Satanic dark metal is what Polish veterans Pandemonium serve for hordes of listeners. 'Misanthropy' is their fourth full length album, and the third after they reformed in 2004 (from 1995 to 2004 they went under the moniker of Domain). I'm only familiar with their previous release, 'Promo 2010', which two songs can be found here, too.

The Satanic dark metal tag does not tell much, now does it?! In other words, Pandemonium perform the style of metal music, that alloys black metal and death metal together. Seamlessly. The general atmosphere is malicious and supernatural, at times truly other-worldly. For example 'Stones Are Eternal' sounds like it was an incantation of some evil entity or thing. Generally the lead guitar work, which is heard a lot, is quite ripping, moody and shrill, and is backed by robust riffing, that relies on simplicity and feel, not so much on technicality. Thunderous rhythm section is a suitable counter weight for the lead guitars. The pace of the music is mostly mid-paced, with some faster, as well as slower parts. It works well, as the atmospheres are ominous, but can get a bit monotonous after a few songs. Good use of ambient soundscapes elevate the ambiance further. At its best, the music really catches ears, but at times I feel I'm losing the red thread on some of the songs. Sometimes, like on the opener 'The Black Forest' it's Vader that comes to my mind, but there are also Mayhem-esque moments, as well as punky black metal ('Avant-Garde Underground') and Mid-Eastern eccentricity ('Stones Are Eternal' and the title track). Plus, 'Everlasting Opposition' has quite an industrial, spacey feel to it.

On the vocals department this album is very sweeping. Vader's Peter style throaty growl together with various growls, demonic snarl like Mayhem's Maniac among other demonic voices, speech, at times machine-effected. Chaostar's Androniki Skoula guests on female vocals and her presence brings a lot of this Mid-Eastern feel. Her voice is truly strong and eminent. All in all, nice work vocals-wise. The lyrical themes include aforementioned evil entities (well, from what point of view one looks at things, of course), anti-religious stuff and misantropy, as the album's name suggests.

The production work is well-suiting and powerful, thanks to Piotr "Stone" Tyszkiewicz. It's nice to notice, that it was someone else behind the mixer than those overemployed Wiesławski brothers. The soundscape nicely emits the arcane and noxious atmospheres the music is filled with. The sound is thick, too, but nothing is too overpowering and are not shadowing other elements.

With 'Misanthropy', Pandemonium do not kill, but intimidate a listener. It is not easy-listening, but I also miss more catchy elements on some songs. It certainly is a high-quality album on several departments, but the final nail that is songwriting, is somewhat lacking. However, those who are looking for some atmospheric dark metal might want to inspect this. 'Misanthropy' is one of those albums, that get stronger during spinning. Try aforementioned songs and decide if you want to get on a journey to darkness.

Rating: 7+ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
09/09/2012 13:42