Dim Carcosa

Whenever it comes to Ancient Rites, we can enjoy a history lesson. The band has style and does not sing about crude bullshit. Nevertheless, the music itself is always the most important element and "Dim Carcosa" does not only consist of killer tracks. Kicked off by a pompous intro which picks up again the melody of "Fatherland", the album has its highs and lows. And the intro itself makes this clear, because its actually good atmosphere is negatively affected by a cheesy female choir. Thank God, it delivers only a few tones.

"Dim Carcosa" is filled to the brim with opulent, sometimes bombastic arrangements. Honestly spoken, I am unsure whether the album really benefits from this approach. Sometimes the keyboards gain the upper hand and dilute the metallic fundament. Similar to Pavlov's dog, I hear this instrument and become grumpy. But if the truth be told, the keyboards do not mark a bad thing per se. Among other things, they play a prominent role on "Götterdämmerung" and this piece marks the album's climax. An emotional intro leads to a currish, aggressive number that possesses fantastic melodies and high speed drumming as well. Excellent breaks shape an inspiring piece that cannot be blamed for showing any signs of laxness. The lyrics are great as well and their key message is "my only God is me". Dubious, but consistent with the song title. Too bad that the further tracks do not achieve the dizzying heights of this monument.

There are always some details that irritate the listener. An enumeration: clean or "heroic" background vocals deliver unsuitable pathos. An overdose of bombastic lines is not very helpful. The pieces need time to develop an own identity, because Gunther and his team use the same song formula again and again. The tracks are not predictable and do not follow simple, conventional patterns. But all of them mix pretty melodramatic sections with rather furious parts and it remains a mystery why the band did not write at least one or two merciless neckbreakers without soft interludes. (Exactly the opposite is happening: "Remembrance", a piano piece, stands out - due to its unique format, not in terms of quality.) Sometimes the output almost sounds like an opera, but I would have preferred that Ancient Rites would not have forgotten their roots regardless whether we are speaking of their debut, their second album or "Fatherland". Finally, a small number of songs has parts which are going nowhere ("North Sea"). All these details do not push the album into the abyss of meaninglessness, but they reduce the listening pleasure.

What remains is an album of a band that does not show its full potential. Weak choruses like that of "Lindisfarne (Anno 793)" reflect the sub-average performance. So now I get back to "Götterdämmerung" and listen to this great piece once again. Everything else fails to enthuse me and yes, I am slightly disappointed although the majority of the tunes is not really bad. Even the atmospheric title track at the end of the running order reaches a certain level of quality, yet it is a fact that there are countless albums that defeat "Dim Carcosa" in a matter of minutes.

Ancient Rites is one of those European black metal bands that has consistently put out good to great albums throughout their career. Sadly and quite understandably, they never managed to make it big like their Scandinavian counterparts such as for instance Emperor and Mayhem. They have remained somewhat of a hidden gem in the black metal scene, up to their semi-hiatus state of late.

With Dim Carcosa, Ancient Rites were two albums in their "international members" phase, with guitarists Erik Sprooten and Jan Yrlund respectively hailing from Holland and Finland joining them. Especially the multi-talented Jan Yrlund seems to be a very welcome creative addition to the band, being responsible for the melodic and harmonic additions to the sound of Ancient Rites.

The songwriting has improved even more since their previous album "Fatherland". Everything really fits and works, there are no loose ends to be found on this album. Even the intro and outro, which many bands often quickly steal from a budget recording of some long deceased classical composer, are carefully crafted pieces with a really unique atmosphere. The band successfully captures different moods throughout the album; from the blasting fury of "Exile (Les litanies de Satan)" through the majestic and dramatic heroism of "...and the Horns Called for War", the melancholy of "North Sea" and the nearly sadistic ode to the heathen viking avengers on "Lindisfarne (Anno 793)". Especially on the slower paced tracks, the keyboards really make the compositions shine, giving a particular identity to each song. The vocals greatly contribute to this sense of variation; the vocal delivery seamlessly goes from typical aggressive black metal screams to eerie whispering and clean vocals - including guest female vocals.

