Autumn Leaves - The Rebellion of Tides

Just one year after the release of their debut full-length Soria Moria Slott, Dismal Euphony hit the shelves again with their follow-up album, Autumn Leaves - The Rebellion of Tides. Written in large part directly in the recording studio, the album moves in similar territory as their previous release, although the songwriting is considerably leaner and more accessible.

At its core, the music is still balanced between classic/symphonic influences and Scandinavian black metal, with the added peculiarity of having two singers – one male, using crooning/growls, and one female, using mostly operatic vocals. However, there are also important differences relative to the previous album. The folk influences that embellished Soria Moria Slott are considerably less prominent and are replaced by some dark/gothic undertones that bring Dismal Euphony a little bit closer to other similar bands in the scene (Theater of Tragedy, for instance). The vocal style of Keltziva and Ole Helgesen has also evolved somewhat from the times of Soria Moria Slott. Both vocalists now sing in English (with the exception of one song). On some songs, Keltziva experiments with a less operatic, more straightforward rock style, as well as some acting/singing mixture that, in honesty, does not sound very good. On the previous releases, Ole Helgesen was mostly using a shrieking blackened growl that was quite effective. On Autumn Leaves his style has evolved considerably and now also includes a sinister crooning as well as guttural low-tone growls. He sounds much better and the variety in his vocals is an added bonus for the album. The guitars play a stronger role here than on the debut album, probably due to the inclusion in the line-up of new guitarist Frode Clausen (who will later join Gehenna for one album). The guitar riffs are at times closer to classic heavy/thrash metal than black metal, another sign of the evolution of the band’s sound towards a more accessible direction. The use of synths is also somewhat different relative to the debut album, thanks to the use of more modern sounds and effects on some tracks. However, this is not a complete revolution: the excellent Elin Overskott still makes ample use of orchestrations throughout the album, so that the music retains a strong symphonic feel.

Perhaps the most noticeable difference between Autumn Leaves and Soria Moria Slott is that the songwriting has become leaner. The classically-influenced motifs are still present but are kept simpler and more direct, so that the songs are more memorable and make a strong impression already on first listen (Soria Moria Slott is more a “grower” type of album). The change in vocal style also made the songs catchier and more accessible. The overall impression is that Autumn Leaves is a much more streamlined, visceral and direct album than the predecessor. Importantly, Autumn Leaves is also much better produced than Soria Moria Slott, whose sound was terrible. On Autumn Leaves, all instruments are perfectly separated and the voices are audible (on Soria Moria Slott at times the vocals were buried in the mix). Producer Terje Refsnes (Theater of Tragedy, Tristania) did an excellent job in this respect.

The quality of the music is generally high throughout the track-list, although the album is a tad patchier than Soria Moria Slott. Songs like “Simply Dead” and “Carven” are quite anonymous and fall a bit flat. “Splendid Horror” is an interesting experiment in industrial/techno black metal (not too different from what The Kovenant will attempt a few years later), but feels a bit out of place in the context of the album (it may have been better to release it on a separate EP). Other tracks are much stronger. “An Autumn Leaf in the Circles of Time” is an effective opener that starts with nearly 2 minutes of beautifully melancholic piano melody and then transitions into an epic, somber black metal piece in the style of Dimmu Borgir. The song moves through a number of different sections including acoustic intermezzos and showcases Dismal Euphony’s ability to write complex yet immediately captivating songs. The melancholic piece “A Thousand Rivers” is probably the highest point of the album. It is very gothic but retains a faint folk influence and features a gorgeous interlude with acoustic guitars and female chants. “Spire” is a little acoustic piece sung in Norwegian by Keltziva, and is the song that is closer in style to acoustic passages of Soria Moria Slott. “In Rememberance of a Shroud” is another strong track, with an excellent alternation between soprano vocals by Keltziva and growls by Ole.

