Dirge of Death's Silence

For those who have not heard this album, it is a total homage to Emperor’s classic and genre-defining ‘In The Nightside Eclipse’ album. Unfortunately, it is a bad homage. Quite a few times, it becomes watered-down plagiarism.

Fans of the classic older Emperor aesthetic of buzzing arpeggiated blocks of chords moving underneath deceptively simple bass and keyboard work may initially be excited that a modern band has so completely captured such a grand style so worthy of tribute and further experimentation. However, there is no experimentation here, and the tribute is lackluster at best. Guitar work is buzzing with tremolo, but not particularly smooth or raw; managing to be infuriatingly and dismally uninspired. More complex phrasing is dropped or lost completely as the simple framework of Emperor songs is perverted just enough to avoid a lawsuit and also washed clean of its intricacy as the arpeggiated runs and cascading unusual harmonies that would normally clash with the other minimalist elements of the band are completely overlooked. The total span of this album’s guitar sound is simple minor bar chords and simple melodies with few to no harmonies, counterparts, and a complete lack of depth due to the complete disappearance of microtonal inflections. There are no deceptively simple diades and triades split between complimentary instruments. I remember no discernable bass parts.

Drumming here is sloppy and mediocre: nothing that makes you want to quit listening to this ever again, but just a noticeable lack of anything worth mentioning. Fills are sparse and lackluster, and rolls are overdone and far too similar to each other. Vocals are not without their hateful charm, but they do nothing to save this release from being instantly forgettable; reminding you of the band it rips off again and again. I won’t even bore you with a description of the songwriting here; suffice to say it’s predictable.

Predictable is the best way to describe this release. Boring would be another good choice. It’s not terrible, not a complete waste of a cd; it just does nothing to engage the listener. What takes this below the bottom of the fortieth percentile is the fact that it sounds like a well-recorded live album of a drunk Emperor cover band who messed up all the riffs and overly simplified all the songs. Sadly, this is far from the worst usbm band out there.