- Feb 28, 2006
- 203
- 0
- 16
He's got 8 fucking years to think up riffs, and THIS is the best he can come up with?
There's a lot to be said for letting bygones be bygones; this album is just one of the many living testaments for that idea. Dissection's first album in more than ten years, written and arranged, presumably, over the duration of frontman Jon Nodveidt's eight-year prison term for his accessory role in the murder of an Algerian immigrant in Sweden, is an artistic flop, and likely to be a commercial one as well.
Reinkaos isn't what could be called a 'reunion' album, since this is really Nodveidt with a brand new lineup behind him. And that's all well and good, because reunion albums always carry the taint of insincerity. But I really almost wish this was a reunion album, because any attempt to recapture the classic Dissection sound would be preferable to the music that appears on this disc. Nodveidt's writing style has most definitely changed - in the worst way possible.
What made Dissection such an appealing band for so many metal fans with its first two albums, The Somberlain [1993] and Storm Of The Light's Bane [1995] was that they maintained a delicate balance between extremity and accessibility. They achieved this balance by blending some very refined melodies in with the chaotic aesthetic of black metal. No more of that on this album. Dissection's calling card - the vast, sweeping, dynamic arrangements that so beautifully captured the dark and desolate content of their lyrics is gone without even a trace on this album. Instead it's been replaced by a collection of very safe, insipid death rock riffs that seem totally drained of all energy.
It's not simply speed that's lacking on this album - it's texture and personality. The intro, 'Nexion 218' contains the closest thing to an exciting riff on this album, and that's absolutely pathetic. The first proper song, 'Beyond The Horizon,' is pretty much the pace-setter for the remainder of the disc, rife with uninspired riffing that's based mainly around chunky chords. I guess the thinking on Nodveidt's part was that some of the less common chord intervals being played could establish some sort of foreboding atmosphere, but the guitar tone [way too much compression] and production values [zero reverb, zero density] aren't exactly conducive to this. It should also be noted that the trem-picked melodies that was so vital to the first two albums is completely absent from Reinkaos... no blastbeats on this record, either.
The closest thing to a highlight on this album is the short song 'Xeper-I-Set', which was made available for download well before the disc's release. It's the fastest and most energetic song on this album... which is really quite sad, because it's still pretty drab by extreme metal standards. The most lamentable thing about all of this was that when 'Xeper-I-Set' and 'Starless Aeon' were first offered for download, the optimistic consensus was that these teasers represented the weaker points on the album, and that the remainder would be far better, and closer to the classic Dissection sound... when in fact, these two songs are probably the best on Reinkaos. This isn't just a letdown - it's an absolute embarassment.
There's a lot to be said for letting bygones be bygones; this album is just one of the many living testaments for that idea. Dissection's first album in more than ten years, written and arranged, presumably, over the duration of frontman Jon Nodveidt's eight-year prison term for his accessory role in the murder of an Algerian immigrant in Sweden, is an artistic flop, and likely to be a commercial one as well.
Reinkaos isn't what could be called a 'reunion' album, since this is really Nodveidt with a brand new lineup behind him. And that's all well and good, because reunion albums always carry the taint of insincerity. But I really almost wish this was a reunion album, because any attempt to recapture the classic Dissection sound would be preferable to the music that appears on this disc. Nodveidt's writing style has most definitely changed - in the worst way possible.
What made Dissection such an appealing band for so many metal fans with its first two albums, The Somberlain [1993] and Storm Of The Light's Bane [1995] was that they maintained a delicate balance between extremity and accessibility. They achieved this balance by blending some very refined melodies in with the chaotic aesthetic of black metal. No more of that on this album. Dissection's calling card - the vast, sweeping, dynamic arrangements that so beautifully captured the dark and desolate content of their lyrics is gone without even a trace on this album. Instead it's been replaced by a collection of very safe, insipid death rock riffs that seem totally drained of all energy.
It's not simply speed that's lacking on this album - it's texture and personality. The intro, 'Nexion 218' contains the closest thing to an exciting riff on this album, and that's absolutely pathetic. The first proper song, 'Beyond The Horizon,' is pretty much the pace-setter for the remainder of the disc, rife with uninspired riffing that's based mainly around chunky chords. I guess the thinking on Nodveidt's part was that some of the less common chord intervals being played could establish some sort of foreboding atmosphere, but the guitar tone [way too much compression] and production values [zero reverb, zero density] aren't exactly conducive to this. It should also be noted that the trem-picked melodies that was so vital to the first two albums is completely absent from Reinkaos... no blastbeats on this record, either.
The closest thing to a highlight on this album is the short song 'Xeper-I-Set', which was made available for download well before the disc's release. It's the fastest and most energetic song on this album... which is really quite sad, because it's still pretty drab by extreme metal standards. The most lamentable thing about all of this was that when 'Xeper-I-Set' and 'Starless Aeon' were first offered for download, the optimistic consensus was that these teasers represented the weaker points on the album, and that the remainder would be far better, and closer to the classic Dissection sound... when in fact, these two songs are probably the best on Reinkaos. This isn't just a letdown - it's an absolute embarassment.
