FDS - XII.07

FDS - XII.07 (Death Dealers Association - MCD 2009) 

Let the World Burn crew never stops surprising me. In the past few years they’ve frequently been unleashing great music from all their projects. It's not just MasseMord or Furia anymore, but also Morowe, Cssaba and also FDS (which is a shortcut for "Fin de siecle"). I must say that buying any recordings from those bands is very safe and I can always be sure of the quality, but FDS' "XII.07" MCD turned out to be especially interesting and it surely is one of the best materials those guys have recorded, in my opinion. When I started to listen to it, I was simply astonished by its wonderful, cold atmosphere and liked every detail that completes the MCD. I can honestly say that musically it's a better release than MasseMord's "The Madness Tongue Devouring Juices of Livid Hope” and one, which is very close to Furia's excellent "Grudzień za Grudniem".

I think that FDS is stylistically pretty close to what have been recorded under the name Furia, but it's not exactly the same. "XII.07" is first and foremost quite slow and almost melancholic all the way through... or if you would prefer to call it depressive, it doesn't matter. The fact is that for most part, these three songs that fill up the MCD have been played in slow tempo with many nostalgic, melancholic parts and almost doomy, suicidal atmosphere. There's a shadow of some Norwegian classics, if you like the debut of Ulver, then you might find FDS interesting. And Germania’s Dornenreich. But there's also strong Burzum vibe in some of the riffs, especially in "Bezduch", which for me has some amazing riffing in the vein of "Dunkelheit", one of the greatest black metal hymns ever written. I don't treat those comparisons as an objection, never, because FDS managed to transform them into their own style. Besides, unlike many, many other bands around, FDS has completed fantastic songs, those guys had many brilliant ideas and riffs - the song structures are far from being simple and boring, because there's something impressive and interesting going on all the time, whether by changing the tempo or by the use of acoustics or simply because of the way Cień sings, which is 100% original. All lyrics have been written in Polish, what fits his way of singing perfectly and I can say that I like it a lot, but I wonder whether those, who don’t speak Polish will like this kind of singing? I don't care. "XII.07" is excellent as it is and I cannot recommend it enough, it's simply a must to have. So please get the CD asap and enjoy it! Meanwhile I can't wait to hear the debut album from FDS, which is going to be titled "Nagranie z Muzyką Naiwną".

Superb release!

Final rate: 95 / 100