WARNING: 'Ad Majorem De Gloriam' might cause you serious neck injury. When you can read words "brutal" and "extreme" on every second metal music release, and "f00cking br00tal and x-treme" on every second album by a band wearing way too big jeans and black eyeliner, what the hell can you call this hellish noise heard Dismal Divinity's debut album? It's just not a fucking easy task, you know?!

Excessively heavy sound, varying riffage and tempos from whirlwind to more straight headbang ones and truly intense dark and brutal energy the band submits are the cornerstones of this death metal album. I'm not a fan of the most extreme stuff where the song structures are thrown out (well, that's how it simply sounds when an appreciated death metal band can't leave a slightest memory mark on my brain during an album's worth of their stuff), Dismal Divinity have managed to keep a "song" alive. There's enough turns and twists for anyone who think Morbid Angel and Nile are a bit too foreseeable in their songwriting. Dismal Divinity have the trait of unexpectedness in them, but they don't stretch it too far just for the sake of being weird and... well, extreme. All of these songs need concentration from a listener, except the closer 'Words of My Demise', which is the most listener-friendly. Well, death metal then, but what kind of death metal? I'd say early 1990s low-end carnage (eg. demon-conjuring Finns Demigod) mixed with some groovy stuff, but just don't think about mallcore shite or that kind of crap, please. Dismal Divinity offer nothing unique, but the band know their influences well and they mix them into well-honed mayhem. Production is absolutely in-your-face! It sound live and organic, minus the reverberation on the vocals. All the elements are nicely audible, so expect a vicious, grinding sonic attack.

Vocalist is called Vanesa, and she really is a girl, even though you couldn't tell it by listening to her low growls! She sounds a bit like Avulsed's Dave Rotten, so all kitten-wankers beware. You can read the lyrics from the booklet, but still you can't follow what line she grunts! And yes, I noticed that the track listing is different on cover and on CD... But anyway, she does her job well enough, sounding inhuman, but thankfully nothing like annoying pig-grunter which IMO ain't that extreme at all. The rest of the bands' performances are energetic, but one negative aspect is that drummer seems to get fatigued at times, but otherwise he knows his stuff. Great cover artwork, by Mike Schindler of DragonDesign!

Grab 'Ad Majorem De Gloriam' if you want old school-smelling, neck-ripping in-your-face death metal listening moment. Dismal Divinity aim for total brutality, without straying into any kind of piss poor melodic trip-outs. This what death sounds like.

Rating: 7 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
09/12/2007 22:21