Overall, Autumn Leaves is a very good album, catchier and more immediate than its predecessor, but still retaining that special combination of symphonic influences and black metal with female/male vocals that allows Dismal Euphony to just stand out of the pack. Despite its catchiness, Autumn Leaves is an album that I always found somewhat dark and disturbing, because Dismal Euphony are one of the few bands in this genre who are very effective in using their style to transmit the unsettling sensation of being suspended between bleak darkness and ethereal light, to the point that the listener actually feels the pain and depression that is sung in the lyrics: it is not something I can honestly say about many other “beauty and the beast” bands out there.

I discovered these relatively unknown Norwegians when I listened two different black metal compilations. I heard two songs from the same album - Autumn Leaves -The Rebbelion of Tides and both were fantastic. At that time I listened a lot of symphonic black metal and I was searching for some new interesting bands on the scene, so Autumn Leaves... became one of priorities on my whishlist.

Music of Dismal Euphony can be described as symphonic black metal with a very romantic and dark atmosphere, but their specialty is that they use also female vocals. All of the above can be heard in opening track An Autumn Leaf in the Circles of Time, which begins with a beautiful slow piano intro which then turns into a distorted guitar melody with harsh vocals and female vocals. Tempo remains slow throughout the song, the atmospehere is dark and romantic typical of Dismal Euphony. Simple Dead then speeds up the tempo with classic black metal approach. A Thousand Rivers is another slow song. Mistress Tears is a classic energetic Dismal Euphony song with nice acoustic intro. But above mentioned two tracks that got me into Dismal Euphony are Carven and In Rememberance of a Shroud. Both songs feature fantastic keyboard work on the one hand and aggressive black metal outbursts on the other. The symphonic intro in Carven is breathtaking, songwritting is totally unique and the song as a whole represents the pinnacle of creativity of Dismal Euphony. Elin showed all her mastery here. In Rememberance of a Shroud also begins with fantastic atmospheric intro (keyboards, acoustic guitar and drums with reverb) and then erupts into aggressive black metal song. These two masterpieces really show Dismal Euphony in their brightest light. The remaining songs are Spire - a short acoustic track and closing track Splendid Horror - weird industrial song that just doesn't fit into the concept of the album.

The production is mostly good, at times a little rough, especially the female vocals are sometimes too much in the forefront and at times too dramatic and too ambitious (for example on A Thousand Rivers and on Spire).

Standout songs are not difficult to choose - these are definitely Carven and In Rememberance of a Shroud. Both songs are true symphonic black metal jewels. If all the songs were on the level of these two, we would be talking about a cult symphonic black metal album. On the other hand songs like Spire or Splendid Horror are downsides of an album. Especially Splendid Horror is too weird and breaks the whole concept of the album. So I deducted 10% of my rating just because of this song.

They just don't make them like this any more. Yes, very often you will hear a band calling themselves "emotional," "tragic," "melancholic," "romantic"; albums described as "sonic journeys" or "transcendental." You do get albums sounding as good, but often ending up sounding boring for the same reason. And how many bands nowadays feature male and female vocals combined, as some gimmick, thinking that it would add them another dimension? Back in 1997, Norway's Dismal Euphony weren't talking about all of this. They just did it.

Now a long gone band (in the case of overdosed keyboard player Elin Overskott — literally), Dismal Euphony appeared in 1995 and recorded their debut, Soria Moria Slott, in 1996. Though it had a raw Norwegian black metal sound, it was an unique combination of cold guitars, subliminal synth, harsh screams and angelic vocals, striking during every second, and surpassing similar-sounding albums like Old Man's Child's Born of the Flickering or Dimmu Borgir's Stormblast. The young band's talent and originality were obvious, but the album went unnoticed, partly because in those days great albums seemed to be coming from everywhere. But more beauty was yet to come.

