. Why play by the rules when you can break them, is where these guys are at their peak. These guys are great musicians and this album sounds great, but at the end of the day it's about songs. Even though song writing falls short their chops and energy take them further than any of the bands who want to be them. I'll give this one an 8, it's not something that I think I'll get a ton of spins out of due to the frenetic nature of these tunes, which might not be their best, but half ass from these guys dominates most of the flock.