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Diabolical: Ars vitae

09/03/11 || cadenz

Swedish death metal platoon Diabolical have unleashed a new release. The first question that needs to be asked is: who the fuck are Diabolical? Formed in 1996, three full-length albums and an EP released before “Ars vitae”, members and past members with bands like Demonical, Devian and Setherial on their resume. So you should have heard of them, right? Well, you probably have. The band name is just a FUCKEN SMALL TAD too generic to get stuck in your mind.

This release’s contents are three-fold; firstly, we have four new studio tracks, followed by nine live tracks and, conclusively, the four tracks that comprise their first official release, the “Deserts of Desolation” EP (2000) in re-mastered shape. For fans of the band this is probably a must-buy; for me and other rookies to the band’s sound, meaning most of y’all reading this, it’s a pretty good introduction to Diabolical’s sound. You get a new EP, an old EP, and the cream of the crop from the full-lengths, while at the same time checking out the band’s live form as well. So with logical reasoning we know that “Ass vitae” provides us with a quick summary of Diabolical. The crucial question: do we like it or not? Yes, we do. And no, we don’t.

Let’s start with the four new songs. Tracks one and three are ambient instrumentals that create some nice moods in between the two mammoths that are “Sightless 6” and “Eye”. Clearly the best two tracks on the whole disc, both sport massive and brutal death metal with obvious Behemoth influences. Great production, amazing forceful growls, malignant and huge riffs, immaculate drumming – what’s not to love? With these new tracks in mind, I’d easily rate this a nine.

Next, we have the live tracks. Man, is this really the same band? Oh yeah, by the nice growls one can tell. Otherwise this is much more sterile death metal, with some thrash bashing, uneven melodies, weird tempo changes and pointless shredding. Many songs sound just like the Diabolical dudes just stacked riff upon riff, without any thought of where the song’s momentum is going, losing coherency and energy in the process. The quality of the riffs isn’t on par with the newer tracks, and though everything is well-played and –produced for a live recording, the songs mostly just go in one ear and out the other. The breakdown riff and outro/solo on “The One Who Bleeds”, and the ending of “Vertigo” stand out as highlights, otherwise these nine tracks were a disappointment after the disc’s furious opening. I’d rate them a six-point-five.

And lastly, we have the “Deserts of Desolation” EP. What strikes first is the bad production, the guitar sound sucks and they are way too loud, the drums sound thin as fuck and everything is propped into the middle of the mix. Another huge difference is the vocal department – on these four tracks we have Magnus Ödling (writer of one of the funniest and best blogs in Sweden which is, unfortunately for you linguistically impaired, composed in his mother tongue) behind the mic. Ödling’s output is raw black metal snarling as opposed to Widgren’s meaty death growls, and though there’s nothing wrong with them per se, they don’t fit into the musical mold. The songs themselves are demo-quality melodic death metal with some incomprehensible twists in the song structures that make no sense whatsoever. Most riffs are from the bargain-bin and the absolute atrocity that is the last track should be deleted from all printings of this album. Ripping off the main riff from Dream Theater’s “Ytse Jam” is never a good thing, especially if your guitar sound sucks, the rest of the song sucks, and if you’re trying to gain respect points from musicians, which I think is the case here. No. Don’t do it. Not like this. The EP gets a very well-deserved three.

So all in all – Diabolical started out sucky, got better during the last decade and are now finally showing signs of greatness. For the combined verdict: (9 + 6.5 + 3) / 3 = 6.2~. Minus 0.2 points for the ugly cover image.

Information
Released: 2011
Label: ViciSolum Productions
Website: www.diabolical.se
Band
Sverker “Vidar” Widgren: vocals, guitar
Tobias Jansson: guitars
Carl Stjärnlöv: guitars
Dan Darforth: bass
Per Ivy: drums

Tracklist
01. Ortus
02. Sightless 6
03. Infvitabile Fatvm
04. Eye
05. Rcs (live)
06. The Gallery of Bleeding Art (live)
07. Ashes II (live)
08. The One Who Bleeds (live)
09. Under My Skin (live)
10. Vertigo (live)
11. Extinction (live)
12. Children of the Mushroom Cloud (live)
13. Suicidal Glory (live)
14. Ashes
15. Guidance of Sin
16. Deserts
17. The Dreaming Dead

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