Special attention needs to be devoted to the amazing artwork done by guitarist and co-producer Jan Yrlund. The old manuscript style genuinely fits the lyrical narrative of bassist/vocalist Gunther Theys, effectively making this album a journey to times and places long forgotten.

After all this praise, there unfortunately are some negative remarks as well. What really puts me off, is the downright terrible production of this album. It seems that the band put so much time and effort in the actual songs that they simply lacked the energy to devote any attention whatsoever to sonic qualities. The guitar sound on "Dim Carcosa" is a very sad affair indeed: thin and brittle, lifeless and very digital sounding, with heavily scooped mids and perhaps even high and low pass filters that are set too crudely. The biggest disaster, however, are the drums. From the first couple of seconds of "Exile (Les Litanies De Satan)", one can already tell that these are not real drums. Everything simply screams "drum computer". Each snare hit is virtually identical, but it is the digital cymbals, hi-hat and ride that really spoil the whole sound. There are no dynamics; when the drums go into blast mode the ride cymbal sounds like an alarm clock frantically bouncing around. I can't imagine why on earth they would choose to program the drums with such a competent drummer in their ranks; perhaps to save on studio time?

If you can listen beyond the flawed production, this probably is the best Ancient Rites album. There are no filler songs, every track stands on its own, each set of lyrics tells an own story properly fitting the atmosphere of the song. If you value a good production, skip this one and go for "Rubicon".

Ancient Rites' Dim Carcosa is a masterpiece of symphonic black/viking metal, with several folk elements infused into the music. Exhibiting a compromise that lies somewhere between the barbarity of their early work and the epic progressions and symphonic elements of the genre, Dim Carcosa offers a monolithic collection of tracks. There are a range of sounds, from the more abrasive elements of "Exile (Les Litantes de Satan)" to the majestic symphonics of "Victory Or Valhalla (Last Man Standing)."

Despite the sweeping orchestral arrangements (e.g. "Victory Or Valhalla" or "...And the Horns Called For War") and soft piano passages (e.g. "The Return"), the record maintains a primitive, tribal element. In the track "On Golden Fields (De Leeuwen Dansen)," vocalist Gunther Theys sings "We ask not the pleasure that riches supply/Our weapons shall regain what betrayers must buy/Throwing back the invaders who reign our land and waves/And finally teach these nobles what it means to be slaves."

The musicianship is superb as well; interesting guitar lines and choral arrangements decorate this often beautiful piece of epic metal, and the many sounds of Gunther's voice create an atmosphere of multiple personalities. There are warriors, barbarians, noble savages and kings on this record, and the music all but brings the characters to actual life before our eyes (or ears).

I would recommend this album to anyone who is a fan of symphonic, black, or viking/folk metal. It is energetic, interesting, epic, solid and consistent; at its best moments it can even be incredibly moving.

Ancient Rites is one of those bands that can't be described simply in terms of "black metal" or "viking metal." Although much of this album revolves around ancient European tribal civilizations (ie: Celtic, Vikings, Teutonic), it can't really be called viking metal. Instead, they have taken several styles, including folk, black metal, death metal, and even some power metal, and combined it into a powerful musical tribute to their ancient ancestors.

This album opens up with a great intro piece, combining melodies from later tracks on this album (...And the Horns Called for War, on Golden Fields), as well as a very recognizable piece from the title track of their previous album, Fatherland. After the nostalgiac intro (ironically called "The Return"), the band explodes into an aggressive assault of pure metal.

While not necessarily being a viking metal band, this album presents everything that a true fan of viking metal would enjoy. The highlights of this album include Victory or Valhalla, On Golden Fields, the epic North Sea, and (Ode to Ancient) Europa. Every track on this album is amazing, and successfully combines all elements of the band (Guitar, Bass, Drums, Keyboards, Vocals), into perfect unity.

The last track on the album is a section of the epic poem which this album's concept and story is based on. This brings the album to an end without leaving any feeling that there was anything missing on the album. In the end, Dim Carcosa is one of those rare, perfect metal albums