Style: keyboard driven black metal
Primary Emotions/Themes: Parody, the hash
Thoughts: I saw a music video from these guys a while back for The Witch Is Stoned. It was completely insane. Two dudes who were obviously making a joke song mocking all things early black metal. They are in wizard capes, playing ukuleles, smoking long pipes... you know the normal black metal stuff. I thought it was hysterical, but what impressed me more was the quality of the music.
While the band is obviously parodying early black metal, they do so while writing damn good black metal themselves. The music is on the slower side for the genre, but that is hardly to the bands detriment. The song uitilize classic black metal chords and tremolo picking to form the basis of the songs. The drums are simple yet drive the music forward competently.
The real soul of the band is in the keyboards. They are what gives each song its identity, and accurately capture the beauty and simplicity of the 90's black metal bands such as Dimmu Borgir and Satyricon. The melodies are simple, but man do they pack a lot into them. They will brighten up the music by complimenting the guitars perfectly. Adding a melody where there was only rhythm before.
They also know exactly what instruments to choose. A pipe organ (haha) yes indeed they do. Harpsichord? You got it. Orchestral instruments? When needed, yes they are. The keys are expertly done and are a perfect tribute to the second wave bands that used similar styles.
The other highlight of the album is the vocals. For a majority it's just a mid range black rasp, but every now and then clean vocals will be used. The clean vocals remind me quite a bit of Vortex from Borknagar and Dimmu. They have that near operatic quality to them that demands immediate attention.
Dimmu Bongir is a band that surprised the hell out of me. I guessed t hat they would be another meme band that couldn't really write music. The truth is far different. They are a highly competent duo that has a knack for writing a damn good melody while still having a tongue in cheek attitude about their music. I kinda wish there was more bands doing this instead of taking themselves so damn seriously all the time.
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