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Deinonychus > Ark of Thought > Reviews
Deinonychus - Ark of Thought

I Must Pull Myself Out of Melancholy - 90%

AsPredatorToPrey, December 21st, 2008

The moment Deinonychus' Ark of Thought CD starts to play, you are welcomed by a demented howl that frames the misery to be witnessed over the course of this album.

The immediate focus of Deinonychus' music is the varied vocal styles of Marco Kehren. Whether he utilizes an anguished scream that sounds like an extreme version of Tom G. Warrior's laments on Celtic Frost's Into the Pandemonium, a deep godlike narrative voice, or a guttural yell, each style expresses the honesty of this one man's grief, lovelorn self-hatred, and depression-induced delirium. Most of the songs are played at a mid-tempo doom pace and possess a smooth flow within their structure to remain fresh throughout. "My Days Until" and "Leviathan" each utilize an eighth-triplet blastbeat for one riff, but it serves as a chaotic atmosphere to juxtapose against the slow-progressing guitar chords rather than an attempt at brutality.

"My Days Until" begins with a piano playing atop the guitars that evokes a gothic mood similar to what is found on Dimmu Borgir's Enthrone Darkness Triumphant. At 3:30 a violin melody transitions rage into emptiness as the tempo shifts and the song lurches toward its conclusion. A clean guitar arpeggio arrives near the end to give the listener closure. The clean guitar plays a similar role at the end of "Chrysanthemums in Bloom" and again at the beginning of "Leviathan" in creating a sense of clarity as if all feelings of desolation have evaporated and the mourner has accepted his loss. However, as soon as such feelings have been overcome, he is compelled to dredge them to the forefront again. Though "Revelation" sees the speaker taking the role of a wise magician, "My Days Until" sees him return to dwelling on sadness. After electing himself a foe of virtues in "Leviathan," "The Fragrant Thorns of Roses" follows to invalidate any sense of promise. This is the most soul-extinguishing track on the album and the lyrics alone are enough to make you forget about the concept of vitality or happiness.

The melancholy romantic lyrics in songs like "Chrysanthemums in Bloom," "Oceans of Soliloquy," and "The Fragrant Thorns of Roses" may not appeal to listeners who enjoy the violent and powerful side of metal. In the latter song, the speaker is so overwhelmed by such brooding that he surrenders himself "into the arms of mother nature" after a bleak night of tears, despair, and self-mutilation. Lyrics like this are expected for this style of painful doom and have almost become a standard for the current lofi black metal scene, but they'll still clash with you if you're not the self-pitying type regardless of the enjoyable music. Come on, man. Running home and crying to mama is the likely reason you got dumped in the first place. Instead, leave the monotony of your house, hang out with friends, and think of all the opportunities that are now open to you. "Revelation," "Serpent of Old," and "Leviathan" offer the style of dark fantasy lyrics that defined Deinonychus' previous albums to add a flavor of hope and triumph, but from beginning to end, Ark of Thought feels like one heartbroken man's cry for help.

Overall, Ark of Thought is an album of vulnerable emotional introspection that can't be faulted for its honesty. This chapter in Deinonychus manifestation of gothic doom is like a gaping wound that you feel compelled to keep touching only to verify that it still hurts. Fans of Burzum's Det Som Engang Var, Cathedral's Forest of Equilibrium, and Forest Silence's Philosophy of Winter should check this out.