Dissection emerged as the top Swedish black metal act in the early 90’s: they released two excellent albums, 1993’s
The Somberlain and 95’s
Storm of The Light’s Bane. Sadly, internal strife and creative differences lead to the band effectively splitting in 97. Frontman and songwriter Jon Nodveidt’s conviction for murder in 1998 compounded the problem. Following Nodveidt’s release from prison in 2004 he assembled a new group of musicians—reforming the classic line up was out of the question as the former guitarist had testified against Nodveidt during his trial—and took them out on tour under the banner
The Rebirth of Dissection, playing classic Dissection tracks. Upon completion of this tour, which took in most of Europe and was very well received, the band recorded the album that Nodveidt had written while in prison.
Dissection were set apart from the other Scandinavian metal of the time due to their unique harmonies and sense of melody that they blended with the extreme sound to create their own black/death/thrash crossover sound, and the question on the release of Reinkaos was whether they could recapture that unique sound after years of inactivity.
The answer is a resounding “sort of”! The harmonies and melodies are still there and are still effortlessly blended with the more extreme elements of their sound, but the black metal base is gone, replaced by a for more accessible Gothenburg style sound, leaving this album sounding more like Arch Enemy or Witchery than classic Dissection or Emperor.
Not to say that this is a bad thing; while the sound is no longer unique it is a very well written and produced album. The guitar parts are amongst the best Dissection or any other melodic extreme metal band have ever put out, and the vocals are delivered flawlessly and with terrifying conviction, making it easily Nodveidt’s finest effort behind the mic.
Despite the shift towards a more commercial sound, highlighted by the recent success of other Swedish bands like Arch Enemy and In Flames, to call this album a cash-in would be foolish in the extreme. The album is lyrically focussed on Nodveidt’s obscure Satanic beliefs and other Satanic mythology. As singer and writer Nodveidt is keen to point out “the new lyrics for the next album are all written as direct invocations and evocations to the gods of darkness, and are based around satanic formulas that have been charged within the Anti-cosmic/Satanic tradition”.
Such extreme views delivered with such conviction leave the listener slightly uneasy and help to bring back the extreme element of Dissection that may have been lost in the more polished production.
Stand out tracks include
Maha Kali, reworked from the original single release from 2004,
Starless Aeon,
Black Dragon and
God of Forbidden Light, all of which demonstrate the gift for harmonies that propelled Dissection into the spotlight over a decade ago.
Older fans may be put off by the significant change in direction away from the traditional Black Metal sound and many potential new fans may find it hard to get past the extreme religious messages that are put forth by the band. This sort of exposure may limit the commercial success of this record, (along with the band’s stance on not talking to the media coupled with lack of touring), which would be a shame as despite the band’s extreme and strange views, and even more extreme past actions, this is a very, very good Gothenburg-style metal album. A worthy addition to the collection of any fan of melodic death metal and an interesting yet accessible purchase for those new to the extreme metal scene.
Reinkaos was released by Black Horizons Music on April 30th 2006. Check out Dissection at
www.dissection.nu and
www.myspace.com/dissection
