The Silence of December

This is a truly impressive monster of an album, the likes of which are not unleashed on mankind every day. It's about the debut album "The Silence of December" by Deinonychus from the Netherlands, released in the distant year 1995. I still remember a review of the album in some magazine in which the reviewer expressed his enthusiasm for these ominous sounds. By the way, if my memory does not deceive me, Behemoth's debut album "Sventevith-Storming Near the Baltic" was also reviewed in the same issue.

But this is supposed to be about Deinonychus, who were already playing a special role in the second wave of black metal, which was just exploding, as the majority of the acts at that time were increasingly oriented towards Norwegian black metal and were traveling in much faster realms or, under the impression of the success of Cradle of Filth's debut album "The Principle of Evil Made Flesh", began to move into more moderate soundscapes, whereby the peak of the sometimes unspeakably Gothic bombast "black metal" would not be reached until a few years later. Okay, I've digressed again, but a music-historical classification certainly can't hurt at this point, especially when it comes to the younger generation. Deinonychus (that was and is the brainchild of Marco Kehren, who was also once the singer for the German dark metallers Bethlehem and in this position responsible for the vocals on the S.U.I.Z.I.D. album, among other things) who were already leaving the ordinary musical track back then, celebrated an absolutely outstanding mixture of doom and black metal on their debut, with the occasional black metal raging parts not missing; the driving mid-tempo parts are particularly strong. The absolutely fitting cover artwork and album title set the mood for the hour that follows, perfectly creating a desperate, nightmarish atmosphere from which there seems to be no escape. The rough, sawing guitar creates a washed-out wall of sound that further emphasizes this, while sacred keyboard sounds are used both in the intro and to accentuate the ominous pieces of music. The vocals of mastermind Marco Kehren, here still under the pseudonym "Odin" on the road, range from throaty, dark singing to higher, desperate shrieks and haunting whispers. In one or two passages, the all-consuming darkness recedes and gives way to a spark of hope, especially at the beginning of "Under the Autumn Tree", in which Kehren narrates the lyrics to calm, undistorted guitar sounds and keyboards. It remains to be mentioned that this masterpiece, which consists of eight mostly overlong tracks (plus intro and outro), was released on the long-gone legendary British label "Cacophonus Records", best known for the release of sucg bads as Cradle of Filth, Sigh, Gehenna or Bal-Sagoth.

A certain "Sephiroth" from the Dutch Occult, another long gone far too underrated band, also contributed guest vocals - none other than Maurice Swinkels from the now ubiquitous Legion of the Damned. Marco Kehren, back at the start with Denonychus after a long break since 2016, will probably release studio album number nine in the new year. You can be excited!

(originally written for https://systematicdesensitizationzine.blogspot.com)

All those who praise modern necro suicidal black metal need to immediately listen to this record. Anyone who is in love with primitive as hell, sickly, and utterly abysmal metal music must obtain this album! One listen to the title track and I cannot see why anyone of such taste would pass this album up… aside from the use of keyboards.

The first 3 albums by Deinonychus are so fantastic and thrilling. Each one is not only absolutely permeated with the demented, over-indulgent gloominess that trademark to their sound, but is also wholly a unique document of its evolution. And here on the very first, the sound is all juvenile passion, and gloriously so.

By any other standard, “The Silence of December” is an utter embarrassment, especially at the time of its creation. This next part is all personal impressions (I may be wrong) but it has the feel that this little personal for-fun project of the young Marco “Odin” was suddenly swept into a record deal by an enthusiastic new label and given the task of quickly coming up with a full length to be internationally published. That in a hurry, Odin grabbed together as much friends as he could to assist him and then spewed out a most foul and ugly little album complied of older songs, experiments, and hastily pasted together compositions. Moreso, these young men went into it with a blind gusto, assured that horrendous wails, over-reverbed drums, creepy synths , and shrieks as loud as possible was what constituted the conviction necessary for a truly evil, all killer metal album. That may or may not have been the real genesis behind “The Silence of Decenber”, but that is exactly how it feels.

