I grew up with old school heavy metal. Bands from England like Led Zeppelin for whom the term was coined, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. I also went through the heavy metal explosion of the 80's home grown in the States ranging from Van Halen and Metallica to Guns 'n' Roses. However, it wasn't until the last couple years that I started to listen to a lot of heavy metal from northern Europe.
Dissection / Jon Nodviedt
One of the bands that came out of Sweden in the 90's was Dissection a black death metal band formed by Jon Nodviedt in 1989. The Somberlain was their first full length album released in 1993. The band only released three albums, due to front man Nodviedt's incarceration from 97-2004 for murder and then to his suicide after one final album on August 16th, 2006. From what I've read about Nodviedt online, he was mixed up in a lot of stuff I'd stay far far away from.
The Somberlain
This was Dissection's debut album and it was originally released in 93 although it was also reissued a couple times on different lables in 97 and 2004. A special edition was also released in 2005, but I wasn't one of the 666 people who got that. It was released again as a 2 disc set in 2006, but I am just reviewing the original studio album release which my friend, Mikko, lent me. He is Finnish and keeps up to date on the death metal scene. (He is also the one who introduced me to the funniest show on the Cartoon Network, Metalocalypse).
The line up on this album is group founder Jon Nodtviedt on vocals, and guitars (including a lot of nice acoustic guitar). John Zwetsloot is on rhythm guitar and classical guitar. Ole Ohman is on drums, and Peter Palmdahl is on bass guitar.
The Songs
The album features 11 songs; Black Horizons, The Somberlain, Crimson Towers, A Land Forlorn, Heaven's Damnation, Frozen, Into Infinite Obscurity, In the Cold Winds of NoWhere, The Grief Prophecy/Shadows over a Lost Kingdom / Mistress of the Bleeding Sorrow and Feathers Fell. Rather than give a track by track description, I will describe a few tracks in detail.
First of all though, you should know that Nodtviedts vocal stye is the harsh rasping style of singing popular in the genre. Unlike classic heavy metal where the lyrics are screamed out by the likes of David Coverdale, Ronnie James Dio or Klaus Meine, they are rasped out in a manner that would make Motorhead's Lemmy sound legible. You really have to listen to make out the lyrics.
Black Horizons The songs opening track could be about a vampire or perhaps, Vlad the Impaler himself. From my tower, I behold the landscape below, I see the river of blood in fury flow, I stare into the night, yet my vision's clear, from the distant villages every word I hear, I am the almighty, the one with wisdom wide, I am the great shadow, and from daylight in my tower I hide. The song begins with some whispering, then an onslaught of heavy guitar riffs and pounding drums. About two minutes into the song, Jon raspily screams out the story of the evil overlord who oversees his dark kingdom. This song is pure aggression, a non stop onslaught for a good four minutes. Surprisingly about 4 minutes into the song is a bridge with some nice acoustic soloing against the harsh rhythms. The song just sort of fades away at the end.
The Somberlain, the albums title track is next. I have no clue what a "somberlain" is, and the song doesn't really help me to find out either. Again, the song starts with aggressive fast paced riffs backed with a heavy pounding drum beat. Jon rasps his way through singing about his descent into evil. I fell deeper and deeper as light now was gone, I could feel the dark embrace my soul, agony was no more, and so was pain. Not the sort of lyrics I get into myself really, this song seems to be about Nodviedt's personal beliefs. Some fast paced distorted soloing during the bridge, but nothing that approaches guitar nirvana, just fast and repetitive.
Crimson Towers, Into Infinite Obscurity and Feathers Fell are all short acoustic classical guitar instrumentals. It's a nice break from the fast paced songs, but nothing that's going to make Andres Segovia worry.
In the Cold Winds of Nowhere may be a precursor song to Jon taking his own life years later. It is also one of the few songs on the album that features a genuine heavy metal guitar solo instead of just fast paced power chord riffs. As I turn out life's light, Oh, this tempation to leave this earthly shell, deep inside the toll of death's bell, inthe cold winds of nowhere with a sigh I pass away falling into harmonic sleep, then I'll find my prophecies wasn't lies. Again this song seems to refer to Nordtveidts own peculiar beliefs and probably forshadow his eventual suicide. I've never been one to blame music, movies or video games for anyone's problems, and I would hope that nobody takes Nordtveidts philosophies to heart.
Overall, I found Dissection to be rather average sounding. For a death metal band that is supposed to be "melodic" death metal, I didn't find any of the songs particularly memorable or have a hook that stuck in my head. 8 songs out of ten follow the same basic formula. Yes the guitars are aggressive sounding and fast, but the riffs are uninteresting for the most part. Simple power chords can make for great songs, but nothing stood out here. I did like the three acoustic songs, but if I want to listen to classical guitar, I will click on one of my John Williams (no, not the composer, the classical guitar player) or Andre Segovia albums.
I will admit a personal bias. The more I read about Nordveidts personal life, it was difficult for me to separate that from his music, especially since his philisophies are woven into the lyrics of the songs. That being said, I shall go back now to listening to Led Zeppelin IV the "ZoSo" album.
Summary
I like a lot of what is coming out of Finland and Sweden in the metal genre. However, overall, I found Dissection's debut album The Somberlain, to be rather average sounding. Three stars.
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