Review: Deathspell Omega - Devouring Famine
Where will Deathspell Omega go from here? Upon its release in 2007, Fas blew a lot of people away (not to mention the countless commendable contenders for metal album of the year), but did leave fans with stupendous expectations for the material to come. Anyone familiar with the band’s recent output will know that I’m not only referring to the quality of the music, but the intensity too – every DsO offering in the last few years has been increasingly hellish, unparalleled by other BM artists and topped only by the band themselves on following albums. Paracletus is to be the finale in a trilogy of releases when it arrives on November 9th. Followers are expecting big things, and “Devouring Famine” seems to indicate that DsO might just deliver once again.
It’s a fantastic track. Guitars are locked into relentless dissonance and drums flick between explosive blast beats and giddy, tumbling malfunction. At points it slips into a head-nod-able groove, though these points are swiftly swallowed up by the blistering chaos that follows. It’s essentially the sound established in Fas and the 2009 EP Chaining The Katechon, nudged into a new level of extremity.
I’ve always been astounded by the vocal delivery in DsO’s music – they rumble in guttural growls above the atonal disarray, never omitting any emotion but commanding over the music with fearless omnipotence. I imagine the lyrics continue to explore the metaphysics of Satanism, though I’ve yet to really delve into this myself.
Perhaps most exciting about this new track is the way it opens and closes – it’s abrupt enough to imply that “Devouring Famine” could actually be just one section in a continuous piece of music. We can hope.
You can download the new track here.