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Dimension Zero - Silent Night Fever review



Reviewer:
8.8

48 users:
7.88
Band: Dimension Zero
Album: Silent Night Fever
Release date: May 2002


01. Silent Night Fever
02. The Murder-Inn
03. Through The Virgin Sky
04. Your Darkest Hour
05. Not Even Dead
06. They Are Waiting To Take Us
07. Until You Die
08. End
09. Slow Silence
10. Helter Skelter [The Beatles cover] [Asian bonus]

As a side-project of Jesper Strömblad (In Flames) and his then-bandmate Glenn Ljungström, Dimension Zero is also very much Güthenberg metal. Silent Night Fever, their debut album, is probably very near the definition of melodic death metal. It has unforgiving machine gun-like drumming, raspy death growls vocals like delivered from a ghoul, typical death and thrash metal riffs, but of course also very melodic parts.

As a Güthenberg trademark, DZ also have a guitar duo supplementing each other in conjuring distorted guitar riffs. This duo is represented by the originally In Flames members. Hans Nilsson, a drummer who by no means lacks experience in the Swedish metal community, contributes with relentless drumming and has a massive contribution to the brutality of the album. Joakim Göthberg, ex. Marduk vocalist, delivers the raspy high-pitched death growls.

The album starts of with the self-titled track and immediately sets the intensity standard. Even at the chorus it doesn't get any calmer, it just gets more intense. With a suiting pause at the 2-minute mark, you get time to catch a break, before the song again picks up a chainsaw and finishes you off. The second track "The Murder-Inn" starts off with a chugging death metal riff and with Jocke (Joakim) growling for you too wake the fuck up and enjoy the massacre. When the chorus hits in shortly after the riffage turns a bit more melodic, casually seducing you to 'follow me into a murder-inn', which you gladly do of course. Jocke keeps you with company with thrown in shrieks here and there and it really adds power and evilness to the song. Likewise the previous song, at the 2-minute mark you can enjoy a short break from the killing.

Then we have reached the third track, "Through the Virgin Sky", and again we are greeted with Jocke's devastating shrieks (that is so awesome, why doesn't everyone do that? Yes, I'm serious!). DZ keeps the same formula here and keeps it intense all the way through. At the chorus everything becomes much more melodic, but only then. At the 2 and a half minutes a calmer, build-up appears, only to be breached with Jocke's wonderful shriek.

Not much else to report in "Not Even Dead", "They Are Waiting To Take Us" or "Until You Die", actual singing occurred in the chorus of "Until You Die", otherwise they all pretty much follow the same pattern.

Track number 8, "End", is really not interesting until the melodic interlude at the 2-minute mark. The last track "Slow Silence" is the standout track here and it's just ambient with a simple rhythm and occasional talking/screaming in the background.

So we have come to an end to the journey through Silent Night Fever. They've thoroughly used a formula, bringing together brutality and catchy hooks, but I might add that they executed it with great confidence. For people, like myself, who enjoy their share of brutal melodeath, I'm stoked about this, but even so, I do believe a bigger variety wouldn't have hurt. Overall, the album is fairly solid, with the majority of the songs in one way or another interesting and memorable. In my opinion this is one of the best brutal melodic death metal albums out there (not as in a new genre, but I really don't want to compare this with, say, Amon Amarth or EVEN In Flames. I like both, but they're not nearly as intense).


Rating breakdown
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 7
Originality: 8
Production: 9

Written by GamlaSonn | 05.09.2009




Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.

Guest review by
Desecrator
Rating:
7.5
Dimension Zero was originally a side project formed by both Jesper Strömblad and Glenn Ljungström of In Flames; this is their début 'Silent Night Fever' and quite a decent one at that.

The music found on this album reminds me of the style of Death Metal At The Gates played on their final piece "Slaughter Of The Soul". It's fast, aggressive, but still maintains a high level of melody within each of the tracks. Each song keeps to the same pace and length throughout the album. Don't be put off by that though, it's just the style of the band that gives off this impression. The standout track, though not my favourite, is the closing track "Slow Silence" only because it doesn't embody the aggression and intensity of all the other songs. Everything has been toned down, but it is still one of the better songs on the album. My personal favourite on this album is "They Are Waiting To Take Us". The riffs are pure Thrash Metal, it really isn't anything remotely similar to In Flames. I find it to be a good thing however, because even though I love In Flames' early works, it would just be too predictable if this band adopted the same styles that In Flames had. Believe me it could have very well been the case here, but instead we are being given a fresh more intense version of what used to be In Flames, with only a few tracks actually sounding like the band.

