Ashore the Celestial Burden

There is an obscure branch of the death metal tree that never developed into a legitimate 'sub-genre'. Let’s call it progressive, technical death/doom. Dark Millennium might have been the only band playing it. Their debut album (“Ashore the Celestial Burden”) has spiritual similarities with other left-field, adventurous bands like Pan-Thy-Monium, Afflicted, Dusk, Alchemist and Timeghoul. None of these bands sounded alike, but they all brought prog-rock influences into death metal, years before Opeth released anything. They also tended to share lyrical and conceptual themes; astral plains, outer-space, consciousness, dreamworlds, etc. More recent bands like Blood Incantation have tapped into this vein but it has been a long time coming.

“Ashore the Celestial Burden” sounds like the direction Chuck Schuldiner could have taken after “Spiritual Healing”. Imagine if Chuck had stretched his songs, slowed them down, introduced keyboards and acoustic folk instruments (such as the zither). Chuck never did these things, instead he took the speedy, jazz/fusion-inspired path paved by Atheist. Thankfully, Dark Millennium showed us what this ‘otherworld’ would look like. Their debut album sounds like a cross between the ugly death metal of "Spiritual Healing" and the progressive thrash of "...And Justice for All”. The result was as awesome as it sounds.

This album was an extension of the band's two demos. Dark Millennium (mostly) abandoned the faster, thrashing feel of the first demo, and favoured the slower, deathlier sound of their second demo. The song choices reflect this; four have been re-recorded from that second demo and only one ("Black Literature") from the first. Thankfully, Christian Mertens returns on vocal duties. His presence was so important on the first demo. His impassioned, intelligible screaming was sorely missed on the second. He breathes life and menace into these songs and gives them the narrative they need. He is one of my favourite death metal vocalists, alongside Schuldiner and Martin Van Drunen.

Dark Millennium benefited from being more technically and musically adept than most of their peers. They're less interested in showing off their skills than they are in creating soundscapes. Some of the passages on these lengthy songs almost sound relaxing, but there is always an underlying feeling of terror. The use of guitar effects is superb (such as the echo in “Disillution”). There are lots of keyboard sounds, it sounds like a real piano sometimes (such as the dramatic ‘stabs’ on "Beyond the Dragon's Eye"). The acoustic instruments provide depth and texture and nothing sounds out of place. The band were meticulous in how they planned these songs. There is no filler here. All the songs are excellent. The final track, "The Atmosphere", is my personal favourite. It is a dark, sinister epic that best captures their compositional talents.

The only slight problem is the production. This album doesn’t sound as powerful as it could have done. The bass is inaudible at some points. The guitar tone is clipped and ‘light’ in comparison to the band's demos. It sounds more like a thrash metal tone than a death metal one. Compare this version of "Black Literature" to the one on the first demo, which is much more extreme and evil. The trade-off is that this production accommodates the varied instruments and effects here. Perhaps this sacrifice was worth making but I wonder how good this album might have sounded with a more brutal production. Setting this minor gripe aside, "Ashore the Celestial Burden" is quintessential progressive death metal. It deserves a spot in any death metal collection.

Sometimes you stumble upon a unique band that that figuring out their obvious influences results in a massive headache. Enter Dark Millennium, who are a complete oddball of a band and If I were to compare them to any band, actual later ones like Sadness and Procreating of the Inner Temple-era The Chasm are far the most realistic points of references here, as they share the same gloom and mystique.

One could argue that doom/death metal has always been an experimental genre to begin with, but Dark Millennium really experimented to a point that describing them as a plain doom/death metal band wouldn’t do them justice. To begin with Ashore the Celestial Burden is clearly a progressive album, yet unlike its successor it never turns into something progressive for progressive’s sake. You’ll still find plenty of death metal riffs here though, yet I couldn’t imagine anyone calling this a death metal with doom-y overtones, either; while the fastest riffs vaguely feel connected to the ordinary tremolo attack of Obituary, the result is just something far more bizarre. Don't expect any personal melancholia or tales of old here, though. This is also where Dark Millennium differentiate from most doom/death metal bands and like a higher pitched thrash-yeller doing his best John Tardy impression, Christian Mertens introduces you to their own world on ‘’Below the Holy Fatherlands’’. From there on it’s as if Dark Millennium welcome you to into an esoteric realm soul-searching blokes (not to be confused with self-help junkies) look for.

