(written by Islander)
Death metal does not have to be interesting, innovative, or even moderately intelligent to be enjoyable. We all know this and most of us will freely admit it. In fact, sometimes it’s at its most enjoyable when its dumber than a box of rocks. And conversely, sometimes it can become so busy, disjointed, and intentionally unfamiliar that the band’s labored adventurousness is unpalatable, or so pretentiously serious that it becomes a big yawn (and not the yawning of our adored abysses).
On their new album Darkness Falls, the Spanish death metal band Deimler have found a sweet spot (indeed, many sweet spots) between these extremes. Their music is monstrous and mauling but it’s also frequently mind-boggling in its intricate adventurousness. It powerfully creates unsettling atmospheric auras but also hits like battering rams. It’s packed with hooks, and it includes guitar solos that are eye-opening rarities in the realms of death metal.
As vivid proof of these claims, today we’re premiering a full stream of Darkness Falls on the eve of its March 20 release by Awakening Records.
Before we get to the music, we should describe the album’s distinctive narrative theme. The band’s songwriter and lyricist (and vocalist/guitarist) Pako Deimler is a lover of science fiction, as are many of us, and that influences his music. For example, Deimler’s last album before this one, 2023’s Immortalized, was based on Ridley Scott’s groundbreaking 1979 movie Alien. To follow that up with this new album, Pako decided to pay tribute to a personal favorite series from the ’90s — The X-Files.
More specifically, Deimler’s new album is based on one episode from the show’s first season that itself was named “Darkness Falls” (if you pay close enough attention, you’ll even be able to spot few notes lifted from the show’s famous theme in the album’s title song).
That was a standalone episode in which Mulder and Scully went looking for a group of loggers missing in the Olympic National Forest in Washington State (which coincidentally isn’t far from the HQ of our site), only to be confronted by a deadly form of mutant insects. Pako has said that he loves that episode in particular because of its atmosphere and also because it’s “one of the few episodes where the main characters have a hard time and are truly in great danger.”
Deimler’s new album sets the stage with an opening theme, a swirling and sparkling ambient-music piece that quickly creates an atmosphere of mystery and intrigue, and then launches listeners “Beyond the Sea” (a sea of blood!), a song that begins with monstrous, abyssal spoken words, dismally writhing riffage, and manic drum progressions.
While that dismal and threatening refrain persists (and begins to feverishly throb), the song also becomes explosive, thanks to thunderous low-end upheavals, clobbering beats that erupt in blasts, and blaring guitar-bursts. The vocals continue growling from truly cavernous depths, but in the music’s stratosphere a pair of guitar solos magically swirl and soar, manifesting a kind of otherworldly jubilation. The song also viciously surges and slugs, adding to its menacing mien and multifaceted allure.
In the immediately following title song the riffing insanely writhes, roils, and swarms, creating whirring frenzies that manifest inhuman horrors. The fleet-fingered riffing continually morphs; as it swerves, rises, and falls it also generates sensations of encroaching menace, mind-warping misery, and frantic desperation, while simultaneously creating hooks from all the grotesque motifs — just like that dismal refrain in the preceding song turned into a hook
Some of the title song’s hooks are sharpened by piercing, eerily contorting, but impressively fluid guitar solos that cause the song to stand out even more strongly, just as they did in the preceding song. They create atmospheric elements that are exotic and strange, and provide both a contrast and a complement to the macabre horrors of the riffing.
All of the fretwork manifestations of horror and terror are once more backed by equally vibrant and dynamic drum-and-bass work, which includes not only lots of impressive athleticism but also some brute-force jolts.
This opening “one-two punch” of “Beyond the Sea” and “Darkness Falls” provides an electrifying and head-spinning statement of Deimler’s performance capabilities and songwriting proclivities. Those songs also begin demonstrating the wide range of Deimler’s influences, which becomes even more apparent as the album proceeds (Pako has cited newer acts like Phobophilic, Tomb Mold, and Blood Incantation as well as old masters such as Death and Demilich, and guitar wizards such as Marty Friedman (Megadeth), Stevie Ray Vaughan, Andy LaRocque (King Diamond) or jazz six-strings master Greg Howe.
In the album’s ensuing six songs which follow those two and lead up to an astonishing outro track (“Dreamweaver”), Deimler continue braiding together contrasting ingredients of traumatic bludgeoning, racing violence, beastial vocals, elaborate fretwork contortions, and fantastical guitar soloing. The twists and turns in the riffing rarely sound conventional or comfortable, but Deimler continues proving that strange and unsettling experiences such as those can get stuck in a listener’s head just as fast as much simpler and more melodic riffs.
The riffing is grisly in tone and also often sounds like hornet-swarm frenzies (or the swarming of other much more horrifying and ravenous creatures), and that makes the glittering, gleaming, and high-flying aspects of the soloing even more striking.
And it bears repeating that both the fretwork and the drumwork is remarkably elaborate, whether they’re creating moods of horror and agony or sensations of inhuman ecstasy. It also bears repeating that the richly filigreed (and macabre creepiness) of the fretwork and the nimble and nuanced work of the rhythm section make the brute-force bludgeoning of the band even more startling when they do that.
In other words, the songs incorporate contrasts of many kinds, and they are all winning combinations, which makes Darkness Falls a relentlessly captivating album and one that richly rewards repeat listens. It’s one of this writer’s favorite releases of the year so far.
DEIMLER is:
Pako Deimler – Vocals, Songwriting, Guitars, Lyrics
Xas Lázaro (also Iltur) – Bass
Villa Naemoth (also Dantalion) – Drums
For Darkness Falls the guitars, solos, and vocals were composed and recorded by Pako at his own Yellow Moon Studios in Cáceres; the drums were tracked at B2V Studios in Vigo; and the bass at Rehearsal Room’s studios in Valencia. Javier Félez Rodriguez from Graveyard and Teitanblood once again handled the mixing and mastering at his Moontower Studios in Barcelona, and the band turned again to José Antonio Vives for the creation of the cover art. Deimler’s logo was crafted by César Valladares.
Awakening Records will release the album on CD and digital formats, and you can place orders at the locations linked below.
PRE-ORDER:
https://awakeningrecordscn.bandcamp.com/album/darkness-falls
https://awakeningrecordscn.bigcartel.com/product/deimler-darkness-falls-cd
FOLLOW DEIMLER:
https://www.facebook.com/DeimlerDeathMetal/
https://www.instagram.com/deimler_deathmetal/
https://deimler.bandcamp.com