Conor Fynes
'Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice' - Deathspell Omega (8/10)
Black metal has sure come a long way since it was first planted almost thirty years ago. Although most of the old ones (and many of the newer ones) opt for a straightforward leap into atmosphere and darkness, there has been a trend to take this extreme style of music to new heights of artistic merit and ambition. Deathspell Omega first started out as one of those straightforward bands, with such album titles as 'Inquisitors Of Satan' to back up the claim that they weren't exactly trying to reinvent the wheel at first. On their third album however, the band took a huge leap, experimenting with song and album structure, using conceptual themes and twisting genre, and most of all; tightening up their musicianship to become one of the most fierce black metal had ever seen. Although Deathspell Omega have since gone even deeper into the rabbit hole with later albums, 'Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice' is among the most innovative and groundbreaking black metal albums ever released, and still stands as an excellent album within the band's catalogue.
Latin for, 'If You Seek His Monument, Look Around You', 'Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice' is a vast concept album revolving around none other than Satan himself. Taking a leaf from the classic albums of progressive rock, the album is structured in a very intentioned way, with more atmospheric interludes (called 'Prayers') breaking up the otherwise rampant black metal. Far from being ambient doodles, these 'Prayers' take on very interesting turns that show some of the band's greatest progress from their early days. 'First Prayer' is an obscenely dark introduction to this album, with sampled female chanting only adding to the eerie psychedelic tinge of the guitars. From then on, the remaining two 'Prayers' are what little respite the listener will get from some incredibly dense, challenging black metal. In a move quite uncharacteristic of black metal, the band is very technically complex, with the term 'calculated madness' coming to mind.
The guitars and drums are so blazing and intense that it often comes across as being too much to digest for the first few spins of the album. The madness forces a listener to pay full attention to the music, lest the complexity will come across as noise. There are also less aggressive moments where the malefic atmosphere of the music is allowed to take full charge and push the listener to the brink of insanity. All the while, the raspy snarl of the vocals preaches on about Satan in archaic English. The vocals are the only part of the album (and Deathspell Omega's music in general) that doesn't wow me. Although the lyrics are sometimes beautifully poetic (considering the subject matter), the shock of the 'evil' vocals gets old fairly quickly; they stay fairly monotone throughout, with only a few exceptions where the listener gets to hear something else. Fortunately, that 'something else' turns out to be something that I would not have expected a black metal band do to so well.
What I'm referring to is Deathspell Omega's use of classical Gregorian chant arrangements in their music here. Particularly in a drawn out section of the album's cornerstone 'Carnal Malefactor', the black metal dissipates, and instead we hear the gloomy vocals of a choir. Despite being very surprising on first listen, their arrangement here is beautiful and haunting, and most of all, it never feels forced. Even the most intense moments of Deathspell Omega's music here has an archaic, orthodox feel to it, so it seems natural for the band to go into something like that. 'Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice' is the only album of the band's that explores this aspect of their music, and I would have loved to hear more of it, because it shows so much promise.
Besides the vocals, the only other thing that doesn't sit so well with me is the album's length. At 71 minutes, it is definitely veering towards the long side of things, which is not a problem on its own, but for the usual madness and complexity that the album brings forth, it can make this length seem very unnecessary, especially on first listen. Barring that, 'Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice' is a monster of an album; I find it to be excellent now, and I can only see my reverence of it growing in the future. I believe that Deathspell would ascend to even greater heights on their next record, 'Fas- Ite Maledicti, In Ignem Aeturnum', but this is- of course- arguable. An excellent album from whom I consider to be the most inventive band black metal band we have ever yet seen.