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Deathspell Omega - Paracletus

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 November 19 2010 at 05:14:11 PM



You keep a knockin’ but you can’t come in. Deathspell Omega, Black Metal’s most successful thing-in-itself, ends its trilogy with Paracletus, more whimper than bang and practically anticlimactic following it’s 2008 micro-epic, “Chaining the Katechon.” There’s twenty minute-plus tune as math proof: Facets of DsO’s “new sound”—atonal guitar figures, ur-dynamic breakdowns, acetylene stop/starts, unfathomable sprints of pure violence by all marquee players, crammed into single skin straining to shed itself. Feels like finality. Coda appropriately elegiac: Snuffed flames, dried blood, a few hundred opportunists buying up the vinyl from online storefronts to eGay later for exponential profit.

Now comes the real end to the end, an overloaded record fattened with queerly annoying riffing omnipresent on college radio in the early-to-mid ‘90s. “Alternative” bands like Blonde Redhead, Polvo, Drive Like Jehu, even Unwound, honed “angular” (ugh) Thurstian (*cough*) tunings into noisy fucking pop. That Deathspell Omega is doing the same thing, but croaking lyrics in English and French with an unmatched heady and satanic bent ain’t something most folk saw queued up down the line. But Black Metal’s been assimilated and regurgitated a hundred times over since the days of “no mosh / no core / no fun,” turning this and that and so very much not like it ever once was as music with no overt satanic alignment is now constantly labeled “Black Metal” with an indifference verging on chasmic oblivion.

Imagine these same folk would/do disregard DsO’s lyrical/aesthetic apparatus entirely. Don’t blame them really. Taking it in is akin to climbing over Kant’s Critique; personality types keen on said activity also likely find self-mutilation and anal-fisting enjoyable. Not a Kant man myself, but DsO’s aesthetic was always the draw for me. Lyrics and the concepts behind them are as complex as their music. And it’s an appropriate extrapolation; the music should sound like its dogma—ancient but future bound, profoundly slick but not beyond the blood and toil of undeniably human grit. We can spend days, weeks, months delineating/debating WHAT THE FUCK THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT. The syllogism isn’t nearly as enigmatic as the countless theological discourses the band has absorbed: Man is fundamentally a base animal who is enslaved to pleasure. Satan is the source of all pleasure, therefore man is fundamentally satanic. Yada, yada, yada. Now form up a cadre of crackpot musos sworn to secrecy; pen lyrics based on said syllogism; cut a few records under impenetrable veil of darkness.

That some of these records are more inspired and successful at translating the band’s “cause” is no surprise. DsO could never hope to build on 2004’s Si Monumentum Requires Circumspice, a labyrinthine and operatic record that maintains a level of awful brilliance and terror seen in few other records across all musical genre. What followed felt and sounded second rate. Often the band redirected its argument, honing subtleties of an even newer sound debuted with 2007’s hyperbolically chaotic and mostly unlistenable Fas—Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum. Insofar as a masterwork is predicated on its ability to connect with listeners physically and psychologically, laying bare bits once hidden before, during, and after successive listens, DsO notched its belt in ’04. (Dissenters will forever argue amongst themselves.)

An accomplishment perhaps even greater, however, is the band’s preternatural ability to maintain “anonymity.” Its dogma begs for it. It commands it. And ideology is Goddamn difficult to uphold when you’re doing phoners with the glossies or bloggers every year or so. Interviews with “the band” are, of course, few to none; most significant is credited to The Ajna Offensive’s Tyler Davis.

I read Davis’ piece countless times when it was posted on the Ajna site years ago and looked at it for the first time in years today. Question one provokes a quick two word response from whoever acts as the DsO filter therein. “Things evolve.” Yes. Yes, they do. Paracletus is certainly an evolution of the SMRC sound, albeit one I find little to like in. Bigger picture: It’s also likely the “new face of Black Metal,” a more user-friendly “thing,” even with all the metaphysical bells ‘n’ whistles bonging and hooting in ways mostly unknown to anyone who hasn’t spent time studying theology conceived in a language and process predating even the most inchoate continental philosophy.

