Dim Aura – The Triumphant Age of Death
Band: Dim Aura
Title: The Triumphant Age of Death
Label: Saturnal Records
Release Date: 22 March 2019
Country: Israel
Format Reviewed: Digital Promo
“Black metal songs are meant to be like Calvinist sermons; deadly serious attempts to unite the true believers”
One of the most important driving forces to unite these believers of the northern darkness has always been the Misanthropy, the Nihilism, the resentment towards the established world order, the so-called “civilized” human race, the discrimination between the kings and slaves of the “carnival creation”. From the early days, Judas Iscariot, Craft etc, to the modern days Mgla, Narbeleth, and many others; the flag of nihilism and misanthropy has always been an indispensable feature of black metal. DIM AURA, hailing from Israel, is another shimmering inclusion in this ever growing forces of black resentful metal. Israel has always possessed a prominent black metal scene starting from the early years of Salem, Tangorodrim, Grimoire and many others. But DIM AURA has made its’ presence felt through its’ fearlessness to cross the boundaries of typical raw, cold, dark black metal sound and exploiting many other horizons of the metal world. Their extraordinary debut EP “R.U.S.T.” was a great ode to the early Norwegian black metal sound. Their first full-length album “The Negation of Existence” resembled the first wave of black metal sound in some parts with more punk influences. Then they released another awesome little EP “Negged”.Now they are back with their 2nd full-length album “The Triumphant Age of Death”.The thing which separates this album from their early works to me is the less lo-fi, more organic production they went for this time. After independent release of their earlier works, they teamed up with the mighty Saturnal Records this time which has been home for many awesome black metal releases recently. Don’t worry, the followers of the old school, raw black metal cult. It’s not like some of the more “pretty”, more ” glazing” black metal of nowadays. The raw, primitive black metal is still there with some modern artistry and gaudiness.
What I liked most about this new album is its straight up, in your face black metal from the start. The way that Ferum (also in Infernal Nature) mixes up the dissonant riffing and tangled melodies create an alluring chaotic atmosphere from the start. You’ll also notice lots of tempo changes and little breakdowns throughout the album. The zenith of the opening track “Clockwise Negativism” for me is that part when H. delivers his howling screams with the woody bass and drums attack and then the distortion takes place… It’s like Lemmy himself decided to play some black metal!
“Towards The Plague” continues the brutal yet atmospheric black metal attack. I liked that unexpected outro they used starting with that little, hypnotic 6/8 time signature in the drums. “Black Heretic Hate” is one of my favorite tracks.H.(also in Crux Infernum) is an extraordinary vocal and u can see it throughout the album. You will notice the use of little resentful, dark howling cry he delivers “Black Heretic Hate” in the transition before the verses and after the growling, in the beginning, many times throughout the album and I think that howling cry is the accurate delineation of true nihilist, misanthropic black metal. That sweet, little guitar solo in “Black Heretic Hate” was a pleasant surprise too! “Blood Boiling Misanthropy” continues the black hateful metal attack with some melancholic touches, especially that majestic breakdown from 0:56. “Death, Total Death” is total apocalyptic black metal too… That bloody tremolo from 1:50… It’s like we are marching along on our never-ending journey towards helvete, we’re celebrating the black metal brotherhood of agony, hatred, sorrow, and darkness. That little instrumental “Antinomianism” is beautiful too with the harsh distortions and melodic background…a little relief in-between all the chaos before and after. After that, the title track starts the destructive, wrathful, hateful black metal attack again and it will keep going through “The Cruel” and “Mors Vincit Omnia”.
Though the expectation was quite high from these guys after their awesome early releases, I think they met it and this album transcended all of their early works. The only thing that frustrated me a bit was the drums mixing. Though E.E.F. is a very good drummer, the lack of the sound of bass kicks was a bit disappointing. I wish I could hear the nifty, groovy bass lines of Ofir more often too. But overall I think it was an awesome combination of old school speed metal with a mix of Swedish grim melancholy and Polish raw power… The old classic Norwegian black metal homage is still prominent there too! Hail Black Heretic Hateful Metal… Hail DIM AURA. 8.5 Apollo
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8.5/10 To Greatness and Glory
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