The real magic of Ashore the Celestial Burden lies in its near-perfect songwriting craft that’s full of unexpected maneuvers and atmospheric brilliance. The first two songs consist of whirlwind-y riffing and present the more furious side of the record, yet it doesn’t take long before the band’s true nature gets revealed. ‘’Black Literature’’ sees Dark Millennium dances the strangest dance, yet from the doom-laden opening to the venomous chorus shouts, each move made still manages to make perfect sense. At its most progressive, the band comes up with the most pleasant surprise, be it a tasty flamenco guitar passage between the violent riff-craft in ‘’Inside the Sunburnt Thoughts of Frost’’ or an ambient-break in the aptly titled ‘’The Atmosphere’’. The latter overwhelmingly opens up with an ominous riff setting the tone of the track and while it doesn't dominantly overpower the listener with full fury and force, it’s nonetheless the most emotionally provocative and exhausting song you’ll find here; as if listening too often to this track in the wrong state of mind would make you question your own existence with all the negative consequences to boot. Even at its most referential Ashore the Celestial Burden seems to refer to some rather unexpected sources. Take the contrastive freak show of ‘’Beyond the Dragon’s Eye’’ for instance - which partially sounds as if you’d stumble upon Soulside Journey-era Darkthrone’s progressive death metal riffs in a more avant-garde setting.

While Dark Millennium takes you on an evocative trip, only ‘’Medina’s Spell’’ is the only track that doesn’t win me exactly over. With a chugging start, it doesn’t take long before it turns into yet another blistering track that sees the band going for the attack, but to no avail it’s just out of place when compared to its surrounding unorthodox tracks that dominate most of Ashore the Celestial Burden. Regardless, this album has to be one of the most essential, if sadly underrated doom/death metal albums of all time. It just stinks that nothing the band has come up afterwards comes close to this (or let alone even sounds enjoyable - but we'll save that for another review perhaps).

This review was originally written for antichristmagazine.com

There are many ways that a metal band can make their music appealing to the listener. The band can incorporate catchy riffs and hooks into their songs. They can dazzle you with their amazing instrumental prowess. They can push their music to extremes people never thought were possible. They can attempt to create atmosphere by overusing keyboards and synths and the like. But Dark Millennium does none of these things on Ashore the Celestial Burden. Instead, they make music that is dark, monolithic and answers to no one, much like the celestial bodies themselves.

But what does this monstrous representation of the stars sound like? Well, this is some doom metal mixed in with some old school death metal, which ends up sounding like a Morbid Angel/Pentagram hybrid of sorts, or perhaps a doomier version of Atheist. However, this was released in the early 90s, and death metal still wasn’t fully removed from its thrash roots yet, so this album also has some thrashy undertones to it- this works very well for the album because it gives it a little more variety and edge in its sound. Not that it really needed much variety - this is a chaotic, unpredictable album to begin with. Despite the “doom” tag, this album has a decent amount of faster sections that resemble death/thrash metal more than anything, and they spring upon you when you least expect them for seemingly no other reason than to keep you on your toes. Just as you’re settling into the dark, eerie plodding of one of the doomier parts of the album, a razor-sharp thrashy section will break out and snap your eyes wide open, almost as if the album was grabbing you, shaking you by the shoulders and yelling “YOU STILL PAYING ATTENTION???” in your face. Normally I look down upon such rapid speed and style changes, as it doesn’t really allow the music to flow properly and it’s hard to establish any feeling towards the music as a result. But these guys managed to pull it off, simply because of the kickass guitar work. The riffs on here are intricate enough that they can play around with a lot of different styles and speeds and such without the central feel of the album really changing. One thing that makes this easier to accomplish for them is the emphasis of dissonance in a good deal of the melodies. Not only do they give the album a more “evil” feel, but the additional element in the guitar makes it easier for the melodies to work with the various styles and tempos of the music. Variety blends well with variety (So much for that bullshit about opposites attracting.)

