DimaeneonSurprisingly, this is Dimaeon’s first full album in their eleven years of existence. The cv so far from these prolific live performers from The Netherlands shows that they have previously released two eps, taken part in a split “Frisian Metal Massacre volume 1” and participated in a live dvd/video last year. I had heard a lot about this band, and was lucky enough to see them play their progressively-orientated brand of death metal at ProgPower Europe and rightly receive universal praise for their performance.

This album is noteworthy first of all for its length at 72 minutes. A case of making up for lost recorded time, maybe? When you’re dealing with the accumulated effect over time of human activities on the earth’s ecosystems, which is as I understand it what the “Anthropocene” is, then it’s a big subject. More importantly on a musical level “Collapse of the Anthropocene” is testimony to the band’s skill and accumulated experience. After the live show, I’d expected rampant death metal with dark progressive sections, and to some extent this is what we get, but it’s much broader than that. This band’s ability to build up tension and drag the listener in with fluent build-ups and changeovers is second to none. The first of the nine hefty chunks “The Blood of Millions” provides a spooky little opening but it’s not cast off as a stand-alone intro. Far from it. I sensed that something was going to happen and it does. The power builds up and the winds blow. The scene is dramatic. There is a crescendo of black metal blasts and controlled sound. The death metal which then ensues has the melody and progressiveness of Opeth, enhanced significantly by the vocalist’s crisp growls. What I really liked about “The Blood of Millions” and indeed what follows is the way in which the band takes their time. Without question this results in greater impact, and in an album which ebbs and flows between dark, heavy, subtle and mellow moments, this is very important.

It’s not in the nature of Dimaeon to let loose and stay in one place. “Dark Century” is musically lush and melancholic, mixing acoustic and deep metal guitar moments with suitably mournful vocals to reflect the theme. Then like a change of British or Dutch weather, the scene changes and seamlessly builds up into twisting and turning progressive death metal as “Subterraneous” gets under way. Here again I draw comparison to Opeth in the way that Dimaeon build up their atmospheres through the medium of death metal. This is an exciting journey, and I found myself gripped by all the developments and movements, so much so that the next time I checked we were already on the sixth track “Black Dawn”. A lot of ground is covered in between, and I appreciated the exotic touches. “Black Dawn” typifies this album with its continuity and flow. The growls are supreme but so are the technical touches and movement. Just as I summed up this track as “lively” in my mind, it quietens down and a darkly sinister passage develops, interestingly presented with a Latin-guitar style. Soft, mellow touches blend seamlessly into monstrous death metal. Another flowing passage transforms into moody depth. “GlassMountain” takes forward the epic theme. It is calm and measured but laced with solid rhythm and death. Death metal is, as you may have worked out, not an end in itself on this album. Indeed there is a combination of moods, and there are always delightful little surprises round the corner. “GlassMountain” features a section with soft, folk-pagan touches before the ante is stepped up as “Regolith” begins. It’s the perfect foil for “GlassMountain” as driving ferocity and a technical riff provide the energy boost. The track is hard-hitting, pagan, technical and anguished but I have to say that I found it a difficult track, and as my mind tried to get round it, the flow was overtaken by a sense of anti-climax. Yet the switch to a mellow section was superb. Dimaeon know how to create gripping developments which emerge as if the ground opens up.

The stage is set for the fifteen minute title track. “A hell of a ride” was how it was introduced at ProgPower. This is an apt description of any Dimaeon track. You just don’t leave the room when you’re listening to this stuff. The track “Collapse of the Anthropocene” starts off in slower and shadowy fashion, but expands into passages of great drama before slowing down for reflection. The guitar passages take us into another world. I felt something deep and dangerous. That Latin-style guitar emerges and blends into a groove-laden and colourful section. It’s exhausting but magnificent in its power. All that remains is the ending, and Dimaeon finish off this epic work in mellow and dramatic style. There’s been a lot to digest here but the book is closed nicely, leaving this listener with a sense of glowing satisfaction each time.

I could listen to “Collapse of the Anthropocene” over and over and keep finding subtleties and delights. In fact there lies one of the very minor sources of criticism I would have of it: flowing as it is, I found that sometimes the incidental passages could be more enthralling than the core. Maybe as a function of the album’s length, I found that the riff patterns re-cycled themselves and could be similar in pace and sound. Whilst familiarity is a good “hook”, I had a nagging sense of repetitiveness at times.  For excitement and intrigue, the magic comes from the progressive developments. The break-outs are supremely handled. The style of this album reminded me a lot of Opeth, but in a positive way. “Collapse of the Anthropocene” is a gripping album to listen to. The movements and developments are interesting and fluidly executed. Technically it is outstanding and sophisticated. The Anthropocene is a big subject and this is a big album. This is a complete experience.

(8.5/10 Andrew Doherty)

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