'Prakeikimas' translates to "damnation" in Lithuanian. Lengthy snippet from William T. Stromberg's music 'Trinity and beyond (The Atomic Bomb Movie)' creates perfect mood for your wait to be damned. Dissimulation hit in with metallized version of Stromberg's creation.

Aggressive blackened thrash metal is what Dissimulation are all about. The music flows well with varying speed between thrashy and blackish moods and compositions do not follow any precise, easy structures. I'd say, that the band's thrash metal influences come from Germany. Generally, riffs are sometimes very simple, which definitely bring the name Venom to my mind. Norwegian black metal also seem to have influenced the band, and chiefly Satyricon style. There's some a tad funny Finntroll-ish riffs (e.g. the first one on 'Omega et Alpha'), which need time to sink. Or then they won't, ever. You will not hear any guitar solos on this album, which didn't matter to me anyway. There are ambient, moody synthesizer passages between lengthy songs, successfully lifting the dark "end of times" atmosphere. However, that atmosphere factor is still much higher on for example Gehenna's 'Adimiron Black' (1998). The album admittedly loses the deadliest venom during the second half, momentarily gaining it on the last song.

If the music has some originality in it, Lithuanian lyrics harden that image. Vocals are mainly nasty if usual black metal snarling. There's some different vocals stuff, the best example is theatrical choir of mad people on the opener. The booklet should include English translations of the lyrics. Sound-wise, this is basic as it harks back to 1980s and is very organic. The band's performance itself is energetic, more or less busy all the time.

'Prakeikimas' is not an easy album. Even now, after 20 or so listens it keeps getting better and doesn't show too many signs of fatigue. Maybe those funny riffs are actually starting to sound good. Let's see, if 'Kol Viskas Niekur' shall ever reveal its possible potential threat for me.

Rating: 6½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
01/06/2006 13:01