Diabolicanos • Act 111: Armageddon
Polish blackened death metallers Devilish Impressions have unleashed their second full-length studio album. Titled “Diabolicanos • Act 111: Armageddon” it is yet another monstrous and raging effort. It follows their first album released in 2006, “Plurima Mortis Imago” which attracted significant record label interest from around the world. After choosing the London based Conquer records, the band went through a series of line up changes before settling and heading out on tour. Up until now they’ve played with several of their well-known contemporaries including Suffocation, Immolation, Benediction and Vader. They are also just about to embark on a European tour with Behemoth and Dismember to promote this latest release.
“Diabolicanos” uses quite an avant-garde approach to creating black metal, combining extreme brutality with more epic and extravagant moments. Many layers are combined to produce this immediate, intensely aggressive and heavy front, while underneath this there are almost gentle, beautiful passages hidden away behind the raging and extreme gut wrenching vocal attack from Quazarre who on occasion does sound like he’s trying to catch his breath. There are also some strange sounding screams, wails, dark laughter and rattling chains, which altogether provide a rather disturbing, eerie and dangerous listening experience. It’s slightly unsettling and works in great contrast with the calming atmospheric layers underneath.
It’s definitely a well-produced and tight piece of work with many more layers than first meets the eye. Yes it’s straight up black metal and this is quite apparent judging by the lyrical content, which may be considered blasphemy by some. One fine example is “I am the son of God” (Quazarre spits out the lyrics “I am the one who hanged on the fucking cross”) Uniquely however this sits alongside some quite epic moments that may make it accessible to those that haven’t ventured this far into the dark just quite yet. You’re also guaranteed to get your money’s worth with 9 tracks reaching up to 8 minutes in length. I would also recommend investing some time listening to this beast because it’s definitely not background music.
On reading about this band I’ve come across a few people who have said that this album is very different to first release “Plurima” as the band are now focusing on melody and lead guitar rather than complicated riffs and keyboards. So anyone that’s familiar with them and is expecting “Plurima” part 2, don’t hold your breath.
I guess as they’ve had quite a few comparisons to Dimmu Borgir and Emperor I recommend fans of these to check out Devilish Impressions latest, anyone else however that likes the sound of blending black metal and dark atmospheric should definitely give them a go.