With just one glance at the album title and artwork (and the beginning of this review), it’s easy to figure out what the atmosphere on Ashore the Celestial Burden is going to represent: The unholy void of space. And let me say right away, they fucking nailed it right on the head. How did they manage to do it? Because they don’t just throw a shitload of keyboards in a feeble attempt to create an “epic” feel like so many bands do. Rather, they use their core components (guitars, vocals, and so on and so forth) to give the album a dark, “spacey” vibe. And even on the rare occasion that they do use keyboards, they do it PERFECTLY! Just listen to the creepy ending of “Black Literature”. It’s quite simply one of the best uses of keyboards in metal I’ve ever heard in my life. It shows up, allows you to take a quick break from the nasty metal that preceded it, it fits the mood of the album to a “T”, and then it goes as fast as it came. It doesn’t need to drag on for minutes because it did its job in seconds. Even though the keyboards are done incredibly well, I’m glad they only make a couple of cameos, because using them more often would ruin their novelty, in a way.

It seems I’ve only mentioned the vocals indirectly so far. I don’t understand why it’s taken me so long to say something about them, because they rule. Far from the pitch-shifted guttural nonsense that plagues way too many bands nowadays, these vocals actually sound like genuine harsh raspy growls, with the occasional use of lower, modern death metal-esque growls. They’re a bit different, sure, and at first they’re a hurdle you have to get past, but once you do they make the music all that much better. Plus, the lyrics are very easy to understand- something that you almost never hear about a death metal band. It’s a good thing, too, because these are some great lyrics.

Dark Millennium does not crave your attention. They do not try to make music that is accessible in any way. This will not jump out at you, and force you to listen to it repeatedly until you get sick of it. No, just like all the greatest treasures, it must be sought out- you must go to it, and only then will you be able to appreciate the subtle beauty that lurks inside the 55 minutes of this album. It may take a few listens, or maybe a few hundred, but as long as you just give the album a chance and let yourself be taken in by the grand darkness that is Ashore the Celestial Burden, you may find yourself with a delightful treat.

Astronomical observatories of an ancient civilization, architecture of a different planet, a labyrinth with a hidden library of esoteric literature, and the abstract realm of chaotic energy – these are examples of atmosphere induced by the album. This is an exotic album that takes the listener on a journey to the unknown lands – not just medieval castles, Viking ships, or dark forests infested with trolls, but something completely different. The power of this album to provide a wide variety of journeys lies in its eclectic nature; taking influences from various sources and employing a diverse arrange of techniques, Dark Millennium integrates them into a completely different monster called 'Ashore the Celestial Burden.' The music is closest to doom/death, leaning toward the death metal side (Amorphis, Sorrow, Ceremonium, etc.), but a thrashy feeling is present from time to time, as are some black metallic tremolo riffs, and an abundance of melodic leads can be found. The closest approximation would be The Chasm, since both bands incorporate diverse components to colorful effects on a foundation made of doom and death metal elements, and even some of The Chasm's characteristic melodic content can be traced to this album (the refrain of 'Beyond the Holy Fatherlands' is an example), though Dark Millennium has a significantly larger amount of doom. It is almost operatic in that the lyrics and the music are integrated, but the very richness allows the listener to experience an independent atmosphere.

The most visibly unique trait of this album is the vocalist. The vocals are closer to thrash metal vocals than death metal vocals in that they are mid-to-high-pitched and have a bit of clean feeling instead of being completely harsh. Thrash vocals would generally not be fitting to a mystical form of music like this, but fortunately the vocals are, while having the mentioned similarities, far from typical thrash vocals. The vocalist is a man but he sounds suspiciously androgynous. However, not in the least does he sound lame; the combination of male and female qualities into a single voice strengthens the inhuman and exotic character, and the style of singing, which is like a tormented priest incanting in vengeance, makes maximum use of this strange voice. Occasionally there are vocal effects, either natural or electronically altered, which change the voice to something completely different, or make the vocals come in from a different starting point for each phrase, giving the impression of demonic possession. The vaguely clean-sounding trait permits a greater control over the vocal melody and allows the lyrics to be clearly delivered – the rapid, rhythmic delivery of rhymed lyrics in 'Beyond the Dragon's Eye' is an exemplary usage of lyrical clarity, and the spellbinding final stanza of 'Inside the Sunburnt Thoughts of Frost' exploit the melodic tendency of the vocals well. The lyrics are told from a first-person perspective of imagine characters (often a Christian, serving a satirical purpose) with frequent use of apostrophe, and the vocal theatrics work very well in its effective delivery of the lyrics, especially the in the cases of sinisterly greeting "welcome home my son" part in 'Black Literature,' and the soft yet eerie clean vocals of 'Beyond the Dragon's Eye' which haunt the supposed second-person to whom the lyrics are addressed.

