Diktat

Diktat is a pretty underground act that I'd never heard of until now. I suppose the short lifespan of the group and only a couple of limited demo releases aren't going to set the ground ablaze, but this was an absolute swine to find a way to hear. Even on Discogs, there's numerous copies virtually being given away, heralding a very bad feeling about this project. I picked one up though, as like I said, I need to hear it to review it.

This five-piece from Paris are another brutal death band, founded in 1997 and apparently still active today, despite not airing new material in sixteen years. Logic suggests that they'd use this time to come back and figure out a better way to promote themselves. "Demo I" is a generous offering of five songs, asking the listener to give up slightly less than twenty minutes of their time - a reasonable request if you ask me.

The immediately noticeable facet to this demo is the "production", if you can call it that. It's extremely raw and necro, making the demo from Amorphis sound polished and layered. The music is audible, but it's a stretch and requires full undivided active listening to make out what's going on. This particular recording puts the drums towards the bottom end of the mix, leaving the cavernous gutturals and Buzzsaw guitars to make out the majority of the goings-on.

There are clear attempts at technicality and musicianship, although they feel somewhat fumbled and over-used. The second track "Self-Prostitution of Psyche's Organ" is littered with drum fills, variations, and shifts, although there's at least one or two bad hits and bum notes during the intro. I can forgive this for the first attempt of the band, especially for a composition clearly intended to be advanced. This track is actually really fun though; it has a mini bass-solo, a couple of guitar solos, and I am certain the drummer has just taken ketamine.

I don't feel that the necrotic production is particularly difficult to digest for too long, as it does seem to get a little clearer as we progress. On "Close to the End the vocals feel more "In the room", but the instrumentation still has that "through a thin wall" sound to it. There's clear aim to emulate at the highest standard as well - the drummer so clearly wants to be Flo from Cryptopsy. If I were feeling more benevolent than I currently am, I wouldn't feel wrong in saying that this ambition could be obtained with more effort on the production - it certainly sounds promising, but It's the same as saying you've seen a band live if you spent the entire time at the bar in the next room.

The Summary

Ultimately, Diktat have something that doesn't cause me to nope out in morbid disappointment. I am able to sit through this, and the skill of the troupe is undeniable. There are errors in composition, and as I alluded to numerous times, it sounds like dogshit. But underneath it is a relatively nice field. There's a second demo I will probably try to cover at some point in time, and I expect it won't be terrible either. But there's a real part of me that wonders what could have been if there was a full-length, or even a proper EP.

Maybe they will somehow read this and grant my wishes.