Dååth – "The Deceivers"

Transcending musical boundaries and comeback album standards

While I didn't ever get into Dååth, I was fascinated with what I did hear from them back when. Shit, I had no idea they'd even been apart for more than 10 years and got reunited a coupla years ago. With a different rhythm section, that is. But those line-up changes kinda reflect themselves in an album which, like the latest, blinding Aborted LP, is brimming with guest collaborations, both staff-wise and lead guitar-wise. And this makes for a combined expression of a collective creative power that meticulously aims, shoots, and wins.

This is some complex shit right here, you guys. Much like with the latest, blinding Job For a Cowboy LP, I've been listening to this sucker over and over, and I've still been borderline-anxious about having to sit down and take notes as I do before every review. Because "The Deceivers" is near-impossible to fully overlook and digest.

Then, this might be the kind of album that one ought to experience rather than analyze. And even with a relatively regular +43m playing time, there is a lot to experience.

The sound is bombastic and theatrically grandiose. Heavy, but detailed groove rhythm guitar figures dance hand in hand with infernal blastbeats and dramatic orchestration backdrops, reminiscent of artists like Fleshgod Apocalypse, Devin Townsend, and SepticFlesh. Curiously, current Dååth drummer (and former Decapitated drummer) Krimh is appearing, supposedly, by kind courtesy of exactly SepticFlesh. And he is one of the bigger reasons that this album is so hard to get into, often going into half-time or double-time in the same section, and constantly bombarding your dumbass face with unforeseen fills and just plain superior details. The guy might be a certified genius, and he's younger than I fucking am. Goddammit.

So many things are going on here that I can't possibly give each song the full attention it deserves – even despite taking breaks in between songs.

Opener "No Rest No End" pretty much encapsulates every single element of the album – and the entire band. There are so many things going on that it's impossible for me to keep up – sometimes, this is more like classical or baroque music, but played like extreme metal. Follower "Hex Unending", while more straightforward, still has one of the most impossible 4/4 time feelings I've ever heard since Meshuggah. (And, shit, I said the same thing about one track on the latest Ihsahn LP.) And while the strings acted as a backdrop in the opener, they're in on the riffing here, intensifying an already near-unintensifiable intensity. Yeah, that's now a legitimate expression.

There have been people – wildly ignorant people, you'd assume – who've dismissed Dååth because the band dares incorporate the element of groove. And while I'd gladly be among the first in line to lynch those dumb 21st-century groove-based metal bands pandering to the jock segment, Dååth is so much more than simply groove metal. In fact, in all their breathtaking extremity with cinematic grandiosity complementing punishing riffs and caustic growls, they justify the entire concept of being a groove-based metal band 30 years after the heyday of Pantera.

Indeed, there is simply too much variation and detail-level precision here to neglect the undeniable skill level of this band or simply write them off as just another groove metal outfit – Hell, or just another DM outfit, for that matter. Shit, this is one of those cases where I'm starting to have doubts about the functionality of the different song sections, because the band isn't writing according to that well-known ABABCBB structure. Those sections that turn out to serve as verses and choruses in a traditional sense aren't necessarily the sections you'd expect.

In all their breathtaking extremity, Dååth justify the entire concept of being a groove-based metal band 30 years after the heyday of Pantera.

"With Ill Desire" starts off as pure death thrash. But then, the band introduces a semi-melodic chorus with a catchy little background string motif – just melodic and catchy enough that things don't get annoying. And then, we're off into a pure apocalyptic blastfest. So many things are going on here that I can't possibly give each song the full attention it deserves – even despite taking breaks in between songs.

Sure, some of those orchestral parts may be programmed. Shit, in this AI day and age, I'm not sure of a whole lot any longer. But that doesn't mean said orchestral parts don't have their merit. And unlike with several other DM bands, the drums here are fucking real. And even though the overall soundscape does get a bit too homogenous towards the end, there keeps on being stand-out elements.

One such is the long electronic mid-section in "The Silent Foray", leading up to a slow coda with no logical connection to the song whatsoever. Another is virtually the entirety of "Deserving of the Grave" (featuring one Jeff Loomis), its Hammond-organ spiced waltz having so many strings that it almost sounds like turn-of-the-century Dimmu Borgir, and, just for a single couple of meters, going down into not merely half-time, but just below half-time. Seriously, I can't... I just can't.

In conclusion, "The Deceivers" is a superior demonstration of force, consisting of audacious creative vision and technical brilliance. While I do tire gradually after rounding midway, it's similar to that magnificent kind of tiredness that you reach after midway during a mind-blowing sexual intercourse. And, while perhaps not exactly very sexy, the 5th Dååth LP is mind-blowing enough to most likely be in my personal top 5 when we're ranking the releases of 2024.

Rating: 5 out of 6

Genre: Progressive death metal
Release date: 3/5/2024
Label: Metal Blade
Producer: Eyal Levi et al.