Dissection - Reinkaos

This review comes courtesy of Steve Cannon at Vibrations Of Doom Magazine.


DISSECTION "Reinkaos" (The End Records)




01. Nexion 218
02. Beyond The Horizon
03. Starless Aeon
04. Black Dragon
05. Dark Mother Divine
06. Xeper-I-Set
07. Chaosophia
08. God Of Forbidden Light
09. Reinkaos
10. Internal Fire
11. Maha Kali


It's been a wait of nearly 11 years for one of death/black metal's legends and pioneers, and if you're expecting a "return to form" of "Storm Of The Light's Bane" or "The Somberlain," then you might not be able to appreciate fully what Nodtveidt and company have done, however this album is vicious enough that even the diehards shouldn't be dissapointed.

Afetr a nice acoustic intro which leads one to heavier instrumentation, the opening "song" 'Beyond The Horizon' kicks in, and the cleaner production values and more easily understood instrumentation and lyrics becomes obvious. This ain't no "grim 'n' necro" production folks. This IS the Y2K era! The vocals remind me a bit of the blackened style of Immortal via "Sons Of Northern Darkness" and this album might be seen as one that ranks up there as one of the top black metal albums of the year. Dissection touts the "anti cosmic metal of death" quite well, so there's some astral and otherworldly themes going on, especially on a track like 'Black Dragon' and 'Xeper-I-Set' (didn't Vader have a song dealing with this mystical of language?)

There's a bit of multi vocal work on choruses, but it's all harsh blackened vocals, with some choppy and thrashy guitar work thrown in. Add some melodic high ended lead work on 'Starless Aeon' and Dissection has definitely matured way beyond their peers, many of which are trying desperately to climb out of the dark deep abyssal pit of overtly overused distortion and dungeon wall like muffling of the overall production and sound. You'll even find yourself singing choruses to several songs, as they are indeed quite catchy ('Starless Aeon' and 'Maha Kali' spring to mind.) Lyric wise, however, there's still plenty of venom and bite, especially the track 'Dark Mother Divine,' which espouses Satan's mistress, and of course 'God Of Forbidden Light' relates to the "true" lightbringer, for those of dark alignment. I'm quite impressed that for all the melody and acoustical interludes, the vocal work NEVER deviates from the sick blackened chaos which we all love.

For those worshipping at the altar of old Gorgoroth, Darkthrone, Mayhem and, say, ancient Satyricon, at least try to be open minded about the cleanliness of sound and style. For the rest of us, who still love those bands that dare to add melodic and intricate lead solos to vicious and crushing black slash death metal, this is the album that will probably solidify Dissection as the reborn kings of black metal (since Immortal unfortunately decided to abdicate the throne).