Dalkhu - Descend... into Nothingness

DALKHU - Descend... into Nothingness (GODZ OV WAR / THIRD EYE TEMPLE MC 2016)

Slovenian band this time. Well, I can’t remember any other band from this country that I would know… so, it’s something new and it can be either very interesting or very bad, I said to myself. Luckily it was the first and the experience of listening Dalkhu music was very good. "Descend... into Nothingness" is actually their second album, but I never heard about “Imperium” or Dalkhu before I got this tape (released by Godz ov War / Third Eye Temple and sold out already). But who cares… let’s go.

This album is quite weird, because it's not a straight up death metal, which you would normally expect. The whole "Descend... into Nothingness" music is a surprising effort to put up more unconventional death metal and even if this music has some influences from other acts (both old and new), the band managed to transform it into their own sound. And the result is something really intriguing and original, I think. I won't even bother to make some usual comparisons to this or another band, as I don't even know what would be fair for Dalkhu and what would make any sense. And well, I won't do this also because I am not sure, if I know any bands, which would really sound similar to Dalkhu. And please, take this as a compliment, especially as nowadays we're flooded with zillions of same sounding acts and only few dare to do something different and individual.

What’s so unique about Dalkhu then? Well, it’s just the way they combine specific type of melodies (which are a lot here) with some brutal, quite complex and often fast death metal what makes their music sound so original. And almost weird sometimes. It’s definitely hard to foresee what will be next and definitely the whole “Descend... into Nothingness” is one of those albums, which need time and several listens before you will get into it and actually figure out what’s it about. It’s not straight forward, easily listenable effort, there may be some memorable tunes but all are surrounded by some chaotic parts or melodic, almost mesmerizing bits with complexity of song structures, etc. So, don’t give Dalkhu opinion after the first spin of “Descend... into Nothingness”.

I’ve mentioned the melodic side of the album. Well, definitely there are many harmonious parts on “Descend... into Nothingness”, but it’s fascinating how different are these melodies, which the Slovenian band came with. They’re just not kind of melodies you would know and usually hear. They have almost black metallish atmosphere, Dalkhu sometimes comes up with them in the most unexpected ways and moments, so this is another reason why this album is not that easy to get into. And definitely it’s awesome how Dalkhu managed to combine that side of their music with harsh and brutal death metal. It often gets really fast, blasting with a killer wall of massive, heavy riffage and then again it abruptly slows down… Just take the opening anthem “Pitch Black Cave”, as it’s not only the best song from the album in my opinion (and one of  the fastest also!), but a great example for diversity of Dalkhu music. Oh, I need also to mention that I love the vocals, I really like this sort of deep, but quite understandable growling. Fuckin awesome. I don’t need to say anything about the instrumentation as it should be pretty obvious that the whole performance of both Dalkhu members is spot on. The production of “Descend... into Nothingness” is also great. And I love the artwork and band logo. Yeah, very nice, surprising band from Slovenia.

Standout tracks: “Pitch Black Cave”, “In the Woods”

Final rate: 70/100