Even with the mystical qualities, the rather high-pitched vocals could sound out of place on a typical doom/death album with focus on bass-heavy riffing. This album, however, in addition to being atypical vocally, is far from typical instrumentally. There are certainly a large number of riffs played on the lower strings – the dark and slow power chord-based doom riffs with some chugging and the faster death metal riffs with a chaotic sense of melody are probably the most abundant forms of riffs. There are also some thrash-influenced riffs, some of which are chugged in a thrashy way but still contain phrases with melody bent toward death/doom at the end, while others consist of constant alternate picking in triple meter, sounding vaguely speed-metal. On the other hand, there are also tremolo riffs played with higher-pitched notes, which resemble black metal more than death metal in their clear sense of melody and comparatively slow pitch-change, and many lead-riffs of an eerie character, sometimes with heavy echo in the background atmosphere (see 'Wizardry Assemblage'), both of which are frequently supported by contrapuntal melodies played on another guitar. There are also short lead passages, which, elaborating on the melodic potentials of the riffs underneath, serve as a variation or a transition into the next riff. The bass generally follows the guitars, but the addition of acoustic guitars, most heavily present on 'Inside the Sunburnt Thoughts of Frost,' and 'Beyond the Dragon's Eye,' more than compensates for the simple bass line; the acoustic guitars are often used in homophonic conjunction with the distorted power chords for melodic clarification, and there are even acoustic guitar solos, either above distorted or acoustic riffs. Guitar solos, whether they are played on acoustic guitars or distorted guitars, are never blazingly technical, and slow for the most part. The melodies are never really dissonant, but a sense of uneasiness is maintained, and even a more relaxed and consonant melody will eventually twist itself into the shadows. Synthesizers are generally employed for atmospheric effect, providing bell tolls in 'Beyond the Dragon's Eye,' and the clashing steel percussion of 'Father Legatus – Of Symbols, Nature, and Birth,' but are also used to provide actually melody in some cases, most notably in the instrumental 'Disillusion,' and the middle interlude of 'The Atmosphere.' The instruments contribute to the theatrical effect; the aforetime mentioned final stanza of 'Inside the Sunburnt Thoughts of Frost' is supported by a build-up of shifting lead melodies connected to the end of a uniform distorted phrase, and the haunting singing of 'Beyond the Dragon's Eye' is accompanied by either a twisted melody played on top of low-pitched chords, together forming harmonic dissonance, or dark acoustic arpeggios. The general mood of the album, as a consequence of the diversity and individual melodies, is exotic – not simply oriental, though there are quite a number of oriental melodies (most prominently the acoustic solo of 'Inside the Sunburnt Thoughts of Frost') and while it is outlandish, it is not spatial. It definitely leans toward the darker side, but instead of being black, it displays a variety of colors – including dark red, dark blue, and deep purple.

