Diabolical Figures

Perchance my memory truly is failing me, but the brash truth is that I have found myself eating my words at a disconcertingly high volume lately. I could conceivably chalk much of this up to a thinning patience granted by bands just like this here Graveworm act repeatedly squandering what little potential they once boasted, an assessment that enjoys the presence of one of the more convincing launching pads of disappointment in Collateral Defect, ironically the direct predecessor to today's record and a fairly safe bet for these Italian's most staggeringly unbalanced and juvenile record to date. For whatever reason I grouped Diabolical Figures into the same rag-tag contingent that signs off any true merit in an attempt at meshing variety hour-quality genre bric-and-brac with the faintest of remnants of the torch-lit, foggy gothic romanticism that only truly hangs on due to the presence of longtime keymistress Sabine Mair.

While it would not be unfair to group virtually every post-Scourge of Malice Graveworm record into the above criterion to some degree, (N)Utopia proved to me that there was something of merit going on here, even if the band comically fails at evoking a suitable tone most of the time, and in the end neutralizing some of their stronger points right off of the bat. This is a redundant misallocation of resources that sees the band succeeding only roughly half of the time on the other end. Although it is not the second coming of (N)Utopia many of us may have wished for after the hobbled, genetic horror of genre cross-pollination that was Collateral Defect, but this maintains some level of fluidity if one was to pick and choose some of the better cuts off of Engraved in Black and avoided the remaining stinkers on the remainder of the direct approach path leading to Diabolical Figures.

This record's most defining aspect, for me at least, is the resurgence of the simple, yet endearing orchestrations that add a subtle, yet warm and luminescent aura to much of the material that overblown, programmed Nightwish symphonics simply fail to do. In many ways this reminds me of fellow Italians Stormlord, who can paint a broader conceptual picture than most, all driven by the most dead-simple of keyboard arrangements. Sabine has always been up to the challenge in this regard, and tracks like "Circus of the Damned" and especially "New Disorder" managed to hold my attention for the duration thanks to her glistening ivories alone. While (N)Utopia was an exercise on more modern, brash and dapper symphonic stylings, the effort here is obfuscated and ensconced within more of that great Romanesque motif use that finds Graveworm at their most familiar and melodically endearing.

It isn't all about Sabine, either, as the riffs can surprisingly get quite hot under the collar depending on the song. Melodic black metal is a touchy subgenre to begin with, and many times the melodic element is stressed to the point that virtually all of the lower-end weight falls out, leaving us with the infamous whiffle-ball delivery that strikes the listener with about all of the strength of a folded fan. Featuring a boxy, contoured tone, Righi and Thomas lay down the punishing grooves en route to a performance that reminds me much of Pariah-era Naglfar at times. This means that the riffs themselves are great, but can't possibly hope to weather the storm on their own. Although I still believe Agathodaimon excels at incorporating strong gothic undertones upon a rather modern framework, Diabolical Figures is not bereft of hints of the same. Instrumental closer "The Reckoning" brings some interesting merits to the table, so much that I wish it was longer.

There are obviously still a multitude of imbalances, and the most disappointing one has to be the obligatory out-of-place cover tune "Message in a Bottle." Graveworm somehow, someway pulled off "Losing My Religion" in a grand way years before, but the risks frankly don't fully pan out for the band in this instance. The desirable main melody of the tune is severely underplayed and the chorus is pretty much the disaster many were holding their breath for in anticipation. Nor are any of these remaining tunes anything more than decent as well, but for a band as monumentally derided as Graveworm, Diabolical Figures is one of their stronger outings, and contains three or four tracks that will make my repeat list. The sad fact is that we have the privilege nowadays of knowing that the band stumbled again mightily on Fragments of Death, so in the end I would ask for one to simply avoid modern Graveworm altogether. That doesn't take away the isolated appeals of some of the material, however.