Ugh. Not for me. I like, even love the nerdy bullshit, but when the feeling’s gone, so’s the thrill. Can’t recall another album that I liked less and less with each listen. Say goodbye to “epic.” There’s a thinness embodied in this music’s accessibility that plainly pisses me off. Black Metal, in my estimation, was never about communicating, reaching out and instilling something of the crystalline sublime in its beloved listener. There are definitely records out there that are forged of fire and command terror and there are likely many more to come. But that strain, that form of the genre isn’t as rare as it is misunderstood. Aped and exploited, sacked and depleted of meaning by countless charlatans, the basic elemental whatsis has been recast by everyone with a blogspot or freelance agreement. Don’t even really know what “it is” anymore. But I do know I want it to be mired in the unspeakable gore of Katharsis tearing down the ass of the Qlipoth or the ineffable ethereal profundity of Negative Plane. But want has a funny and torturous way of sticking around forever. Don’t it?

[Stewart Voegtlin]

Deathspell Omega
Paracletus
Norma Evangelium Diaboli
2010





Related

- Deathspell Omega - Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum: Chaining the Katechon
- Deathspell Omega - Kenose
- Deathspell Omega - Fas - Ite Maledicte In Ignem Aeternum

Comments (38)

  • 65 comments
    neu konservatiw
    4:09 PM on Nov 20, 2010 // reply »
    Pardon me whilst I slit my own presumptuous throat. I likewise feel the "noisy fucking pop"-cum-Touch-and-Go, but was sure you would not hold that against them. Now, go wash your mouth out with Consentir A L'absurde, you neanderthal.
  • 1 comment
    Irrelevant
    7:19 PM on Nov 20, 2010 // reply »
    There are clearly places where the distinction between the listener, the artist and the essence being communicated are blurred into a whirlwind where you cannot follow if said distinction is still clear to you. You don't like it? I never felt there was anything to 'like' in Deathspell Omega - I think the only reason one would think so is comparison to other music out there. Both are being released in aural form = both are meant to be 'enjoyed', right? No, if there's anything to 'like' here eventually, the notion of 'you' and the notion of 'liking' has to be melted in the whirlwind first. It's a statement all of it's own, but I digress - nobody says this is somewhere you have to follow. But in the face of your thoroughly pretentious, unnecessarily ornate hipster-redneck jargon, I find it kind of funny your excuse, of all things, would be that it's overly elaborated and therefore not really your thing.

    Well, then again, maybe I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT and I misinterpreted your conclusion. Maybe it could actually be something other than "I prefer the comfort of my preferences but I'm afraid of putting it that plainly and have to make sure that everyone knows that I 'get it' first".
  • 1 comment
    you
    2:48 AM on Nov 21, 2010 // reply »
    gee, couldn't see this one coming a mile away...
  • 1 comment
    JR
    7:31 PM on Nov 21, 2010 // reply »
    this is craptacular! i was hoping Fas was a speed-bump but nooooooooooooooooooo, this is horrible.

    "I never felt there was anything to 'like' in Deathspell Omega"

    *yawn*

  • 1 comment
    Linnaeus
    9:20 AM on Nov 22, 2010 // reply »
    Voegtlin, when will you stop using the prefix "ur" to mean "uber"?

    "Katechon" is this band's sublime statement. Followed by Kenose. Somehow they tackle the EP format with more immediacy. SMRC is great but too long.
  • 386 comments
    VOEGTLIN
    9:43 AM on Nov 22, 2010 // reply »
    Walt: Hey, honey, it's nicey wicey in this cave.

    Irrelevant: Mokay. Will you kindly undo these straps now as I'd rather not spend the rest of my life tied to this fucking couch.

    You: Likewise.

    JR: Yes, I yawned when I read that line, too.

    Linnaeus: It's an honor to have Imperium Naturae's author reading my work of all things, but leave the coaching whistle at home.

    When I use "ur," I don't mean "uber;" I mean "ur," as in original. DsO dynamic b'downs: Nobody does it better; makes me feel bad for the rest. Nobody does it / half as good as you / Baby, you're the best.
  • 36 comments
    Miskatonic
    12:16 PM on Nov 22, 2010 // reply »
    So, I've heard, and enjoyed this a few times now. Their sound has been opened up completely to me on this record. What was once mired in thick production is now delivered on a silver platter. Perhaps this is symbolic of the band's eventual (inevitable?) unveiling. Or maybe They just wanted to sound crystal clear in order to deliver their message. Since I won't have the physical item in my hands until tomorrow, I have yet to begin studying that message.

