Post Mortem Nihil Est

I was actually rather pumped to write this review, and then I realized I was accidentally spinning What Hell Is About. Frankly, all this tells us is that Dagoba have progressed virtually nowhere with their sound since 2006. The debut was a rather anomalous little snapshot of post-Pantera grooves precariously undergirded by some admittedly arbitrary, yet endearing keyboards and the occasional cleaner chorus. It seems like the band found their sound afterward, and despite some serious production issues on Face the Colossus (not getting into that here), these Frenchmen definitely earned some credibility, eventually culminating to what we have now.

If Post Mortem Nihil Est does anything though, it makes me miss original guitarist Izakar, who had a more appealing, comprehensive grasp on the jouncing carom integral to this approach. So in steps Terzibachian, a player whose style is entrenched much closer to stale modern death metal, and honestly it hurts the lasting power quite a bit. The band is still pushing the cinematic scope they began tinkering with on Face the Colossus, and the keyboards are ratcheted up even further in the mix. I wish I could say this results in a good listen, but the marriage of the low-end grind of Terzibachian's riffs with the epic slant granted by Oymyakon's orchestrations just sounds a bit stock. The keyboards themselves are more than passable, serving as a more organic take on the Fear Factory worship of the first two records. I still prefer the more synthetic touch for these guys, but this proves that there is at least something going on within these murky depths.

At any rate, one of the only true exceptions to this deflating trend is "The Great Wonder," which rocks quite hard and was a no-brainer for the requisite music video. There is a decent drive to the verses, and the chorus is quite memorable. The rest is so piecemeal it hurts. "The Realm Black" is rather overlong and meandering, but ends on a very interesting note as some cleaner tones mix with and experiment of major key note progressions. It stands out because on the whole, Post Mortem Nihil Est is one of the band's darkest efforts. There are also occasional nerve grinders like "Yes We Die," which manages to rack of a decent body count. This song also has one of Oymyakon's greatest efforts vocally, as the chorus is stickier than it has any right to be. This and "The Great Wonder" are pretty fucking good, and would easily make a "Best of" list if I was drafted to compile one.

The more streamlined, death metal aesthetics work in isolation, like the tremolo-underpinned attack of "Kiss Me Kraken" and maybe "Oblivion Is for the Living" - both being competent yet been there, done that in their exasperated vexation. I'm also not really feeling the atmosphere on this one, which fails to match both the narrative allure of Poseidon and the more club-accessible conviction of What Hell Is About. The overall performance contains both zeal and aggression, but is lacking in conviction and persuasion. It is almost like Izakar's departure forced the band back to the drawing board against their better judgement, and through this something was lost.

Credit where it is due, Post Mortem Nihil Est is still passable and from a certain point of view, a fair listen considering the aforementioned affairs. Dagoba's vision is still recognizable, and I'm sure this will still sell like hotcakes to the right crowd. Despite all of this, they can definitely do better, banging out what is now three records in a row that are more or less interchangeable from a memorability standpoint. Maybe they should commit to a full paradigm shift with Terzibachian's guitar gymnastics at the helm, instead of the obviously suppressed performance he delivers here. I still recommend Post Mortem Nihil Est to fans of groove/death feeling somewhat adventurous and intrepid, but don't listen to this one without also checking out What Hell Is About. Not their finest hour.

Officially, the French band Dagoba is classified as groove or industrial metal but the four guys from Marseille also have a clear melodic death metal and metalcore touch. For the purists that might now be discouraged, I can assure you that this band is definitely atmospheric and heavy enough to be relevant for those who don’t know or like the genre. This band has nothing to do with the predictable song structures of Rammstein and Company or the worn-out signature riffs by Pantera and their followers. Dagoba plays in its very own league and their new record "Post Mortem Nihil Est" which means "There is nothing after death" in Latin proves this fact again and should even convince those who were still in doubt about it.

The mixture of brutal riffs and a constant dark atmosphere that is almost cinematic at certain points meets a few experimental ideas in form of acoustic guitars and symphonic samples. The vocals show also an increased quality. The melodic parts are catchier and more harmonic than ever and the dirtier parts simply take no prisoners. Brutal neck breakers meet more thought out song structures on this release that has no obvious album highlight but no filler as well. It’s the kind of grower record that sounds good at first try and only keeps getting better if you really take your time to discover many of the detailed tracks on this album.

The band’s fifth record is a continuation of what they have done before but they sound more flexible and more mature than ever. Old fans should adore this release and potential new fans should start right here with this record to discover the most relevant French metal band of the last decade along with Gojira and The Old Dead Tree.

Originally written for The Metal Observer