Bands have put out crap recordings many times before, especially young acts like this one. I’ve heard more than enough to make me sick. Deinonychus though has brought to this album something new to black metal back at the time. In the lyric books he highlights the bands At the Gates, Emperor, Mayhem, Abruptum, Type-O-Negative, and even Dead Can Dance as influences. Its sort of possible to see where he got his ideas from, and yet how he compiled them together with his own ideas is a serendipitous success. Unable to competently play the drums fast enough to make for good blacks or to keep up with any of his idols, Odin instead found it more satisfying to enhance the mid-pace range, and bring in a slow as hell doom metal sound to “The Silence of December”. In addition, he poured into all this doom gothic synths and ultra-negative, pseudo-romantic, lyrics vomited out by his deep, wailing, blood-soaked cries of despair. Then throw in a few shrill rain/bonfire samples and monotonous, dull prodding clean guitar fills all over the place, and the end result is something truly special, something that would come to contribute to the future of black metal as it is today. Bands like Wedard, Striborg, Anti, Xasthur, and especially Leviathan and Gris can be found in “The Silence of December”. How is it that I do not see this album lauded over by fans of such artists??? Is is the synth use? The fact it was on a professional label? I swear to god! If you listen to any of these bands, listen to “Silence of December” and tell me you do not hear the same suicidal spirit! Well I will say that this music does a lot more for me than any of those other projects.

I burned the last of my teakwood incense to Deinonychus. Watching the smoke trail up lazily from a tar covered carved wooden burner, smelling an air of aroma like a weathered old wooden house burning to the ground, I listen to this music and am transported. Once a long time ago, I visited a very old cabin recessed into the mountainside. Most of this structure was completely overgrown with plant life and viney tendrils so thick that they actually emerged through crevices and bloomed in the interior space of the building. Inside was a large room with a fireplace made from large rocks of quartz cemented primitively together. And one wall was the stone surface of the mountain. The whole air smelled of wet soil inside it, because recessed in one wall was an actual spring well, dripping water from between wet rocks and into a long black pool below. The room was lit by oil lamps, and I was never more enchanted by a location in my life. It was so dank, mossy, organic, and earthen… bathed in darkness of the hollows it inhabited. I could not imagine how amazing nights would be in such a place. Light a little candle and put it in the cobwebbed window, maybe see the field bathed in pale blue moonlight behind the orange glow. Deinonychus’s music for me occupies this hearth and hollow in my memories. To put on “The Silence of December” is to step out into a rainy fall forest at night and bury yourself in the soggy wet leaves. I am filled with the urge to fall to the ground at the base of a tree and feel my bare hands dig and scrape the black soil. To the earth I wish to go. Discard all the plastic and modern, purge the shallow and superficial, and revel in ecstasy my newfound home alone where the spirit is free and the drossy wilderness is Arcadia. All hail this romantic rot!

Over the course of their next two albums, Deinonychus would evolve this sound until its sophisticated perfection on “Ark of Thought”. But never does “The Silence of December” feel like a lesser example of that album. Like “The Weeping of a Thousand Years” it is too unique in its own right to be regarded as such. It has more obvious black metal themes, more clean guitar, more funeral doom, more youthful energy and aggression, and even a fair bit of humor in its primitive charm. This album is a masterpiece and an example of what will be the future of black metal. And to anyone who likes suicidal or doomish black metal, this album is a MUST listen, for it laid the groundwork for what your favorite bands are doing today.

On this, Deinonychus' first album, we find the roots of the sound that bands today like Nortt are doing. That being black funeral doom metal. Much on here has it's roots in black metal, from the blast beats that crop up here and there to the ugly thin sounding guitar, it is very black metal, at times even reminding this listener of "A Blaze In the Northern Sky" with keyboards. However there are very slow Burzum-esque moments, and even a few sections that remind me of My Dying Bride (particularly sections with what sounds like a violin playing).
The vocals might be the maker or breaker for most listeners. Mainly for their strange quality, using some Darken like rasps, and also many insane screams that are similar in feeling to a more crazed and Varg, most often the vocalist uses multiple tracks to create a crazed vocal enviroment. At times also his screams die out with a strange and aguished cry, this usually on the more emotionally bleak tracks.
The drums sound like a drum machine, and not particularly the best drum machine, but it does not affect the mood of the music too much. If you can handle the drum machine of Summoning, Blut Aus Nord or Xasthur, then this won't distract you much.
After listening to this album I find myself slowly being taken into their bleak world of darkness. An obvious influence on bands like Nortt and Xasthur, this album stands alongside such like-minded bands to create a suffocating atmosphere of death. Perfect for a dark night whilst watching the silent Nosferatu.