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published 07.12.2007 | Comments (1)


Comments

Comments: 7   Visited by: 27 users
29.09.2009 - 05:08
Valaskjalf
Account deleted
Yeah I liked the album a lot when it just came out, but as I grew in my musical taste, this album's generic nature became glaring and got pretty boring in a short space of time. The formula is just a bit too apparent and eventhough they executed the album well I just feel its been so overdone by so many other bands and so much better than I cant give it more than 6.5/10. When keeping in mind that 7/10 is considered good on MS this album just falls short of that for me because of its lack of originality and obvious song structures.
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29.09.2009 - 05:19
Rating: 8
GamlaSonn

Written by Guest on 29.09.2009 at 05:08

Yeah I liked the album a lot when it just came out, but as I grew in my musical taste, this album's generic nature became glaring and got pretty boring in a short space of time. The formula is just a bit too apparent and eventhough they executed the album well I just feel its been so overdone by so many other bands and so much better than I cant give it more than 6.5/10. When keeping in mind that 7/10 is considered good on MS this album just falls short of that for me because of its lack of originality and obvious song structures.


yeah I agree, I was to generous. Still fun once in a while, but after a while it does get stale
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29.09.2009 - 07:49
Sunioj

This is an interesting.. I never would've imagined the ex-vocalist of Marduk to do melodeath, but then again it sort of makes sense. Anyways.. album is not bad. Besides the predictableness, I did enjoy the crunchy ass riffs over the treachorous vocals. 6.5-7 for me.
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29.09.2009 - 18:22
Thryce
Retired Staff
What on earth is Güthenberg metal supposed to be? It's called Gothenburg metal, named after the Swedish city where the genre originated. That city is called Gothenburg/Göteborg. Get your facts straight.
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Your favorite band sucks.
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30.09.2009 - 06:49
Rating: 8
GamlaSonn

Written by Thryce on 29.09.2009 at 18:22

What on earth is Güthenberg metal supposed to be? It's called Gothenburg metal, named after the Swedish city where the genre originated. That city is called Gothenburg/Göteborg. Get your facts straight.


I know you won't get rest until all the world spells every word right. Glad I could help.
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30.09.2009 - 12:07
Thryce
Retired Staff
Written by GamlaSonn on 30.09.2009 at 06:49

Written by Thryce on 29.09.2009 at 18:22

What on earth is Güthenberg metal supposed to be? It's called Gothenburg metal, named after the Swedish city where the genre originated. That city is called Gothenburg/Göteborg. Get your facts straight.

I know you won't get rest until all the world spells every word right. Glad I could help.

An attitude. How cute.

It's not about the misspelling per se. It's about losing credibility. By an incorrect spelling of the genre that is subject of your review, you give the impression you don't even know what you're talking about. Just saying.
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Your favorite band sucks.
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30.09.2009 - 12:21
Rating: 8
GamlaSonn

Written by Thryce on 30.09.2009 at 12:07

Written by GamlaSonn on 30.09.2009 at 06:49

Written by Thryce on 29.09.2009 at 18:22

What on earth is Güthenberg metal supposed to be? It's called Gothenburg metal, named after the Swedish city where the genre originated. That city is called Gothenburg/Göteborg. Get your facts straight.

I know you won't get rest until all the world spells every word right. Glad I could help.

An attitude. How cute.

It's not about the misspelling per se. It's about losing credibility. By an incorrect spelling of the genre that is subject of your review, you give the impression you don't even know what you're talking about. Just saying.


Not so fucking much I can do about it now, can I?

Sure I give you attitude when you're provoking it over such a minor mistake.

Whether or not I lose all credibility over writing a U in place of an O, I'd say is highly debatable.

Anyway, I appriciate that you clarifyied my mistake.
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