Dodsferd - A Breed Of Parasites (2013)

Dodsferd - A Breed Of Parasites (2013)











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When it comes to this kind of 'suicidal' Black Metal, the rules had been set and the aesthetic taken to its logical conclusion a long time ago: howling vocals, a generally slow tempo and lyrical themes glorifying death, doom amd gloom. Simple, really. That's all fine and dandy, but the caveat is that there should be more to the sonic brew than mere Emo-by-way-of-BURZUM. Bands like AUSTERE and COLDWORLD have done bang up jobs of dredging up that old BURZUM vibe, but taking care to strike a fine balance between the dreary and the dynamic.

Greek act DODSFERD has never mastered this trick, or even shown any desire to do so. Album in and album out they've decided to stick so rigidly to genre aesthetics, doing their best to convince the listener that they are really, REALLY depressed, misathropic and well, against anything and everything. It was with trepidation, then, that I approached "A Breed of Parasites", the follow-up to 2011's "Spitting With Hatred The Insignificance of Life".



I'd be remiss for failing to point out that "A Breed of Parasites" is typical DODSFERD through and through, yet there is something to it that makes it just a tad more enjoyable than their past efforts. The somewhat Punkish undertones of "Death Set the Beginning of My Journey" has been excised completely, and there's not a whiff of their last album's pretentiousness to be found either. All in all this is a much more tempered album - slow, brooding and occasionally surprisingly playful. One massive gripe I have with the album is the fact that half of the tracks are nothing but pointless interludes (the album isn't even that lonmg to begin with, making this even worse).

The remaining three tracks, however, are all good. "Days of Mental Deterioration" is a slow stomper of a track that takes it's time to build up a tangible sense of dread and then, strangely enough, fades out on a whimper. There is no instant gratification in the abrupt ending, but I appreciate the reverse psychology of it all. "Eternal Bliss... Eternal Death" is a JUDAS ISCARIOT cover, and even thought I'd have preferred the band to cover other songs off the "Heaven in Flames" album like "An Eternal KIngdom of Fire" or "From Hateful Visions", this choice is not bad. It's another slow and dreary number, but the band slows things down to such a snail's pace at times that it's almost comical. The tones and riffs have an inherent fragility to them, and you almost expect the song to just trail off into bleak nothingness at every turn. It is on "Burning the Symbols of your God" that they finally start breaking new ground, and I couldn't be happier. Rhythmically more intricate than the preceding tracks, imbued with a strange burlesque-like atmosphere in places, and a whole lot of Post-Black elements are thrown into the mix here. It actually reminds me of something you'd hear on a latter day AGALLOCH album, and that's always a good thing!

The '7' rating stands because half of the album is taken up by dead air, and while the renmaining tracks are good, only one of them is truly great. But hey, considering my indifference towards this band, a 7 is more than enough. It's basically only an EP's worth of new material, but it's easily the best thing these Greek bastards have done in a long time.


TRACKLIST:

01. An Unbearable Pain 02:19
02. Days Of Mental Deterioration 07:23
03. ...Til The Day You Die 02:08
04. Eternal Bliss... Eternal Death (Judas Iscariot Cover) 09:11
05. The Burden Of Feeling Alive 03:41
06. Burning The Symbols Of Your God 08:02


Genre: Black
Subgenre: Black Metal
Bitrate: 320 k
Size: 75.33 MB