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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Different isn't always bad, August 31, 2006
Since its inception, black metal has been pretty limited. There's old-school black metal like Venom, brutal bands like Dark Funeral, and there's atmospheric/melodic black metal like Dimmu Borgir and Old Man's Child. But that's pretty much it in black metal's variety department. Until now, that is.
When they released their first album in 1993, Satyricon were more-or-less a brutal black metal band (mostly thanks to drummer Frost's blast beat barrages). Boy, have they come a long way since then.
The band's sixth full length release, "Now, Diabolical," is about the closest you'll get to a "Black Album" in this genre. (It even begins with a riff which is almost identical to Metallica's "Enter Sandman"!) Granted, it's a move towards the mainstream (it's even tied with Dimmu Borgir's "Death Cult Armageddon" for the highest selling black metal album ever released) because it's far less brutal than Satyricon's older material. But it's also more unique, creative, and has more individually memorable tracks.
The songs are much more stripped-down and the tempos are greatly restrained. Frost is still the man behind the drums, but he's no longer pounding them with insane speed. He still thumps the skins profusely, but the record's production (and occasionally, as in "To The Mountains," melodic guitar parts) hold them down and prevent them from becoming dominate. Add a bunch of groovey guitar leads and a sporadically audible bass note and you have Satyricon's new sound. The only old-school characteristics that remain here are Satyr's high, snarly/raspy yet still intelligible vocals, and his none-too-subtle (or nice) lyrics (i.e. "We want your head on a plate").
Some of the songs become kind of repetitive and are overly long, but suffice to say, every track here is a keeper. "K.I.N.G." is one particularly catchy number with slowly thumping drums and a guitar lead you just might be tempted to hum along to. "A New Enemy," possibly the record's best cut, begins with a very fast rhythm, but it stops on a dime when a slow tempo change kicks in and tribal drums and other background noise are adopted. Similarly, "The Rite Of War Cross" opens with fast, lurching guitar hooks and propulsive drumming and segues into a section with French horns and soft strings. "Delirium" has a catchy, chugging riff and equally as catchy, stop-start percussion, but the song's main highlight is its very pretty and ambient (almost piano-like) strings. The only straight brutal moment to be found on the album is the closer, "Storm (Of The Destroyer)," which is surprising in its heaviness and is backed by scorching riffs and Frost's relentless double bass hammering.
There is a slight chance that Satyricon changed their sound for this album only, and are planning on going back to their brutal roots for most of their future recordings. But the more likely choice is that the band are trying to more-or-less redefine themselves and will continue in this vein in the future. If that's the case, you should get used to that fact and realize that this sound is even an improvement over their previous ones. "Now, Diabolical" is one of the most streamlined and controversial releases since Metallica's aforementioned disc, 1991's "Black Album," and it thus seems tailor made for diehard fans to yell "sell-out" at. However, those who leave the nitpicking to the black metal purists will find this record is equally as powerful, memorable, and offensive as the band's early stuff, but it also simultaneously manages to be far more innovative.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If THIS is black metal, I'm sold., June 10, 2008
I'm sure it isn't. I'm sure Satyircon are being disowned by their old school, old style faithful for sounding like this, and being called genre taitors or something... and I don't care. I don't care if this is the Britney of Black metal, I like it.
Buzzsaw guitars, reefed up in your face. Pounding and pummeling drums. Non-existent bass (this IS metal... what's the bass player for anyway? Just another guy to split the checks with... forget him :P You want bass, go listen to Primus). Darth Vader with throat cancer rasps of pure evil... and the lyrics are text book evil. I can't take them seriously (who could?), but ooohhh, that SOUND!
This album just rages and GROOVES (blasphemey for black metal fans, I'm sure)... check out the single "K.I.N.G."... could be the soundtrack for a dark haired, tattooed stripper's spotlight dance, couldn't it? And that production... Yeah... I'm sure fans of old school Immortal, Burzum, Bathory, Venom, Celtic Frost, and Mayhem absolutely HATE this.
It's the Motley Crue of 2000's black metal, and it's just plain good. So sue me.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of Satyricon's best, August 18, 2007
A big improvement since Nemesis Divina (not that that album wasn't good, but just not exactly what I favour). I prefer their Medieval Times and especially The Shadowthrone albums. But Now, Diabolical is right up there with those 2. Actually this album is quite different to those 2 albums as it's much more raw and sounds like older black metal (which Darkthrone is doing these days aswell) and I think it's a good thing to bring back the old sound to the new generation of black metal listeners (I have been listening to black metal for about 10 years, so I guess I'm from the second wave as my first bands I heard were Emperor, Immortal, Marduk and Satyricon. I had heard of Bathory by then which is from the first wave, but hadn't really heard much except the song 'In Conspiracy With Satan', which to this day is my fave Bathory song).
Anyway, back to the album. Now, Diabolical is more upbeat than Nemesis Divina (don't know if I spelt that right?). I like the mood of this album, it's not depressing at all (like in Nemesis) and gives you a power boost, a sort of quick burst of strength for your mind. It's militant, it's medieval, it's black metal with yet very raw like early rock. This is a must have album for Satyricon fans and those black metal fans into the medieval type black metal. Emperor fans should like this, though I dopn't really like Emperor's new stuff (I prefer their 'In The Nightside Eclipse' album and their demos).
This is less medieval than 'Medieval Times' or 'The Shadowthrone'. It's more militant though (in a medieval way ofcourse).
I guess the best way I could describe the difference between this album and the other 2 Satyricon albums I mentioned earlier is like the difference between Marduk's 'Opus Nocturne' and 'Nightwing' (Now,Diabolical is like Nightwing).
Buy it!!!
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