Deathspell Omega - Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum: Chaining the Katechon
December 11 2008 at 01:04:23 AM
The Redeemer. Where
Fas… thrashed impotently and unfocused through a lecture on sin’s nature replete with all the faux nuance and Calvinistic bleakness one could possibly stomach, Deathspell Omega’s (DsO) current EP,
Chaining the Katechon, which fixates acutely on Pauline doctrine extrapolating the timely leavening of iniquity, penultimate apostasy, ultimate coming of the Son of Perdition, is a polished statement of unfathomable power, intent, and – at times – rather poetic erudition. Beginning, as it were,
in medias res, DsO eschews its penchant for ambient interlude and bears its fangs. Jarring, for sure, but stunning – even magisterial – as atonal guitar, insistent bass, and tireless battery combine in ways that seem at once impossibly mechanistic and profoundly visceral.
Perhaps an inevitable effect of subject matter, orchestral leitmotifs provide brief repose from the churning violence; tenets growled and howled over the muscular din. This is the old craft – DsO’s patented form of music as system building, a clinical and unforgiving approach to “song” that demands its own genre pigeonhole, “technically progressive Black Metal.” Prowess provides a breaking point for those who persist with hard and fast rules of Black Metal consisting in ______ or ______. No matter. DsO not only renews its potent art once made manifest with
Si Requires Monumentum Circumspice; it also disposed of its tendency to lapse into dulling excess. What is born of assimilation, process, and rendition – à la San Francisco’s Weakling – truly has no other origin other than
sturm und drang’s very roots, a sort of inherently humanistic approach to impenetrable theology re-imagined via Schnittkean handling of tonal and atonal harmonics, which can – and should be – traced back to Wagner’s
Tristan und Isolde. Therefore,
in nuce: Very motherfucking far from Mars Volta. Then there’s the foundation from which the music is grown and powered upon: Viz., inexplicably rationalistic takes on inchoate theosophy. From Thessalonica to Gaul, I suppose, and no time like the present to ponder variform eschatology.
The End of Days shall not usher into being with seraphim trumpets. The Lord’s Day has a precursor. The Son of Perdition warms the throne and rules appropriately. Apostasy corrals former believers to the field from where they are ultimately led to slaughter. “How legitimate is the faith into despair?” The question, of course, remains rhetorical. Johannine opine is decidedly reified:
Antichristos as “thing,” or
to datechon, and then as thing-made-flesh, or
ho katechon. Gleaned and preened from such subtlety is the notion of prevention – a formidable obstacle to the perceived Messiah’s prophesied time. “Still a temple stands. And a star shines.” For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way… Whether we agree the
antichristos comes forth as event, idea, principle, man, or polity matters little. DsO ostensibly revel in the celebration of the throne’s seizure – the Beast’s reign – even if the Gospel characterizes this incremental period not only as fleeting, but a prelude to defeat. A great turning away:
Summa Diviso – man’s ultimate exercise of freewill – is nothing so much but victory. Ho-sanna. Ho-san-na. Ho-san-n-a.
[Stewart Voegtlin]
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Glad to see that Noevdia is cranking out some releases again. The Ofermod CD gets my vote for metal album of the year. I've also heard rumors about a forthcoming Katharsis/Antaues split.
BTW, the SVEST side of the split is also worth hearing, as is the Rebirth of Nefast/Slidhr split that EAL recently released.
Heady stuff, sure, but DsO manages to effortlessly fold this with visceral exeprience usually associated with Hellenic rationalism. What we're left with is a conceptually heavy lyric sheet that doubles as an account - an understanding of the world around the one giving the account, and his/her understanding of his/her self in regard to that world. Works for me.
What strikes me personally in particular about DsO though is their focus on early Christian theology, in particular that of Paul and St Augustine, and the absence of the cabbalist and hermetic references that form the basis of other bands from the NoED-label.
DsO's primary focus is actually refreshing. Maybe they'll move on to Clement of Alexandria and St John of the Cross...
DsO have mentioned an affinity with manichaean thought in an interview. In view of their approach to Augustianian theology I'm hoping they will elaborate on this in future works.
You seem well-read, and interested in philosophy/theology enough to challange liberty taken with terminology, which certainly leads me to beleive you could easily formulate your own interpretation of this recording. What a strange place this world would be if one highly specific reading of art held true for all...
http://thewhim.blogspot.com/
http://surrealdocuments.blogspot.com/
http://nicolamasciandaro.googlepages.com/Glossator-BlackMetalCFP.pdf
Seriously though, I think you may have slightly misunderstood my point; I wasn't criticizing your use of terminology, but rather your frame of reference. Hence my criticism of the 'inexplicable' part, which, it appeared to me, was only inexplicable because your frame of reference was inadequate. To put it bluntly, you were comparing apples with oranges (or, to be more precise, you were trying to describe an orange as a very juicy, fleshy apple whith an inexplicably orange color ;).
Basing your argument on my use of terminology (see your second comment) and claiming, ultimately, to have no objection regarding my use of terminology, but rather my "frame of reference," renders your comments not only disingenuous, but the stuff of straw men.
If you are going to choose a "screen name" that essentially means "invincible," I would suggest working on your logic. ;)
If you were more interested in reading this piece and comments rather than finding what you perceive to be flaws, we never would have crossed pocketknives in the first place.
Adieu...
I fail to see where this leaves the header of constructive criticism and degrades into 'crossing pocketknives'. I am also slightly disappointed that you chose to ignore the contents of my criticism and only adress an ultimately irrelevant flaw in it.
There was no blunder.
There's a job out there for you in the copy proofing world of latinate Black Metal record titles, you know? Best of luck.