Dantalion isn’t dead yet.
Formed in Spain in 2004, the band now counting on Netzja (guitar, LowMist, ex-Mydgard, ex-Adonai), Naemoth (drums, LowMist, ex-Empty, ex-Witchfyre, ex-Mydgard, ex-Adonai), Sanguinist (vocals, Arkham), Vorgh (guitar, ex-Witchfyre) and NatnoF (bass, Lethal Vice, Basilades) have announced the release of Fatum, their ninth album, on Non Serviam Records.
The album gets off to a slow start with Great Funeral of Dawn, which arrives gradually to reveal its heady tones. Raw vocal parts join dissonant melodies before accelerating to blend melancholy and rage in Old School tones before fading out to make way for Abyss Eating Serpent and its immediate fury that grabs you by the throat. The sharp riffs also make room for plaintive tones and scathing leads to create striking melodies, which are also found on Qayin Dominor Tumulus, the following track, which floods us under its darkness. Halfway between aggression and a relatively soothing approach to guitars, the sound progresses and overwhelms us, before letting Novena Wake Begins take over, distilling its airy riffs over livelier patterns. The speed of the rhythmics allows the musicians to present a more disquieting aspect to their music, unlike Hades Visions, which is often majestic, complemented by a few keyboards in the background. The vocal parts also add a terrifying touch to the hectic rhythm, but the tenebrous waves eventually recede before Exu King of Souls Omulu takes their place, unveiling a mysterious introduction, followed by luminous soothing melodies that allow us to breathe. But quietness is once again dissipated by Mortuary Song’s tortured harmonics, a composition torn between visceral laments and a rather raw rhythmic basis which easily mesmerizes us and carries us through to Sounds of Bells and Open Scissors, the album’s final track, which draws on DSBM to feed its most gruesome sounds and offer us a chilling experience.
Dantalion infuses its Black Metal with terror and sheer depression to create a visceral, gripping darkness that slowly expresses itself on Fatum, without forgetting to provoke a few waves of more vivid fury with Fatum.
90/100