For all my metallic ramblings you would be forgiven in thinking that all I care about in the realms of extremity is Death Metal. This is certainly not the case, I love almost all genres of Metal and if we are looking towards the more extreme side then equally I have a deep love for Black Metal. Whilst the genre may not excite me in the same way that Death Metal does I still have a lot of time and love for it. In fact some of my earliest explorations into the more extreme came from the likes of Cradle Of Filth and Darkthrone.
Bursting forth from the Greek Black Metal scene come the almighty Dødsferd. Formed back in 2001 the band have quite a history and equally quite a fanbase. My first introduction to the band came from their debut in 2006 entitled Desecrating The Spirit Of Life. The bands misanthropic attitudes and aggressive outlet has been the source of their inspiration. I have closely followed this band enjoying the twists and turns they have taken. Now we come to 2018 and the release of the bands tenth full length album Diseased Remnants Of A Dying World. As such a landmark album can it further solidify Dødsferd’s place in the halls of Black Metal royalty?
Beginning the album is the beautifully written My Father, My Wrath! This track exudes Dødsferd’s signature sound of progressive song structures laced with a blackened air. The track even uses clean vocals which further enhances the atmospheric prowess of this wondrous band. The band have been known to experiment in the past, 2013’s The Parasitic Survival Of The Human Race had an almost Punk flare about it which whilst not to everyone’s tastes shows the bands willingness to divulge into new territories. It is this very factor which I feel has kept the band so alive and Diseased Remnants Of A Dying World is no exception. Long songs interlaced with fresh nuances of beauty through destruction make for a thoroughly enjoyable listen.
The centrepiece of this epic body of work has to be the titular track a mammoth sixteen minute opus of atmospheric, progressive, nigh on DSBM proportions that is equal part melancholic and serene,. There is an almost lethargic down-trodden sound that Dødsferd project, one that is easy listening to the trained ear and yet enveloping, delicate and extreme, it takes a real musician to bring all these elements so perfectly together. The experimentation doesn’t cease there however, the final track Back To My Homeland… My Last Breath is an atmospheric soundscape of oddities that round the album off perfectly and settles the Blackened storm to a light breeze leaving the listener dumbfounded and blown away.
Overall Dødsferd have proven once again why they are such a driving force for the underground Black Metal community. I feel more so than ever with Dødsferd that this album represents a beautiful progression and could even be considered as well produced and for lack of a better word marketable. This is by no means to brandish Diseased Remnants Of A Dying World a sell-out album it merely means that they have opened their arms to a wider audience and that after all is something Dødsferd wholeheartedly deserve. Premium Black Metal from Greece, if you’ve not heard this band before than there is simply no better place to start than here.
(9/10 George Caley)
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