Nebularium

I had always wondered why DM was labeled as a progressive melodeath band, and after listening to all their albums from Fragments onwards, I was even more confused, since Fragments have a little prog influence, everything after that are just pop metal music, nothing progressive about that. But in that moment, I noticed that they had an album before Fragments, so I checked it out.

And oh boy what a trip I got myself into, this isn't Gothenburg, this is closer to prog bands like Opeth and TSOP-era Death, which neatly fit into my cup of tea. Long winding songs with constant twist and turns and innovative song ideas for their time with influences from many genres like death, thrash, blues, doom, and so on, while not taking up too much time in case anyone here cannot stand long songs (but then why are you listening to a prog album if you don't like long songs?).

The album reminds me of Opeth more than later-Death with the juxtaposition of clean, subdued sections with harsh vocals and fast guitars/frums, while occasionally combining some parts of one with the parts of another, like double bass drums while clean vocals are sung. In fact, I would say this album is the closest equivalent to MYAH-Ghost Reveries era of Opeth, except DM has a better grasp on guitar harmonies and more experimentation while Opeth has an advantage in atmosphere and vocals (ESPECIALLY the growls).

The production here is actually pretty decent, every instrument is mixed fairly (you can hear the bass ffs), but it is an accomplishment considering this is probably the first time Ettore mixed an album and many would fumble their first attempt at mixing.

Regarding songwriting, this is definitely their best album by a country mile, they took many liberties in songwriting like incorporating blues-y grooves in Mechanichell, autotune vocals in Burning Cells, a techno dance section in Blue Lake. The brilliant part is that they managed to weave these sections into their respective songs without making them sounding out of place, even if these elements are inherently opposite of metal music. Another noteworthy thing is that besides the intro (and bonus track), the songs are surprisingly well rounded, no songs stood out too much on their own, and every song is genuinely enjoyable by itself, you don't see this happening in most albums, even when excluding concept albums. While Mechanichell and Burning Cells resemble material that would be in Fragments, Blue Lake, Demiourgo, the title track and Guilty Claims sounds closer to traditional prog death.

This is the rare album where I say all songs are highlight worthy, not even Imperial Circus Dead Decadence's third album have this honour (well except Chester if you listen to the 2003 version like I did).

The instrumentation and vocals are pretty standard for a prog album, technical drums that need to accomodate various time signature and BPM changes, audible bass (now I know why Fragnments has audible bass). But the guitars are what stood out compared to most prog death albums, not many progressive death/melodeath albums put guitar harmonies as their main focus back then, besides maybe Edge of Sanity and Opeth, while DM did this without sacrificing other instruments. Meanwhile the vocals are honeslty pretty generic, this is not helped by the vocalist have a distinct Italian accent even when singing which garbles the lyrics when sung, but the growls are quite solid, at some sections it reminds me of Dan Swano.

Overall, an excellent progressive death metal album (yes, not melodeath because DM did more than just melodeath in this album) that can stand side by side with prog death giants like Opeth, Edge of Sanity, Gojira and so on. Its a shame that they gradually ditched this style of music after this album, growing closer to Gothenburg (especially Soilwork) before ditching all the prog influence they had and treading water.

Any metalhead really should pick this one up, its a wild journey contained in one disc (or vinyl if they decide to press this).

Summarizing Disarmonia Mundi is an incredibly easy job: They're an Italian melodic death metal band well-known for their music's high energy and aggression. They're well-regarded in some circles, laughed at in others, but mainly unknown to quite a few melodeath fans. They're middle-ground in popularity- Not quite enough to be mainstream, even in melodic death metal communities, yet with enough of a cult following to come up rather often in conversation about melodeath bands, particularly when discussing Soilwork, due to Strid performing on efforts from both bands. Much of their popularity in the past came from DrakeDog, an almost legendary figure in the old WoW community. Whenever you look at comment sections of the band's 2004-2009 songs, you'll see at least a few nostalgic mentions of him. Admittedly, I've never been into WoW, and this is a time period that I missed, as I wasn't into anything much heavier than Disturbed or Korn at the time. I know, disappointing. I've surely come a long way, particularly when thinking about the former.

