Very little is known about French Black Metal collective Deathspell Omega. Its members are unknown, there was a singer change due to a change in Satanic views; add to that absolutely no live performances… ever.

France has had a solid output of Black Metal over the years with Anorexia Nervosa, Blut Aus Nord, Mutiilation, and Aldaaron. Somehow Deathspell Omega has remained a solid part of the French Black Metal scene since first full-length Infernal Battles which was a formidable furnace of an album. Their sound has changed since then, starting with 2002’s Inquisitors of Satan and 2004’s Si Monvmentvm Reqvires, Circvmspice which ushered in a ritualistic element to the dark proceedings.

Fast Forward eighteen years and here we have The Long Defeat, a blistering culmination of ominous satanic chants, an evil as fuck atmosphere and a heavy as fuck production. Meant to be an album of stories, The Long Defeat is told in five acts starting with “Enantiodromia”; living just shy of the twelve-minute mark there is a very tribal feeling to the track. The drums are jazzy here, obviously spattering blasts here and there, but they are restrained until “Eadem, Sed Aliter” comes slithering out with an incredibly ichor dripping riff accompanied by Mayhem-esque shouted vocals riding mind-bending blast beats, before a searing solo takes over at the five-minute mark. I love Deathspell Omega for their dexterity within a song, especially with this album because at around six minutes and thirty-nine seconds they slow down to let the song release its violent energy.

The title track is a nice, pitch-black nineties miasma, lulling one into a nightmare trance until album favorite “Sie Sind Gerichtet!” a Satyricon styled workout that would make the Shadowthrone happy. I would almost say that this is a headphones record. It benefits because there is so much going on behind the blackened guitars and necro as fuck production, chanting dwells in the shadows and without headphones it occasionally gets lost in the mix because there is so much going on. Time changes are effortless, giving the listener a sonic train ride through a frightening Black Metal landscape as bleak as it is beautiful and brutal. Sometimes its as though the screams of the damned have been captured within the digital confines of the five long, but meticulously crafted tracks. With this record, Deathspell Omega has continued their legacy of quality French Black Metal. Hail!

[Visit the band's website]

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