Dodecahedron - Dodecahedron

One thing you’ll notice happen with this band is Deathspell Omega and Blut Aus Nord comparisons. I’ll get it over with right away. Deathspell Omega are the fire unleashed upon the land, the harrowing culler of souls, the ominous shadow over the dead. Blut Aus Nord are the enigma, the mouth of the abyss, the splendid beauty and fright of unknown deeper mechanics. Dodecahedron are insanity caused by severe sensual deprivation, a mesmerizingly delirious hallucination coming from a part of your mind you never wanted to know about, a creeping, introspective horror. So all three are black metal bands with a penchant for dissonant riffs, and this most recent of the three is definitely clearly influenced by its two older brothers, but it’s clearly the kind of influence that we want amazing bands like DSO and BAN to be having. Dodecahedron have their own complex take on modern black metal and this being a first album or release of any kind, I can only say that Dodecahedron obviously have the potential for a great career in the metal underground.

Dodecahedron does not focus on savagery; most of the album is mid-paced, instead focusing on creating unconventional harmonies and cold, alien atmosphere. Dissonance is the key. This album is almost always dissonant, it revolves around dissonance. Each conflicting chord that bursts from your speakers is like one of the pillars that support your mind falling down. The opening riff descends in uneven steps like a corpse rolling down a staircase, and from then on in the feeling of utter inward collapse only increases. ‘You can only walk further down the path of madness,’ Dodecahedron seems to leer at us. Lyrics are written with more skill than most; they speak philosophically about apocalypse, death/life and anti-religion, but they are written in such a grim and ethereal fashion that at first you don’t realize they’re talking about our lives on this crazy planet here today. Musically we are given a lot more in addition to this. All of the instruments are used in diverse and skillful ways, and there is a very progressive, narrative spirit to the band, featuring a couple of Event Horizon electronic moments, a D-beat, a fast riff to mix it up, a fleeting, ungraspable moment or two of light shining through the cracks of the darkness, and a beautiful gravitation of the entire album into the more traditional realms of cold Scandinavian black metal. This conclusion comes in a track of three parts, and it is totally epic.

In short: Every year, many metal bands make debut releases in the hundreds, but rarely do we see such a mature and focused debut as this, making me excited and for this I award the band extra points. Dodecahedron have started ahead and immediately rocketed to the forefront of the modern black metal scene with this absorbing and entrancing void. Buy or die.

Standout tracks: All three View From Hverfell tracks

Score: 9.0