Deathspell Omega - The Furnaces Of Palingenesia - review
Deathspell Omega - The Furnaces Of Palingenesia - review
Band
Deathspell Omega Release date
May 24, 2019 Tracklist
01. Neither Meaning Nor Justice02. The Fires Of Frustration
03. Ad Arma! Ad Arma!
04. Splinters From Your Mother's Spine
05. Imitatio Dei
06. 1523
07. Sacrificial Theopathy
08. Standing On The Work Of Slaves
09. Renegade Ashes
10. Absolutist Regeneration
11. You Cannot Even Find The Ruins...
A review by
Auntie Sahar September 17, 2019
After my first listen to The Furnaces Of Palingenesia, back at the tail end of May, I remember my first impression almost being one of relief at the fact that this album isn't as crowded with relentless, uptempo blasting as was the band's last. Indeed, being one who believes Deathspell Omega are at their best during their slower, more experimental passages, this was quite the treat. The Furnaces Of Palingenesia, much to my delight, is chock full of midtempo, rhythmic, and somewhat hypnotizing tracks (such as the opening "Neither Meaning Nor Justice" or "Standing On The Work Of Slaves"), which also tend to feature a pleasantly audible bass as well as that trademark dissonant guitar tone that many other black metal bands have long since exploited, but which Deathspell Omega were a pioneer of. This is not to say, however, that DsO's uptempo aggression has been compromised here; it's merely better spaced out with the more relaxed slower sections, resulting in an album that is quite well paced in its composition and allows for a greater range of emotions than did its predecessor.
A review of a Deathspell Omega album would be almost lacking without an address of the lyrical topics at hand, a dimension of the band that has often drawn just as much attention as their music, if not perhaps more. Here DsO have drawn a good bit of controversy this time around for the perceived fascist leaning of the lyrics on The Furnaces (or at the very least of vocalist Mikko Aspa). With lyrics such as:
"The hand dispensing salvific murder is absolved of responsibility, for it is the expression of a common will, the sacrosanct will of the Just. The Just, those righteous few that rose from the catacombs, view the world in Manichean terms: there is only the purity of love and the purity of hate. That which lies in between is a mud made of the ashes of yesterday's humanity and the fetid fluids of compromise."
as well as others of a similar nature, it is understandably easy (and perhaps even a tad lazy) to throw out the "racist" or "fascist" tags as proverbial red flags to others and take the morally righteous high road by refusing to interact with or support the material of Deathspell Omega in any way. It is my belief, however, that this is ultimately an issue upon which one may wish to read the word of the band themselves before formulating any final judgments.
The Furnaces Of Palingenesia is, in my book, probably the best and most dynamic Deathspell Omega album since Fas. While that may seem like a big statement, neither Paracletus, the Drought EP, nor The Synarchy Of Molten Bones quite grabbed me as much as it currently does. I think the feeling of greater memorability and attachment with this album does indeed very much come down to it lightening the burden a little bit with less of the ferocious, dadadadadada approach while also managing to better space out that approach with more of the hypnotizing, plodding sections. The result? A highlight of the Deathspell Omega discography that once again shows they can stand on high and smoke the rest of their contemporary emulators, and an album that will likely top many year end lists for 2019. Certainly not without reason.
The King hath returned to the throne. All hail.
Written by Auntie Sahar | September 17, 2019
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Posts: 1086
Nice review. Yet I don't see exactly what's racist in those lyrics. Seems to me like something that a pretentious hipster would say. Meaningless shenanigans to impress and woo the gullible sheep. Then again can't blame myself for not recognizing it. At how misused the word 'racism' has been for the past decades, it has become real hard to recognize real racism without actually raising an eyebrow.
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Posts: 5989 Written by TheMAGAmvm on 17.09.2019 at 21:56 After studying the situation, by reviewing Mikko Aspa's NS ties, consulting that Bardo Methodology interview multiple times, and reading over teh album lyrics multiple times, I will say that, I believe that most peoples' negative reactions to this album and the allegations of racism and fascist sympathizing are indeed very unmerited. First of all, even if Mikko Aspa does have NS ties, he is not necessarily representative of the entirety of the band's lyrical inspiration and message, and they even make this point in the interview I attached here. Aspa =/= Deathspell Omega, and I don't think he even pens the lyrics either. Secondly, I believe most people making such allegations are doing so rather lazily without much consideration of what the band themselves have to say about it, which is something that's been bothering me a lot about the art culture of today: the tendency of people to act as if they know more about a work in question and its intent than do the artists who made the work themselves. It's an attitude you see quite a lot that strikes me as nothing but snobby and pompous. Lastly, in the wake of reading the Bardo Methodology interview along with the album lyrics again, I am very much getting the impression that they are intended to mock fascist ideology more than anything else. This is something that happens a lot in art, writers writing from the perspective of ideologies and belief systems outside of their own, and I feel as though listeners/readers ought to keep this perspective in mind. That's all I really have to say about it I guess. The interview really clears everything up in my book.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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Posts: 435
It's still growing on me, yet I'm leaning towards Paracletus as the better album. But Paracletus was also my first DsO album and the one I'm most familiar with. There have been quite a few releases in the past couple of months that have wowed me, so I haven't given their new one many repeated plays. It's in the back of my mind though.
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Posts: 1086 Written by Auntie Sahar on 17.09.2019 at 22:33 Can't deny anything you say. I haven't checked the interview, nor do I have any interest in checking it out. I don't really give 2 cents about what Mikko Aspa is and what he believes. If he is a neo-nazi, I would like for him to be in the spotlight for people to see (and mock), same as I do with commies. Suppressing people with totalitarian instincts on the long run will only legitimize their degenerate ideas and give them public credibility. Happened in the past all too many times. The little I checked, out of curiosity about him, was anti-white racists being angry that this guy, and DsO implicitly are racists (despite the fact that the other 2 members are not confirmed to be racists or nazi sympathizers). You know, those guys who cannot fathom that blacks or Asians can be racist as well and presume racism is a construct that belongs and is upheld by whites alone. The other group being all whiny were the hipsterian left. All of them have more in common than they believe. You may be right about them mocking fascist ideology. Those lyrics at least sound way too corny to actually glorify it. Too pretentious, almost self-parody-like.
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Posts: 5989 Written by Lord Slothrop on 18.09.2019 at 08:51 It's like that a lot sometimes, isn't it, with the first album you hear from a band being your favorite? Fas was the first Deathspell album I heard and is still probably my favorite actually, although this one is definitely serving as a close #2 favorite for me now. The slower passages are just delicious and exactly what I was looking for in a new DsO album.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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Posts: 29 |
Posts: 29
Apothecary, thank you for this review. It´s brave to write about DsO now, but it seems anyone to do that needs to justfy him/herself ( There´s no reviews of this album in "big" metal media sites and I agree with you about people it´s lazy and it´s not reading depply about all of this. Miko Aspa is an asshole, ok, but it´s a great extreme singer, one of the best right now in my opinion. Hasjalr work is so impressive...  :o:o Why is not EVERYBODY talking about him EVERYDAY  .As you said: "(DsO) smoke the rest of their contemporary emulators".
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Posts: 5989 Written by Gesualdo on 18.09.2019 at 19:49 He does indeed seem to be the brains behind the band. The interview I embedded here doesn't specify which Deathspell Omega member it was done with, but I think it's pretty safe to assume it's him. And that just makes me extra curious now to check out more of his work and what he's involved in because the answers to a lot of the questions there are quite intriguing and, frankly, I want to know more.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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