Speculative Metal

With the release of Kenose in 2005, Deathspell Omega confirmed the trend they had started with SMRC. Dissonance as the basis of extremely complex and extensive compositions, the likes of which had never been seen before on the scene, made all eyes turn to them. Here begins a true revolution in Extreme Metal with a band that composed with unparalleled mastery and whose legion of imitators and followers has only grown since then. Hyper-riffs, speculative melodies, polymorphic rhythms, rhizomatic structures, hyper-complex narrative architecture... A sound and aesthetic discourse that will know no limits... Kenose I A drum pattern serves as the basis for an arpeggiated guitar riff that is repeated 4 times in a vast formal structure. The repetitions add variations to the guitar, which adds details to its harmonic skeleton, complex but subtle. In the percussion, the changes are more noticeable and evident with an excellent handling in the development of the resources used: the drummer builds...

At the beginning of chapter 5, "Faustian Arts: The Triumph of Instrumental Music over Oil Painting" of his Liber Semitarum, Relgneps Razalas states that: "In the last decade of the 20th century, three bands were formed that began to use dissonance as a primary symbol, not as an ornament or decorative element, which was the way in which (with exceptions such as Gorguts ) it had been used until then. To dissonance was added a compositional element that had also been used in a secondary way until then: texture seen as atmosphere ." Wassily Kandinsky,  Composition VI Deathspell Omega and Blut aus Nord , both bands of French origin, revolutionized the way extreme metal is conceived at the beginning of this century with two trilogies of albums that shook the foundations of the style and forced the rest to take a position. In turn, the Australians Portal , released their albums simultaneously during the first and second decade of this century as a response of Death Metal...

Reverorum ib Malacht is one of the bands that is taking extreme metal to unexplored territories due to the extreme experimentation to which they subject all the elements that make up their music. They are a perfect definition of what Speculative Metal is. All the sound parameters of his compositions are approached from a new perspective by applying Salazar's Law so that "an entirely new sound world" emerges (Salazar, "Fundamental concepts in the history of music", 2004:210).  https://speculativemetal.blogspot.com/2024/04/salazars-law-2.html Reverorum ib Malacht delves into unknown regions within the genre where each parameter is subjected to limitless experimentation : - The guitar riffs that are the basis of any metal band are absent in a good part of their compositions or their role is secondary, ceding the main role to the drums and the textures and atmospheres. When the guitars have more prominence, they are usually focused as samplers, as textures, with ...

  0. Introduction “Our work is structured like the Roman god Janus: facing both the past and the future.” HASJARL “Si Monvmentvm Reqvires, Circvmspice” is the link between the first Deathspell Omega and those to come from Kenose. This album is the bridge between that first style where the band pays tribute to the classics of the genre and the style that they will adopt from this release and for which they are famous within extreme metal, a very personal, very original style, of a quality that cannot be has been matched by no other band within the genre. The band deploys several resources here that will be the basis of their aesthetic from now on. This album is the farewell to the old style, and the herald of what is to come: the birth of a new sonic paradigm that will change the history of metal forever. 1. First Prayer The track consists of an extensive riff-arpeggio. It is one of Hasjarl's most original and striking characteristics on the guitar: performing long riffs with f...