I've been listening to a lot of black metal lately. Much of it being religious in nature. I figured I may as well go back to one of the very first albums that successfully captured that "black metal in a church" feeling for me. Enter Deathspell Omega.
I remember when this album first dropped, it caused quite the stir in the metal world. No one had heard anything quite like this before. Sure there was bands that had done the black metal with religious tenancies before... but nothing like this. I mean, this album starts out with a Gregorian chant to put the listener right into the state of mind that we are going to be listening to some black metal that takes satan as a literal being and this is the music the worship this entity.
To drive this point home the first song of nearly every side of this album is called a prayer. Each one of these compositions is repetitive and hypnotic, each one mimics a traditional hymn in different ways. One includes chants, another includes variations on the same verse structure throughout. They all set the stage for the chaos that is about to come.
Outside of the more meditative moments of the record the music contained within Si Monvmentvm is a combination of traditional black metal and utter chaos. The riffs will alter between normalize sounding black metal melodies and chords and then completely break down into either ambience, a cacophony of notes, or some combination thereof that results in a complete flurry of activity.
I first had this album on CD, and honestly its a bit long for one sitting. But when broken down into the 15-20 minute chunks that is required for being on vinyl the album becomes a lot more digestible. The album almost seems like it was recorded with the vinyl format in mind with the way the songs are laid out - particularly with the prayer songs being the start of 3 of the 4 sides. Whatever the intention Deathspell would use this album as the launching point for the insanity that would follow.
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