Band:	Déhà
Album:	Decadanse
Style:	Industrial black metal, Avantgarde death metal
Release date:	March 18, 2022
A review by:	Netzach

01. The Devil's Science
02. I Am The Dead

You like blackened doom? You like hard trance? You like meth*? Déhà’s got you covered. *Sold separately.

“I awake in this place, in a state of no return / I awake, and promise I will not be kind”

Awake. Awake to another day. Awake to another day with a broken mind in a broken body in a broken world. Brace, and embrace another day of being watched, judged, ridiculed, excluded, betrayed, and abandoned. Get on your feet, and meet another day of being hit, bit, spit on, shit on, kicked down, then stomped on. Unwind your mind; another day of being scarred, raped, traumatised, and broken, broken, broken. There is nobody to help you. You don’t even need help. All is as it is supposed to be, for this is all you have ever known. “You look fucking weak, fucking weak, fucking weak, fucking weak”, and this is the natural order of things. You lost before the game began. You should have read the rules. This is all on you. You deserve this. “You can call every god, but you won’t be answered / You can call every god, but you know it’s absurd”. In time, you will learn. You will learn to reject these false people, false truths, false hopes, false faith, and this false world. You will rewind, reminisce, remember, and learn their rules. You will maintain, methodise, memorise, and make your own rules. You will learn to dance the Decadanse.

Well, that was uncomfortably therapeutic. Sounds relatable? That’s not very good, now, is it? Sure ain’t, but at least, it means you’ll be able to connect to these soundscapes conjured from the headspace of extremely prolific Belgian multi-instrumentalist and producer Déhà. Now, Déhà has been involved in all manner of projects, such as Clouds, Wolvennest and Cult Of Erinyes, has produced many more albums for other bands, and has a stunningly extensive solo discography considering this project was started in 2019. Severe mental illness is not a requirement to enjoy these two psychotically intense, chorally catchy, and depravedly danceable tunes released on Les Acteurs de L'Ombre Productions, however; all it takes is some appreciation for the darker arts.

A slow, industrial doom riff repeats for about six minutes, backed by howling, growling, and ominous piano, as the English and French lyrics lament being forsaken by God and the world. Then, like a neurotic break, “The Devil’s Science” erupts into a tornado of smattering, dissonant black metal, and the lyrics turn into Devil worship as if it were the only potential source of willpower left to seek. Not the technical, progressive Deathspell Omega kind, but the industrial, electronic Darkspace kind, only, angrier, louder, intenser; on meth. Sort of like a missing link between Decoherence, The Ruins Of Beverast, and Bríi. Yes, halfway through the first song, Decadanse lives up to its name and drops the metal for a straight, punchy trance beat with hypnotic synth arpeggios. Only for a short while, however, until the rollercoaster of black and doom sections returns. Not being short on surprises, the latter half of the twenty-plus-minute long “The Devil’s Science” throws crusty death riffs and ritualistic chanting into the mix, before once more dropping into a trance beat, slowly fading out to imply that this cerebral rave will go on forever.

Hopefully, I’ve properly expressed my opinion that “The Devil’s Science” is one hell of a song. There are twenty more minutes of the album to go, however, and they consist of another song of equal runtime. Should you be worried? “I Am The Dead” starts out much like the previous song, with dirging doom and gloom, and goes on like this for a few minutes. Is it time to be worried yet? Not particularly; though the first half of the album sounds a bit more inspired, and while the second half is basically more of the same, “I Am The Dead” goes for a more rhythmic style that eventually goes all-in on the voodoo ritualism with repeated chants shouting the Hindu prayer to the goddess of time, creation, and destruction: “Om Kali, Kali! Om Kali, Kali! Namostute, namostute, namo!” An especially catchy synth hook shows up at times.

I’d accuse the second song, and thus the entire album, of going on for a bit too long. That is, if I’d wanted it to stop. You should know by now; it never stops, it never ends, and there is no rhyme or reason to it. It is just the way it is. You are a broken being in an evil world, so all you can do is to play by their sickening rules until you learn how to twist them to your will. There is nothing else. There is nothing at all. This is all you have ever known. Now, dance with me. Dance the Decadanse.

“Ressens-la, la volonté de tabasser ton prochain / Ressens-la, l'anarchie qui engloutit tes pensées
Ressens-le, le patriarche éternel dans tes veines / Ressens-le, le diable au corps, le diable au corps”
(Feel it, the will to beat your neighbour / Feel it, the anarchy engulfing your thoughts
Feel him, the eternal patriarch in your veins / Feel him, the devil in your body, the devil in your body)