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Dødsferd > Death Set the Beginning of My Journey > Reviews
Dødsferd - Death Set the Beginning of My Journey

Journey on, wretched travelers - 73%

autothrall, September 19th, 2011

Dodsferd might have taken a few years and albums to rise into prominence as one of the more reliable, raw Hellenic black metal acts following in the Scandinavian traditions, but arrive they did with the decent effort Cursing Your Will to Live. It was a faster and fare more punishing concoction of it's full-length predecessors, and even though the concepts of innovation and originality seem to entirely elude the band, it was violent and entertaining enough to pass muster. With Death Set the Beginning of My Journey, you get what feels like a more tight and controlled effort, but it does not lack for the vicious speed and strength of Cursing, and ultimately this stands in my opinion as the strongest of their albums yet.

For one, I enjoy the fact that Dodsferd decided to kick the narcissistic early Darkthrone worship to the curb and include some proper cover art (much like the Norwegians eventually did), since it was growing a bit exhausting. Death Set the Beginning of My Journey is thus immediately ready to be taken seriously, even though they've kept those ridiculous long song titles from Cursing. In their defense though, they at least prove amusing: "You Were Talking About a Kingdom; What the Fuck is That!!!", "The Day You Will All Rot, I Will Forever Bury My Hate", "Suicide Was Created By Your Incompetence", all unintentionally humorous, though they've got nothing on "Light is Darker In This Swamp". Names aside, though, the material is quite bright, raging and fresh in its execution, from the rampant streaming hatred of "You Were Talking..." through the harsh barrage of "Suicide...".

I like the bass tone here, thick and present, a good counterbalance to the higher pitched tremolo jamming and the Varg-like screams. The melodies tend to function without feeling glorious or warm, purely hostile as a river of blood. That said, the final two songs on the disc are the most diverse, and happen to be the best, despite being more accessible. "Light is Darker In This Swamp" features some cruising, evil rock rhythms and a powerful rush of melodic chords over what are the most climactic, tiered howls and screams of oppression anywhere to be found. The title track is both dreamy and dissonant, with an almost post-punk or post-black subtext to the guitars that crash and careen through the vortex of reprehensible vocals. Both are effective enough that I'd consider them among the finest in all of Dodsferd's career.

If there can be any complaint, it's that once again there are several tracks that feel excessively meandering and lengthy without any cause to be. Three of them are over 8 minutes, with too few ideas to support the structure, including "Light is Darker Than the Swamp", which is 9 and a half minutes but could have been just as poignant in six or seven. This is a typical misstep in black metal, and not totally harmful to the quality of the music, but a touch more complexity in the writing might have helped fill the emptiness. Of course, emptiness is one of the modus operandi surrounding a band like this, so the listener's tolerance for such dire mileage may vary. But otherwise, Death Set the Beginning of My Journey should have a reasonable appeal to the crowd that closely follows the first four Burzum records or Darkthrone circa 1993-4, and it's the first album in the Dodsferd repertoire that I'd reach for on a whim.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Wintermoon Wednesday: Dodsferd - Death Set... - 88%

Alex_P, January 4th, 2011

Yeah, Alex is kind of tr00 too. Hide your surprise. Today’s misanthropes are a Greek band called Dodsferd, currently composed of a single mainman/guitarist called Wrath and a session drummer (Bringer of Plagues) and bassist (Sardonic). What’s unique about Dodsferd is their notable rock influence (Wrath himself is a member of at least one stoner rock band), which is odd for this sort of ultra-misanthropic black metal.

Now, being a project where one man writes all the music has its downsides, and Dodsferd’s is usually repetition. His sophomore effort, the wonderfully named Fucking your Creation, suffered from the same lack of quality control despite featuring some fairly compelling tracks. But I’m not here to talk about a fairly good album: I’m here to show you a fucking sweet album. One year later, Dodsferd would produce an album called Death Set the Beginning of My Journey (some day, love will find you!), and it’s easily the best release of his I’ve heard yet (bear in mind that I’m missing a few). The reason why Death Set… is so good is because of the session performers featured here. Sardonic and Bringer of Plague are clearly acolytes of the order of NWOBHM, and each song effortlessly trades flurries of blastbeats and tremolo single string-picking for ultra-catchy rock beats and plodding punk basslines. Wrath himself is by no means a weakling (good band), and he supplies more than a few great melodic leads.

That’s not to say that Death Set… will do anything to convert black metal haters. Wrath is one of the most atrociously sloppy screechers around, and the amount of emotion that bleeds into his vocals is sure to scare away anyone who can’t listen to someone get tortured. He is, however, fairly easy to understand by this genre’s standards. At the beginning of most of the songs, Wrath scream-announces the song title, Nargaroth-style. Unlike with Nargaroth, the effect is akin to listening to a live recording of the band, particularly because they really do sound like a 3-piece. Personally, I would love to see them live.

It’s rare to find albums like Death Set the Beginning of my Journey. All of the songs are long, but they remain catchy, well written and captivating. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy it as much as I do.

Oh, and I need more Dodsferd albums.

Originally written for: http://thenumberoftheblog.com/

Solid - 86%

defyexistance, January 7th, 2010

This is an album that I will have quite a difficult time describing, so try to bear with me. It seems like orthodox black metal at the first listen, but as one hears more of it, one picks up subtleties that would hint at a predominant crust element embedded in the black metal. Certainly not to the extent of newer Darkthrone, but its there nonetheless.

The songs all have a relatively similar structure, starting with a riff, and then expanding upon it after a bit of repetition. This is interesting because it gives each song its own distinct feel, and keeps the album from becoming wearisome. The clearest example of this would be found on the second track, The Day You Will All Rot, I Will Bury My Hate Forever. (All the songs have these type of lengthy titles. It actually adds charm and emotion in this case.)

The production is far from unlistenably raw, but also nicely distanced from the antiseptic, buttery, almost bourgeois/presumptuous feeling of, say, newer Emperor. In my opinion, this is the perfect type of production for this specific style of music. This production, along with the song names, lyrics, and music gives this release an almost militant feel. Not quite like the regimented SS sound of Endstille, mind you, but more like a disorganized rabble of poorly-funded terrorists attacking an ideological enemy.

Overall, this is fairly rabid black metal. Definitely not something I would call grim, but rabid nonetheless. The listener can definitely see the amount of emotion poured into this release, and this serves as of it's strongest points. As for individual instruments, however, I would not say that any of the band members are ridiculously technically proficient, but the aforementioned emotion, and clear care and belief in what they are playing more than compensates.

This is definitely a strong album, and I would recommend it to anyone who does not get caught up in superfluous, overly-technical details. The band provides us with a clear portal into their innermost thoughts and feelings, and that is something to respect.