    I'm surprised to hear you compare this to Thurstianites brand of noisy pop unfavorably. If the apparatus is intact, what is the harm in delivering it in this new face of Black Metal package? If these guys are a fraction as earnest about this inverted Judeao-Christianity as they profess, then they are most likely seeking clarity much the same way other seekers of truth are, rather than turning Satanic philosophy into a welter as most 'black metal' bands attempt. Paracletus, from what I've heard, represents the third member of the Trinity. His role is "...to teach you all things..." --John 14:26. Lifting the mire might just do the trick.
  • 1 comment
    hillary08
    1:37 PM on Nov 22, 2010 // reply »
    sorry holmes this kills. i don't relate to your early 90s reference points as i never gave a fuck about that scene. but if DxOx used them to make this then such scene wasn't absolute dross. all i can hear is that this album is black fucking METAL, full stop. the progressive start/stop nightmare riffage does make me want to break stuff like good old Anodyne used to, and like old DO didn't, but if that's progress then i'm strapping on my wobblin' shoes.
  • 386 comments
    VOEGTLIN
    2:13 PM on Nov 22, 2010 // reply »
    Miskatonic: DsO certainly becomes a "bigger tent" band with this one. Anyone with an Explosions in the Sky or Godspeed record will be receptive to this.
  • 3 comments
    Hexenzeen
    8:40 AM on Mar 21, 2012 // reply »
    mr. voegtlin,

    i'd actually appreciate seeing your thesis expanded upon, inasmuch as i sense that your relationship to this band's output is not a trivial one, and i think yours is a pretty unique perspective thereon. i'd love to hear some nerdy blow-by-blows of offending (to your ears, obv.) passages, and how you perceive them as undermining the suite as a whole. i also miss your sharply erudite analysis of the (oh so important) accompanying text (have they failed you there as well?). aligning this piece w/ the meedly-tweedly martial-milquetoast bore-athon that is every E.i.t.S. song i've apprehended, while i *think* i know what you're speaking to, seems a slightly myopic appraisal.

    how bout a "paracletus, one week later," redux? :)
  • 386 comments
    VOEGTLIN
    6:41 PM on Nov 22, 2010 // reply »
    Methinks not.
  • 1 comment
    Pair o' cleats
    9:03 AM on Nov 23, 2010 // reply »
    What I like least about this album are moments like the chug-chug-chug-chug at the end of "wings of predation". Reeks of metal music video readiness.
  • 1 comment
    Jimmy
    4:08 PM on Nov 23, 2010 // reply »
    Really good album. Complex but immediate, and I personally really like the slithery guitar lines this time around. The GSY!BE comparison is fairly lazy, though. Phosphene, Devouring Famine, Wings of predation....I just don't see how any Dso fan wouldn't lap it up, all storming tracks. It's funny, as soon as I heard this album I knew you wouldn't enjoy it, esp given your obvious hatred to anything resembling post rock.
  • 386 comments
    VOEGTLIN
    4:14 PM on Nov 23, 2010 // reply »
    Glad you like it and glad you recognize why I don't. But one thing, please pay attention to the actual text of the review; comments are comments.

    In that specific comment I made a hyperbolic statement about post-rock and its new revival in "Black Metal." Too bad Wittgenstein isn't alive today to see how "statement" or "utterance" enjoys an existence beyond and sometimes even trumps "the text" on the Internet.
  • 1 comment
    Dan E
    5:09 PM on Nov 23, 2010 // reply »
    This shits all over that Weapon album, after a few listens. No mention of the bass? Huge addition to this album, makes me wonder how you missed it... hmm
  • 386 comments
    VOEGTLIN
    7:14 PM on Nov 23, 2010 // reply »
    Nice image, Dan.

