Dantalion - All Roads Lead to Death

Spain’s black metal quartet known as Dantalion arises one more from the ashes of the underbelly with All Roads Lead to Death, a combative and enthralling work that has Dissection and Marduk written all over it. Whether that’s a positive or a negative is up to you.

First, the album is very typically depressive, suicidal black metal; all of the classic elements are there from the screeching, pained vocals to the near-bombastic and speedy music that accompanies them. Often pained and bordering ever close on Silencer territory, All Roads embellishes in all the right areas that make this otherwise unoriginal concept a worthwhile listen. Granted, no one is as caustic or as insanely troubled as Nattramn, that’s a given, but guitarist/vocalist Sanguinist elevates himself to near comparable levels by channeling to a high degree all of the suffering and forlorn disease that permeates his mind right off in “Bleakness”, an aptly-named song.

The lone drawback here, for me, is that there is a formal blueprint that seems to be followed throughout the album that might get old to the seasoned veteran of such black metal wars and battles. As one of those grizzled vets, for me this album has amazing moments of riffing that literally make me smile and nod my head accordingly, as in “Walking to Eternity”, which can certainly call upon past masters like Samoth or even, to a finer degree, Oystein Aarseth, whose guitar work was somewhat immeasurable if unpolished and often just dirty-sounding. That may have been the charm of Mayhem then, but in this day and age where cleanliness is next to ungodliness such messy music is the mark of amateurs…or so they tell me. To be more frank, this album has some great moments that shouldn’t be ignored or dismissed because of tardiness to the game, but don’t expect something past early Bethlehem or the aforementioned Silencer. The lack of complete subservience to repetition and recycling sets a good portion of the album apart from its modern-day predecessors, which is all the more appealing to those of us who are ready to kill ourselves if we hear one more anguished vocalist meander his or her way through boring, trite songs that say nothing and accomplish less.   

I actually find this album stronger than 2008’s Call of the Broken Souls, which was good if over-rife with Swedish influence. What makes All Roads a better endeavor is that the music here is a fine-tuned vehicle for a trip into sadistic self-loathing and discovery. Granted, you probably won’t gain a cerebral epiphany from it (or maybe you will; who the hell am I to say?) but you will more than likely come away wanting to revisit this album time and again. What you’re also likely to walk away with is a better feel for the modern age of black metal; it doesn’t have to be a negative vibe or a strike against your “kvlt” status to enjoy any current black musical arts. While it won’t be rendered a classic on this plane or another, Dantalion resounds louder than most and less than some, but we can’t really expect another Vinterland or Dissection after finding such perfection once around the fountain. Enjoy what it is and what it stands for and you’ll emerge quite happy.              

Release Date: October 7, 2010
Label: Xtreem Music

TRACK LISTING

1.  Only Ashes Remain
2.  Bleakness
3.  Walking to Eternity
4.  Claws of Pestilence
5.  My Last Breath
6.  Thought of Desolation
7.  Scorn
8.  Gloom and Failure

Total playing time:  55:57

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*Comments:

Reviewer: Chris

March 19, 2011