Dysangelist

So this is the long delayed debut full-length album by the Cypriote band Dictator. Two demos have already been released and especially the second one was able to cause some stir in the underground. It was not only the exotic status, which the band is certainly able to claim for them, but further was the art of a kind which provided a new spotlight on the funeral doom genre. Minimalism was still there, but the atmosphere was intense and dark; created by the vocals and their place in the art. So, where is this band taking the listener with this release?

The path leads down into the depths of the genre again, into some hellish corridor in which a pandemonium and terror torments the souls. A lot of layers is what the listener is confronted with; distorted vocals and guitars; excessive repetition of motives; solo elements by the guitars and the keyboards; generally a rather slow tempo; spoken passages, screams, murmurs (?); some drums in the background but their play is quite minimalist and has (often) little impact on the music; this would be the approach offered by the Cypriote band. Four compositions and with each having more than fifteen minutes in length, it should be obvious that the listener has to go through something until the end is finally reached.

In comparison with a lot of art from the depressive/black doom/funeral subgenres, the performance by Dictator focussed on a voluminous sound, with texture like elements in the background and powerful guitars in the foreground. This is quite well done because the band is able to create a fascinating atmosphere (now and then) and even though the overall approach is still minimalist and motives are repeated excessively, the production/mix are at least able to compensate something of this. Yet, minimalism may be the wrong word because the band try to 'overshadow' this aspect by using a good deal of elements at a time; which makes the music somehow chaotic now and then, as it is hard to concentrate on the flow of the music without being distracted about what is going on in the background.

Speaking of flow, there is some sort of a pattern in the compositions of Dictator. Even though the overall approach of slow played black metal is kept, additional solo elements by the guitars appear now and then respectively the keyboards (or piano?) attempts to distract the listener with the darkness which surrounds this release. A good and well crafted counter-point to the overall progression of the music and it is not very surprising that these facets easily draw attention towards them.

Beethoven once said that death could be expressed through a pause, see Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, but such is not considered by Dictator. Instead, the music offers no relief, just an endless wankering about how miserable life can be, through how much the listener or any other person has to go through and to what extent the pains and burdens can be brought. There is never anything which would give the listener some amount of breath, some room to let the thoughts flow of what the band has just attempted to create. The variation of tempo (here: minuscule) and motives alone are not enough to create a convincing work on this full-length, while the overall approach is too shallow to fascinate over a longer period of time. Nortt, to name one other example, had realized this several years ago and offered with Evig Hvile on their Gudsforladt release a composition, which would provide the listener with a really dark and disturbing atmosphere; something, this Cypriote band is miles away from.

Beyond this already graven flaw in the concept of the band, some further one have to be emphasized and in terms of the impact it is the most serious one. Dictator did simply a very bad job on this release and the reasons for this lie in the song-writing. The first three songs offer the same set of elements, just with different timings, but they appear again, which makes Dysangelist hardly palatable. Several years have been spent on composing this album and then nothing more than a 'two-song-approach' can be offered? Is this everything the band is capable of? Where is the depth in the art? What is the contribution of this release to the overall progression of the scene? Already too much repetition exists in the art of similar bands and it is annoying to hear that even over a course of several years such fallacies cannot be avoided or overcome. Yes, the interest of the listener is sparked now and then -- some nice motives in the track Dysangelist and in Monolithos --, but they do not persist; in the case of the latter one, the question should be allowed, why the band did not even attempt to use the very dark and haunting atmosphere from the beginning -- heavily influenced by Nortt, hear their Tilforn Tid from Ligfærd -- and composed the rest around it? A good attempt was ruined by the inability of Dictator to vary the dynamics, the tempo and the song-writing. It is somehow ridiculous how the band returns again and again to their peculiar style... a style in which the band is not even able to offer a convincing case.

To give the band an advice: ne quid nimis! Well, I expect to be see the praises of Dictator's first full-length by the legions of empty-headed fan boys soon after this review was posted, but this is a bite back that actually appears on a broader scale; they are the dissonance in the front, through with it is necessary to fight through in order to get a broader view on the real issues. Interestingly though, the perceptions of this release are mixed, judging by the reviews on several sites in the internet and I stick with the bashings and the reasons have been discussed above. Ne quid nimis!, you want to scream it in the face any of those depressive black metal bands and even to some of those funeral doom ones, whose path has lead them into the ambient regions. Ne quid nimis!, this is the flaw which hangs like a burden over this release and it proves so neatly the shallowness in the concept, the abundance of monotony and the reluctance of the band to proceed to this kind of art from a broader viewpoint. Ne quid nimis! means not anything in excess and Dictator have overdone it in some respect. Just for the fun of it: listen to Norrt's Ligfærd for instance and compare the amount of different facets and impressions offered there. Yes, they play in a different league, but their art is not far off from each other, so a comparison is of some interest and valid. Bands should play with the listener, offer this person something new in each composition, play with the motives and ideas and do surprising things. None of this can be found on Dictator's Dysangelist. Rather the contrary is the case and this makes this album so extremely hard to endure.

Recommended tracks: Phantom Cenotaphium (partially; without the intro and without the outro)