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intothewellsabyss
Nov 8, 20223 min read

Deathspell Omega - The Synarchy of Molten Bones (2016)

FROM THE CRYPTS - CELEBRATING PAST ALBUM RELEASES in the HISTORY of HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL… Deathspell Omega Double Header!



On November 8, 2016, Deathspell Omega released their full-length album The Synarchy of Molten Bones via Norma Evangelium Diaboli.



Background:

The Synarchy of Molten Bones builds on a long legacy of excellence and emerges six years after Paracletus, the previous full-length, and four years after Drought, the final installment of a series of records that span over a decade of frantic work.


In an interview with bardomethodology.com, DO talked a little about Synarchy:

“Art, or at least honest art, is a lot of trial and error. A very humbling endeavour, even with years of experience under one’s belt. Case in point, our first attempt at making The Synarchy of Molten Bones as glacial and violent as we deemed necessary failed, resulting in a discarded recording and new song-writing session.”

“It’s rather easy to conjure up the most sinister spirit in any place, at any time. There are mental techniques that, within seconds, will plunge you into the very depths of the abyss of this world. Practitioners use it as a means of projecting strength or apparent wellbeing in the face of adversity – you can also invert the process and summon abjection.” — Deathspell Omega

“We recorded most songs a few times over the course of about a day and a half, then kept the most intense performance – or the one with most feeling. Not that the versions varied much; after months of preparation, entering the studio and nailing your material ought to be close to a mere formality, especially when playing to a metronome. Towards the end of the session, everything seemed to fall into place naturally and a rather complex song like Absolutist Regeneration was actually only recorded once.” — Deathspell Omega

Critical Reception:

The Synarchy of Molten Bones received very good reviews, with one review for NO CLEAN SINGING stating;

“Upon finishing a first listen (and my only listen as I write this), I was — to quote the title of the second song — famished for breath. Every track is so breathtakingly energetic and so flooded with mind-bending intricacy that hearing them straight through risks completely overloading the capacity of the normal human brain to keep pace, or to manage even a modicum of comprehension. I thought my brain had been unceremoniously teleported into the clutches of a centrifuge that had developed a mind of its own — and then immediately lost its mind.
That summation may be a slight exaggeration — it’s not a completely unceremonious plunge into a head-whipping spin: The album does begin (and end) with a spectral fanfare of symphonic horns. But otherwise, you may need a supplemental oxygen supply handy before pressing play. The album knows only two speeds — wildly careening, and flying like a rocket-assisted horde of bats.
It’s an intense, disorienting experience. In recent years, this kind of exuberant, head-spinning intricacy, kaleidoscopic explosiveness, and astonishing technical mastery would have brought to mind the kind of progressive and experimental death metal exemplified by the likes of Gorguts and Dysrhythmia. Here, it’s infiltrated by Deathspell Omega’s trademarked dissonance and a brand of vocal savagery that’s so demonic and deranged as to cloak the chaos in a mutilated mantle of ravenous horror.
Everything about the performances is jaw-dropping. The drumming is an ever-changing tour-de-force of light-speed blasting, somersaulting fills, and just enough propulsive hammering to give the helpless listener something to hold onto in these tumultuous storms of sound. The bounding, leaping, cavorting bass notes often seem to be off on a tangent of their own, and take center stage at just the right moments during subsidences in the drummer’s fireworks.
There’s a lot of high-speed riff tornados and related fret torture in play as well, veering and swarming so quickly and unpredictably that it seems there’s a kaleidoscope inside that crazed centrifuge along with your brain. Eerie, dissonant notes and warped chords come and go, along with a scattering of meandering arpeggios that don’t really slow things down — because as they sinuously twist like wraithlike serpents, the drummer usually picks those moments to pull out all the stops.
The combined effect of all this is electrifying. And I’m afraid that it is also like an addictive drug that somehow sharpens the senses just as it unmoors them from reality — I already feel a yearning to return to the music. And maybe once I collect myself enough to do so, I’ll comprehend something more of what just happened. Or not….
But either way, this album will be unforgettable.”

Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells



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