Those who have heard Autumn Leaves - The Rebellion of Tides often say that it sounds like Dismal Euphony had spent two years in studio, such was the attention to sound and detail. Throughout the whole 45 minutes of it, there is hardly a song without an identity of its own, but hearing them in the context of the whole album, they make even more sense, and Autumn Leaves... sounds perfectly natural. And it's not just the songwriting, the mood and the sound — the lyrics, a component often ignored, are a testimony to how much you can say with simple words. You just have to have something to say in the first place.

The piano in the beginning is deceptive — the simple, sad melody could go on forever, or turn into an overly long doom metal song, and it would still be OK. But the band enters proving that they are still black metal, first with just two bass drums and Ole Helgesen's dry, crackling, deep singing, only to be joined by bombastic (no, not in a Nightwish way) keyboards and Keltziva's voice. Now, this voice was one of a kind — this was a woman who could really sing, and wasn't ashamed to show emotions or sing out loud even when her voice was on the verge of falling apart. And looking at her picture on the disc, and on the back cover... well, you can forget about Lacuna Coil, Tristania, Theatre of Tragedy and similar excuses for having female pin-up singers.

And it's a constant change from then on. The music often stops to take a (dying) breath, pausing for a clean guitar moment and collapsing, corrosive, blurry sound effects. The guitars take over the piano melody and carry it into oblivion... "For no man of mortal shell could know, where or when this planet existed..."

"Simply Dead" features some of the most poisonous choir screams ever, even faster bass drums and Keltziva's unbelievable voice simultaneously crying and singing like a woman possessed. Small wonder that the screams demand "Show me a hidden path to the source of wisdom... You are the rose on my grave." It's the most straightforward song on the album but the most overwhelmingly furious one as well.

Another near perfect melody opens "A Thousand Rivers," but this time it's a slow symphony with acoustic begining, descending keyboards and echoing voices, with a brief dialogue in the middle: "Listen carefully to the sound of an evening breeze, and the sound of a thousands rivers, struggling towards the sea." "But all is so dead and silent." "Yes, this is the way it's got to be" — before a funeral church-like keyboard ending. "Time won't sweep away, our deepest scars of memories. It will carry them along eternally..."

"I have deserved all tongues to speak their bitterness over me" perfectly describes the feeling of "Mistress Tears," another up-tempo song with countless layers of orchestration, and "Carven" goes even more intense with savage keyboards, wailing screams and lunatic drumming, slightly slowing down for more shivery female vocals and ending with a very convicting proclamation: "As long as there is life, there is hope for an end!"

"Spire" is an acoustic miniature with dim, echoing guitar and Keltziva's singing in Norwegian, seemingly without a beginning or end, and probably could have been much longer. It is simply tasteful, a pensive pause before the majesty that is "In Remembrance of a Shroud." From the ominous beginning, the four-minute song sums up everything that has been heard on the previous ones, reaching its peak with a blastbeat and everything around it becoming a blur through a shift in the mix, cutting out some (higher) frequencies and warping the others.

The last, eighth track, "Splendid Horror," saw Dismal Euphony using a drum machine playing a simple, sharp, heartbeat rhythm. At the time it was probably blasphemous to do so, but today it still sounds good, and the screams and raw guitars around it haven't been quite matched ever since. But Autumn Leaves... does not end here. Wait a couple of minutes and you are rewarded with a hidden seven-minute track, with two continuous, interacting guitars playing a simple waltz-like melody. And through more sound wizardry, more whispers, layers and more warping it's waltzing you to the end of the world.

After Autumn Leaves - The Rebellion of Tides, Dismal Euphony signed for Nuclear Blast, changed some members (including the singer) and tried to be more straightforward and accessible on All Little Devils, released in 1999. But most of the magic was gone, and by the time they released a few other albums everyone seemed to have lost that little interest they had in the group, and eventually Dismal Euphony split up. But the first two albums remain as an epitaph to a great, yet largely unknown band, and especially Autumn Leaves... feels like remembering someone dear, someone who passed away a long time ago.