    As for bass, and all other instruments for that matter, I was going to post some tabs and dissect every note played on Paracletus but that would would mean I couldn't troll Internet messageboards to take the pulse of Well-to-do White America and its fixation with French Post Black Metal. I have my priorities, Dan.
  • 2 comments
    stephan c
    2:33 AM on Nov 24, 2010 // reply »
    From my understanding of the interview Tyler conducted years ago with the band, the music is written after the lyrics are fleshed out and accordingly, follow what said lyrics are conveying. The discordance and dizzying effect of Fas i took to convey the sense of madness and awe present in the lyrics, a marriage trying to express the meaning in a higher power/hidden hand through completely atonal, time signature raping music, though i haven't heard Paracletus yet, (i received a copy three days ago and will receive two more tomorrow), i expect it to follow whatever directive the words take....
    so in closing, though it follows common rationale to critique this band on a artist/listener level, discretion is needed and a revisit of the interview probably worthwhile.
  • 2 comments
    fatima lourdes nasdaq
    10:23 AM on Nov 24, 2010 // reply »
    As in Jean Baudrillard and collateralized debt onligations, sometimes peeling back all those layers of complexity reveals that there's nothing there.
  • 1 comment
    John
    11:40 AM on Nov 24, 2010 // reply »
    "I was going to post some tabs and dissect every note played on Paracletus"

    Don't be silly; that would require you having skill at an instrument, rather than having the sum total of X years being an internet hack to look back on. I'vejust read your review twice and there's barely anything mentioned about the music - I think that says it all. If someone had never investigated this band and wanted to on the basis of this, they'd have nothing to go on. Well done, kid.
  • 1 comment
    Righthandpath
    11:45 AM on Nov 24, 2010 // reply »
    "Black Metal, in my estimation, was never about communicating, reaching out and instilling something of the crystalline sublime in its beloved listener."

    The death knell of any movement...or good review.
  • 65 comments
    neu konservatiw
    12:39 PM on Nov 24, 2010 // reply »
    fatima: There's never anything 'there.'

    John: How about this - it sounds like the second line-up of Kiss it Goodbye (ca. Preacher/Target Practice 7") traded Tim Singer for Mikko Aspa, started to sound too much like Botch (ca. We Are the Romans) and added blast beats.
    If one wanted to 'investigate' the band one could listen to some samples on fucking Amazon.com and/or read the 'reviews' on Metal Archives. Is that well done, kid?
  • 35 comments
    -c
    12:47 PM on Nov 24, 2010 // reply »
    "started to sound too much like Botch". amen to that. between the above statement and the infiltration of "shoegaze BM" color me not interested. does it mean it's bad? no, just does nothing for me.
  • 5 comments
    ADD
    1:04 PM on Nov 24, 2010 // reply »
    I like this album, dig your writeup too. "Black Metal, in my estimation, was never about communicating, reaching out and instilling something of the crystalline sublime in its beloved listener." Interesting. Chaining the Katechon remains in my opinion the quintessential artifact from this entity, at least musically, even if it doesn't represent the culmination of their theological 'statement' which I guess is what Paracletus is supposed to be. Cheers
  • 1 comment
    John
    1:31 PM on Nov 24, 2010 // reply »
    "If one wanted to 'investigate' the band one could listen to some samples on fucking Amazon.com and/or read the 'reviews' on Metal Archives. Is that well done, kid?"

    God forbid a MUSIC review actually contain discussion about it. Should I shout louder?...your head appears to be rammed up sv's fat arse.
  • 2 comments
    icKx
    3:09 PM on Nov 24, 2010 // reply »
    I agree "noisy fucking pop" is brief and a tad dismissive but what do you want John, a track-by-track rundown?

  • 1 comment
    John
    1:53 PM on Nov 25, 2010 // reply »
    You said it yourself; brief and dismissive. Did I say a track by track breakdown was required? Hell, he didn't even cover one, let alone all.
  • 40 comments
    The Right Hand Path
    11:58 PM on Nov 25, 2010 // reply »
    Finally, after a long time, a new album from these French Black Metallers.
  • 2 comments
    Christian
    5:55 AM on Nov 27, 2010 // reply »
    Exactly. And it's called 'Paracletus'.
  • 36 comments
    Miskatonic
    9:48 AM on Nov 28, 2010 // reply »
    Wow! That Kiss it Goodbye/ Botch comparison was ultra apt. Having never delved into hardcore much I was completely ignorant of this obvious influence on DsO's sound. I'm going to need to check out more than the sound clips via eMusic.