That being said, this album is widely forgotten, even by Disarmonia Mundi's own fanbase, yet I would regard it as their apex. I believe it's unknown by most because of its radically different sound and lineup. Aside from Ettore, everyone else who was present on this record is no longer in the band, and that's a massive shame. I don't have any greater 'what if' for any band or musical outlet than what could've been if the band all stayed together after Nebularium. It's crazy to think that there's only one review of it on here. The only musical work I can think of that's even close to this is Karmachain, the former band of Japanese melodeath band Blood Stain Child's vocalist, Sadew, which is more art rock than progressive death metal. The overall quality in regards to the music and production, as well as the overall feel of the guitars, are very much common ground I can find in regards to both forgotten efforts. As much as I'd love to do a review on Fly To You, it isn't a metal album, thus it'll never be here, thus I doubt there'll ever be any reviews on it lest someone actively goes to do so and gets lucky with a surge of viewership on their coverage of it.

There are no songs that are even as low as 'great' on here, and they all make for an experience that is difficult to put into words. It's a visceral dream-like experience whose imagery goes perfectly with the original album cover. It is a mystifying and magical experience.

If you really need to find something to criticize, the album isn't heavy, and every element is rather accessible. That being said, is any of it mainstream or made for radio? Absolutely not. Not in the least. Half of the songs clock in at seven minutes, with the shortest being just under three minutes. But aside from the intro and outro songs, which are both fantastic in their own right, each song goes through a complete musical journey that has twists and turns in the structure and playing that all feel completely natural in both the seamlessness of the transition and in what's being played. Yet with this progressive sound and structure comes an accessible sound, neither of which tilt the scale towards being pretentious nor simple/mainstream. The band has such an incredible amount of talent here, with their musicianship and keen eye for identifying when, where, how long, and at what volume each and every element and sound should be played at being the greatest boon for the album. Many people regard the members of Periphery, Tool, Meshuggah, etc. having some of the most talent out of all the progressive metal bands out there (To be fair, yes, those are rather mainstream examples), but I don't think even they come close to the band members here. While progressive and death metal are the two greatest labels and sounds present on the album, the music dips into thrash, bluesy jazz (With this sound in particular being my favorite), heavy metal, slight dream pop, gothic, post-rock, art rock/art metal, and avant-garde. None of the sounds listed ever overstay their welcome, and the dream pop and avant-garde sorts of sounds are both rather subdued and understated when applied, yet they're always purposeful and impactful. One of the best descriptions for the album is as a melting pot of sounds, much like the idealized vision of America when it was transitioning from its foundation to its growth. It's an album that when I've shown it to one of my friends who loves black metal and noise, he ended up being rather pleasantly surprised, yet also some that my friends who like pop or other mainstream music also really enjoyed. But how is that possible for something that's both progressive death metal, yet is also really approachable? The proficiency and talent of the composition and performances is something that just can't be overstated. The progressive side of things dips its foot into both older progressive metal (Or rather pre-djent) and progressive rock ala Rush and King Crimson, but it ends up also applying to more accessible clean melodies. The death metal side is mainly relegated to the vocals, which are very unmistakably growls and slightly high-mid screams, yet they're slightly back in the mix in a sort of shoegaze-y way (Without the music ever dipping into that, so they end up still being clear) and are incredibly approachable, being easy to listen to and enjoy. The clean vocals are also fucking sublime, sounding absolutely phenomenal without ever getting as poppy as Älvestam or even Strid. While the latter vocalists are rather heavy-handed in approach of brutal/poppy with the harsh and clean vocals respectively, Chinto never truly goes too far towards either side while still displaying a surprising amount of range, and it always sounds wonderful. Sure, some of his growls and screams (Like in "Burning Cells" or "Chester", which yes, is a bonus track) end up getting rather brutal and intense, but they're somehow never unapproachable or abrasive.

I haven't brought up the guitars because I simply don't know how to. There's so much complexity and nuance to them that it's overwhelming to try to describe, yet they're never pretentious or overwhelming to listen to. Distorted guitars, clean guitars, and acoustic guitars are all present here, and that's the easiest thing to say without dissecting the sounds, playing, and technique all greatly utilized. I just don't have the knowledge to understand or describe it as well as I'd like to.

Each song does its own thing, having a distinct and unique feel from one another. The most streamlined song, "Mechanichell", a death-y thrasher, still sounds incredibly fresh and original. The overall sound of the album is something that feels like its before 2000, yet also so far ahead of its time, and I mean both of those in the very best ways possible. The album is a master stroke in how to do an ungodly amount of things and somehow do them all perfectly. The forty-four minutes (Or forty-seven if you're listening to "Chester" as well) goes by far too quickly and smoothly because it's such an enjoyable and magical experience.

