In Death We Meet

Death/doom is a tricky one to pin down. Is it just death metal played slow? Or is it a different subgenre entirely? There’s probably too many variations to define it with any certainty. Doom metal proper aside, the tag is often something that happens to other genres, creating doomy versions of themselves. This spans death and black metal, heavy/power metal, and traditional proto metal stylings and beyond. So broad is this base, that pinning doom down to a specific definition beyond slower versions of other genres can become futile. Unlike self-identified doom metal, death/doom is seen as a variant on death metal first and foremost; wedded to doom metal only at the aesthetic level.

Derketa originally formed back in 1988 but after one EP and a couple of demos they failed to get off the ground. This early material is now available on the ‘Goddess of Death’ (2003) compilation released on Necroharmonic Productions. Output remained limited after reforming in 1999. But then in 2012 came the full length ‘In Death We Meet’, which finally consolidated the sound of Sharon Bascovsky and the gang into the LP format.

The guitars are the dominant force here. Plodding their way through simple unresolved tritones which usually open the track, before the augmentation of a slow tremolo strummed riff gives the illusion of picking up the tempo, whilst drums linger at the same tempo. Drums follow the guitars in their emphasis, but focus on keeping the pace relatively stable. The snare is tinny, but the bass has enough power to lend much needed depth in the absence of clearly audible bass (it’s there if you listen for it). Vocals are guttural yet clear, lending menace to otherwise generic lyrics.

Despite all the hallmarks of death metal, right down to double bass, this music rarely picks up the tempo beyond a hundred bpm or so, which makes it completely reliant on solid riffage to get by. And whilst there is plenty of this going, they all rely on a very similar formula, with each track following roughly the same formula and blueprint. Derketa are capable of building tension and energy to their music without resorting to speed thrills, rare in death/doom (even Cianide picked up the pace at times). They do this through compressing contrasting riffs into fewer bars without changing tempo, with busy drums delivering a sense of chaos beneath. Additional layering of melodies aids this process.

However, taken as a whole this is a solidly average work, with no weak moment but no outstanding moments either. The reason for this is lack of risk. All the components are expertly placed and executed within the music, but they are all very familiar by 2012. This album could have been released in 1992 and barely raise an eyebrow. I would still recommend it for fans of the style, especially given its historical value as the first LP from an old school artist. But so far further development has failed to grow out of this promising soil.

‘In Death we Meet’ is a fine slab of solid death doom metal, one that is well disciplined and thought through. But it lacks that burst of life which usually stems from additional structural tweaking to lend colour to the ‘main event’ riffs. As a result it does not get beyond the stage of being interesting to academics and historians, but not appealing to the general public.

Originally published at Hate Meditations