Metal Storm logo
Decemberance - Inside review




Bandcamp music player
Reviewer:
9.0

10 users:
7.3
Band: Decemberance
Album: Inside
Style: Death metal, Doom metal
Release date: December 2009


01. Time
02. Rain
03. Anxiety Grasps Our Perspective
04. A Common Winter
05. Sunset
06. Premonition

Being a metal band from Hellas, chances are few you will get to sign a pleasing contract with a label so as to distribute your wok. Being a doom metal band from the same part of the Mediterranean Sea means… you're actually doomed! Well, almost. At least in the case of Decemberance the tunes and the will of the band were stronger than time. Having been around for more than a decade now, their first full-length, Inside, was released during the end of 2009, with very limited distribution. A re-release followed during 2010 and the band finally got the chance to see its work being available around the globe.

I have some questions for you fellow reader. Do you like Disembowelment? Dusk maybe? Decomposed even? My Dying Bride's As The Flower Withers? Esoteric's extremist attacks? Raw doom/death metal in general with colossal outbursts? Do you like it even more when it has some ultra slow passages and funeral doom comes into play for a while? Oh, yes, huh? Then Decememberance is a band you should definitely listen to, "Anxiety Grasps Our Perspective" proves it. Do you think it's all over? Oh no, Decemberance is not your ordinary influenced doom/death metal band around. Sure, they have their influences, who doesn't, yet there are so many things that partake in their compositions and the changes of season in their lengthier songs blend so goddamn well together that you actually can't get bored, even if you try it. The production is very good, something that helps the overall sound expedition present the songs in the ideal manner.

"Time" which opens the album will be a small surprise of what is to follow, so let's take "Rain" for example and proceed to a sound surgery. Apart from the raging outbursts and more doom metal driven passages you will find the piano playing tricks on your mind at some times, at others you will be forced to think how the duck did this psychedelic passage appear lending a more progressive glimpse. And of course various sounds, FX and samples shine here and there enriching the song, along with the keyboard's distinctive use and the gentle string (violin etc) incorporations. A variety of aggressive vocals also helps to escalate the song, ranging from deep grunts to unearthly black metal oriented shrieks; and it's the drummer performing all of them, forming a wonderful rhythm section on his other task along with the bassist! If you're not complimented enough, examine "A Common Winter" and see for yourself.

If you thought that doom metal has completed its circle as a genre, try Inside, the first time you listen to it will be enough to love it, yet, the more you listen, the more the little sound treasures you discover, making the album more complete in your mind with every spin; and believe me, there will be many spins to explore its map.

Highlights: "Time", for paving the way. "Rain", for the surgery. "Anxiety Grasps Our Perspective" for the groove, the power. "A Common Winter", for the same reason as "Rain", plus the whispering poetic recites in hellenic language. "Sunset", for the acoustic beauty and the vivid imagery of the sun slowly going down as you wander by the seaside. "Premonition", for completing the portrait in the most appropriate way. You will find all Inside.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 10
Songwriting: 10
Originality: 8
Production: 9





Written on 20.09.2010 by "It is myself I have never met, whose face is pasted on the underside of my mind."


Comments

Comments: 9   Visited by: 161 users
20.09.2010 - 13:34
Rating: 7
InnerSelf
proofread free
I have been speaking about this album since its release way back at the beginning of the year , it really struck me hard with its variation and brilliancy
Great review
----
He who is not bold enough
to be stared at from across the abyss
is not bold enough
to stare into it himself.
Loading...
20.09.2010 - 16:48
Merchant of Doom

I put this on, fell asleep, and when I woke up it was still going!
Loading...
21.09.2010 - 02:36
Rating: 6
Ag Fox
Angel No More
Well done for the slew of reviews since your return. Got a lot to check out, including this
----
loves 小巫
Loading...
21.09.2010 - 03:04
Rating: 9
Elyar S.
Gud är Död
Well despite of long length songs I really love this album man, at least a 9 and I think they have to put it in 2010 awards of extreme doom metal album at MS because its more like a 2010 album than a 2009 album! anyway I love this album thankz for the review.
----
Kiss my ass if you dont like me, I dont care.
Loading...
21.09.2010 - 03:22
Rating: 9
Elyar S.
Gud är Död
Ok let me say something else, if you listen to this album and hate it better to not listen to doom metal IMO ! this is great man. Im impressed.

and yep you can download it from last.fm legally till you get the Original.
----
Kiss my ass if you dont like me, I dont care.
Loading...
21.09.2010 - 12:16
Merchant of Doom

I find it mostly a disconcerting mix of death and doom, with progressive influences... it's far too long and disjointed (and boring in places). First track, very doomy (stolen from Fall Of Empyrean/Officium Triste, like all the other doomy bits, it seems!) doesn't not represent the entire album. Do I like it? No. I love "Time", and the rest has moments of brilliance, but it's mainly overblown tedious progressive doom/death metal, jumping continously from one style to another... if they shortened the tracks and got rid of the death elements, then, maybe...
Loading...
21.09.2010 - 15:23
Rating: 9
Elyar S.
Gud är Död
Written by Elyar S. on 21.09.2010 at 03:22

and yep you can download it from last.fm legally till you get the Original.

ok you cant get all songs! just first 2 songs, sorry for misinformation.
----
Kiss my ass if you dont like me, I dont care.
Loading...
21.09.2010 - 15:27
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Written by Merchant of Doom on 21.09.2010 at 12:16

I find it mostly a disconcerting mix of death and doom, with progressive influences... it's far too long and disjointed (and boring in places). First track, very doomy (stolen from Fall Of Empyrean/Officium Triste, like all the other doomy bits, it seems!) doesn't not represent the entire album. Do I like it? No. I love "Time", and the rest has moments of brilliance, but it's mainly overblown tedious progressive doom/death metal, jumping continously from one style to another... if they shortened the tracks and got rid of the death elements, then, maybe...


Totally agreed with you on this one.
It is one of those albums I won't play again due to all the reasons you mentioned.
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

Loading...
21.09.2010 - 18:08
Rating: 9
Elyar S.
Gud är Död
If you want to start to rock, first of all you have to cover songs and its a principle I think. So its a little raw idea if we expect that a band start with a 100% original debut album. this is a good album I dont care if someone influenced them, I know a lot of bands which cant even cover songs with a normal quality so I cant criticize this album.
----
Kiss my ass if you dont like me, I dont care.
Loading...

Hits total: 5291 | This month: 4