The drums have an incredible punch to them, with the snares and and double bass drums being the hardest-hitting. However, Ettore utilizes the entire kit to great effect, and the kit itself has a sound more rooted in prog rock and old school heavy metal than anything more modern or crushing. It never overtakes the sound, instead accommodating to the sound, being one element that plays in harmony with the others for the sake of the greater picture. The bass is very much the same, with it having an almost funky clean sound, rather than a chunkier or heavier one that ultimately still has a thick sound that fills out that part of the mix. The bass serves the role of providing a sonic depth that is only provided by one other element at a time otherwise. The production and mixing on Nebularium is perfect, with each element sounding clear as can be and filling out one part of the mix at a time. I don't think there's a better definition of perfect production and mixing, and although you could argue for some being better stylistically, I think that this is my favorite piece of music production subjectively and up there as one of the greatest objectively.

Is this album for everyone? No, certainly not. I don't think any piece of music is. If you showed it to someone who likes mumble rap, for example, nine times out of ten that'd be a bust. But it's for such a great amount and wide range of people that I have to commend it simply because it's not something that's clearly trying to please everything, it just does. It's a genuine and honest work that I would say truly encompasses what music simply is (And there is very much a difference between saying that and saying that it encompasses each genre, subgenre, and sound of music; I'm simply talking about music as a whole). It is the most unique and original piece of music I have ever heard, and will likely ever hear. I'm someone who is incredibly picky about what I rate as 100%. A piece of music has to be perfect or near perfect in order to do so, and even my favorite albums tend to only get 95% at most simply because there are things that I can pick out as fundamental flaws. Nebularium has no fundamental flaws, and I would argue that it even surpasses the 'near perfect' bar subjectively. If I could only recommend one piece of music to everyone I come across, it would be Nebularium. And if you're a Disarmonia Mundi fan, even if the high octane aggression is what you love about them, you are doing yourself a complete disservice by not checking this album out. This album is truly special, and I don't think anything comes close to it.

Songs To Recommend: Everything.
Songs To Avoid: N/A

Why this album is overlooked for the band's other albums is beyond me, as at this point in their career the group didn’t focus on the chorus to tug the audience. The main reason for the band’s success lied in the lead harmony of the guitar, which in fact isn’t exactly overdone or similar in comparison to itself. This is in part do to the influences it encompasses: Blues, Thrash, Progressive, Death, and Doom Metal. Such genre hopping not only causes each song to sound fresh from one another, but also tends to morph into a track from a different band and thus giving that compilation feeling. For instance, “Demiurgo” leans into the typical Opeth format while retaining its originality – somber passages, a multitude of double bass pummeling, captivating yet interchangeable riffs, and several mood swings under the tone of the song. The one thing Disarmonia dishes out better than Opeth under these circumstances is the guitar leads, easily the reason why the minority of fans prefer this album to their newer output.

Hand it to the vocals – very intuitive, easy on the ears, and less of a monster growl many Death Metal bands strive to achieve these days. Bianco’s clean vocals, while not overdone in the least bit, becomes diverse as the album progresses; this actually also applies with his growls. In the title track for example, he’ll be very energetic under both vocal styles, blowing the roof right off of the studio thanks to a little production effects. A couple minutes into the track however and the entire rhythm of the song will shift, as well as how deep Bianco’s growl becomes (or whether it becomes screaming) and how the riffs will trill around them by either going clean or chuggy on us.

Ettore’s drumming is another highlight, making great use of double bass, cymbal striking, and snare bashing. All timed nicely, clearly inputted, and fun to ride along with. Bass duties, although pretty secondary since the guitars are the forefront of the album, is clearly a piece of every track, maintaining heaviness and depth in what would be a pretty shallow sounding record. Making up for this setback occurs when the bass steals the spotlight a few times, most notably on the longer tracks and becoming an integral part of the song. “Burning Cells”, an adopted track by Kreator if it was written by them, would probably be the best representation of everything coming together to create a riff-crazy, thrashy, fast-paced double bass assault.

I have yet to hear an album similar to this, hopefully during my lifetime. It’s a shame they ditched this sound for the typical catchy routine thousands of others adopted. With Nebularium, Death, Progressive, and Thrash fans have a reference to lay back on for auditory gains on all fronts. It’s relatively impossible to recommend another album to top this, as no other album combines such genres to mold such a creation. If one band is able to put a plethora of bands to shame with a debut, why aren’t there any other groups attune to the same procedure? Deterioration through replication? Perhaps… oh well, all the more rare!