    So, while I am surprised to discover DsO's music is so derivative, I will say that this style adoption is not something introduced in Paracletus, rather, it's been pretty prominent since DsO's reinvention. Although, it has been refined through each successive release (including the apparently untouchable Chaining the Katechon).
  • 2 comments
    cordian
    4:43 PM on Nov 29, 2010 // reply »
    Ved Buens Ende, Immolation, and Neurosis are just as important to Mikko-era Deathspell Omegas sound as Kiss it Goodbye, Botch, other technical spastic hardcore/mathcore, etc. are.

    However, the earlier-made suggestion that Mikko-era Deathspell Omega is essentially an intensified version of Kiss it Goodbye and Botch is just as mind-numbingly silly and inaccurate as saying that first album Sacramentum is a sped-up Dissection clone& or that 80s Slayer is simply Judas Priest and Venom on steroids. (And yes, Ive seen/heard such comments)

    As Ive already pointed out, Deathspell Omega arent without their influences& but I would argue they still project a fairly imaginative take on those influences and their ideas, as far as aesthetics and presentation go (sound layers, relationship between instrumentation and vocals, arrangement, etc.).
  • 2 comments
    cordian
    4:52 PM on Nov 29, 2010 // reply »
    And Stewart Voegtlin, Im curious about something:

    Correct me if I am mistaken, but how is it that you approve so much of Chaining the Katechon? This question is asked in consideration of your obvious hatred for anything resembling post-rock (as Jimmy had put it).

    I ask because the songs last few minutes are very much like a metalized post-rock crescendo & ya know, with the dramatic build-up and sound layers being added on top of each other.
  • 386 comments
    VOEGTLIN
    6:17 AM on Nov 30, 2010 // reply »
    CtK has everything I love about DsO but compacted into a much shorter run and hyperbolic to the pt of parody. The "metalized post-rock crescendo" sounds more "classic" to these ears, if not a little --- or a lot --- outta place. What precedes it, however, is the fucking rule. Tweaked out riffs, inhuman drumming, Apsa's most intense vocal delivery, pure violence.

    Now get your heads out of this dead horse's ass and go read DePalma's Cauldron Black Ram review.
  • 1 comment
    TonyR
    3:46 PM on Nov 30, 2010 // reply »
    @ Cordian: I was thinking the same. The 'thin' sound (i.e. harmonically rich/un-power chord guitar work) he complains about on this record is pretty much just a continuation/refinement of Chaining The Katechon, which was way more Sonic Youth than 'X' bm band. And the drumming? This record has it all, e.g. Dearth in to Phosphene is just killer. Devouring Famine? Pure DSO, Botch et al couldn't get near it.
  • 20 comments
    Doomstoned, D.S.M. (Dr. of Shamanic Medicine)
    7:03 PM on Dec 01, 2010 // reply »
    Dearest Stew,

    Would it be worthwhile to load up on a galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, laughers, etc, so on, and perform another more "spirited" analysis of said Faustspell Omegamillions or is this yet another hopeless flat tire?
  • 386 comments
    VOEGTLIN
    8:24 AM on Mar 21, 2012 // reply »
    Guys, almost done with this Paracletus rewrite. I think you're all gonna really like this one.
  • 3 comments
    hexenzeen
    10:01 AM on Mar 22, 2012 // reply »
    whenzit goin' live, sir voegtlin? or is this just a cruel joke...?
  • 386 comments
    VOEGTLIN
    10:21 AM on Mar 22, 2012 // reply »
    It's gonna be published piecemeal throughout the next 10 issues of Chips & Beer, starting with #2, which has already been published. But it won't be in every issue printed. So basically it's a crap shoot.

  • 386 comments
    VOEGTLIN
    7:54 AM on Apr 25, 2012 // reply »
    DsO "Draught" record review qua record review to be published soon by guest contributor who shall remain nameless. Will run for 24 hrs and then be deleted.
 

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