Each song usually has little repetition and tends to progress in a linear fashion, though there are exceptions including 'Below the Holy Fatherlands' and 'The Atmosphere' with the chorus appearing twice, and 'Black Literature,' which has the chorus thrice repeated. However, even these do not repeat complete verse-chorus cycles; instead they have the refrains entering in different contexts, with lengthy intros and middle sections, and 'Black Literature' segues into 'Inside the Sunburnt Thoughts of Frost' through an ambient interlude, so the sense of repetition is not very strong. The combination of stylistic diversity and lack of repetition could easily lead to chaos – fortunately, that is not the case, but nonetheless this aspect does render the album less than ideal. Transitions are rarely awkward, though sometimes abrupt such as the "reinstatement of my senses" part of 'Black Literature,' but they lack a sense of necessity, and except for 'Beyond the Dragon's Eye,' with a distinctively dark mood and a nearly symmetrical structure (it winds out the opposite way it progressed in the first half, like A-B-C-B-A), each song's thematic unification is not strong enough to keep it as a clearly distinguished entity when viewed from a holistic perspective. Each song does remain coherent and has a sense of beginning, climax, and ending when heard by itself, but a riff from one song could have been on another, assuming that sufficient contextual care has been given. However, songs are far from meandering pointlessly, and the relaxed structure contributes to the journeying nature of the album in that songs flow naturally from one to another, and the atmosphere is varied yet consistent album-wise, since many of the diverse elements are not confined to a few tracks but appear throughout the album.

From the vivid to the abstract, 'Ashore the Celestial Burden' displays a variety of atmosphere, without ever falling apart into randomness. This is a work of melodic diversity, mystical character, and progressive, albeit slightly loose, structure. This ominous and arcane album is not glaringly weird, but genuinely unique.

Dark Millennium is a rather unknown doom/death band from Germany and they're one of those bands that just don't get the praise that they deserve. Why? They rule. Pure and simple. Everything about them is awesome and nearly flawless.

But first let me tell you about the first time I visited this band's page. Once I saw the artwork to this album I thought that a album with a cover like that was bound to be boss and so I gave a listen by sheer impulse. Only after listening to the album did I see their genre. I was definately surprised. This band surely is death metal, but there's also no doubt that they're more than that. I can understand why someone would say this has doom influences but filing it under doom/death is both inaccurate and incomplete. Even more obvious here are the progressive and melodic influences. It would be more accurate to categorize them under the same league as Atheist and the like.

That doesn't mean this band is an Atheist clone. No, these guys are definitely not as progressive as Atheist but they are far more melodic and atmospheric. This album is a unique experience that everyone should have and if you enjoyed Atheist you're definitely gonna love this album because they are just as good or even better than them.

The first thing you'll notice about this album is how great the riffs are. Once I heard the opening riffs to "Below The Holy Fatherlands" I knew this album would have great riffing. And, trust me, the riffs will stay this good, even better sometimes.

Something I thought was very special about this band was their lyrical themes. Yes they're mostly about religion but they go from a perspective different from what I had seen before. They do not talk about non-religion (Atheist) nor anti-religion(painfully obvious bands), instead they opt for a fake-religion theme. A perfect example for this is the track "Black Literature", which, by the way, is my favorite, this track talks about the way people were forced to accept religious values in the days of the Inquisition (and, in some ways, still are). Back in those days anyone who didn't believe in God would be immediately burned in the cross and this track talks about the feelings of revenge, fear and falsity that caused.

But what's even more important is just how musically great that track is. I mean, just listen to that intro. I can't remember the last time I heard a intro that badass. In any other band I would also comment on how solid and well-composed the rest of the track is but this isn't any other band, this is only the third track on the album but by now you should already be accustomed to this kind of quality.

Overall this album is just intense and solid from start to finish and, even though there are some stand out tracks like "Father Legatus", "Wizardry Assemblage" and "Medina's Spell", there isn't any filler in this album. All tracks have something great about them and even "Dissilution", which is a short acoustic instrumental (something that usually is pretty corny and cheap), will leave you astounded due just to how tasteful and well-made it is.

One track that particularly intrigues me is "Beyond The Dragon's Eye". It starts as a dark and gloomy ballad and then it turns somewhat power metal-ish at some parts. Yes, your heard me, power metal-ish. What is something like that doing in a album like this, you say? I have no idea. But one thing I know. It works.

If you are, by any means, sane you should be thinking about getting this album right away. It won't get any better than this and you don't find good albums this solid and consistent very often. This album is one-of-a-kind and it should be experienced by every single metalhead out there.

Get this album or Medina will lay an everlasting curse on you.