Bellowing out some dark and original riff writing featuring 2 genres of metal, melodic death/melodic black, Dissection really pegs away at these genres. I'd say the production quality was quite raw, though you can hear the riffs pretty well in somewhat high definition. A real masterpiece of songwriting that is not copied by the band when they did riffs Jon Nödtveidt pretty wrote all of the tracks and his vocals were dark and echo-sounding on the recording which makes the album sound more dark and dismal. He never was that well respected on leads, but harmonies he shines upon. Dissection hits home on this release if your forte is melodic metal in general.

I'd have to say all of the tracks are good on this recording. Nothing here is half-assed or played without vigor. The recording could have been better, but I think that they really wanted to achieve a dark and dismal sound which is what they achieved here. Many musicians contributed to this release not only the 4 members, but some other guest back vocalists such as Legion (Marduk / Devian), IT (Abruptum) et al. They really added to the darkness of the release. Raw, decrepit and well played out album that was during a time where melodic stuff in the vein of black and melodic death were just emerging, Jon concocted many great melodies on this one.

Follow up from 'The Somberlain' (1993), the music features melodic guitar with riffs that are fast picked and melodies with the main distorted guitar also showing up was some acoustic guitar pieces. But only short bits of those, this whole release mainly consists of a lot of use of standard tuning (what it sounds like at least) guitar with a lot of distortion. Jon's vocals are really dark and depressing. It really made an impact on the metal scene (the melodic death genre) back in the days when this sort of songwriting was just forming with a few other really well known bands such as Death, Darkane, and Soilwork were concocting.

I loved the riffs as a whole and this 8 track 43+ minute dark metal release really impressed me as a whole. Nothing more depressing than this album and I think that was Jon's goal to make music that was so desolate it would bring the listener down into the depressing mood entirely. Not something advisable to listen to if you are afflicted some sort of mood disorder. So in effect here, the music once again was solely original and well played out. The musicianship wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be, but that could be why the recording quality suffered greatly. However, this statement could be debatable.

If you're looking to hear some dark, depressing, melodic and overall original metal, 'Storm of the Light's Bane' is there for you. A highlight in the band's shortened discography due to Jon's death, this album really is intense and atmospheric. There isn't a track on here that lacks originality or intensity except the instrumentals. All in all, a good album listened to in its entirety and definitely worth picking up if you love melodic metal. It really hit home with me and may do the same for you if you're a big fan of depressing metal with melodic and unrelenting intensity.

Rating: 8½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Death8699
02/21/2013 15:12