Kénôse

Deathspell Omega is 100% form and 0% content. This has all the flashy surface-decorators: slow/fast, soft/LOUD, and harmonic dissonance/melodic consonance contrasts. These are employed without any artistic purpose behind the techniques. The chords are complex and weird, only for the sake of sounding different - and they sound like a joke. Instead of creating any distorted or frightening atmosphere, which might be expected from the way the band is marketed, the chords sound ironically happy. In an attempt to conceal the internal artistic void, they make the surface aesthetic very chaotic, with disjointed technical riffs and dissonant arpeggios all over the place. This is really like any other tech death, except that it has a different imagery and the slow, quiet parts to ensure the fanboys that it is something "innovative" and "deep." (To the dimwits who claim this is "black metal": there is only one black metal riff on the EP - the one that opens the third song.) The production is, of course, polished and sterile, since that would further differentiate the band from real black metal, increasing the hipster appeal. If Xasthur is emo, then Deathspell Omega is indie. In fact, we could get rid of the "if" part without sacrificing much accuracy. Xasthur is emo. Deathspell Omega is indie. If this is pushing the sonic and intellectual envelopes of black metal, then Metallica's self-titled pushed the sonic and intellectual envelopes of thrash metal.