Deathspell Omega
Last release: Paracletus (released November 8, 2010)
5 years, 1 month and 23 days ago (and counting…)
As impressive as 2012’s Drought EP was, it is certainly about time these French purveyors of the blackest of metal release a full-length proper for us to sink our teeth in. Deathspell Omega is a notoriously publicity-shy band on an equally publicity-shy label, so there’s really no way to tell when (or if) a new album might be heading our way. Norma Evangelium Diaboli recently dropped the first new Malign release in 13 years under the cover of night, so there’s certainly a chance that the follow-up to 2010’s brilliant Paracletus is already written and simply waiting to be unleashed on the unsuspecting masses. The pain of seeing five years pass without new DSO is simply too real.
Decrepit Birth
Last release: Polarity (released July 27, 2010)
5 years, 5 months and 5 days ago (and counting…)
2010’s Polarity was easily one of the finest examples of Death/Chuck Schuldiner worship done right, with the band’s penchant for busting out slicing riffs, spastic time signatures and an almost ethereal, otherworldly atmosphere closely mirroring what the aforementioned Death initially latched onto on the classic Human album. Technically adept and with a keen sense of melody, Decrepit Birth really came into their own on Polarity. It’s a damn shame, then, that they seem more interested in plastering their Facebook with fan pics, marijuana memes and punting their old albums than getting their shit together and releasing new music. It’s been half a decade already, but maybe that’s par for the course when your vocalist and founding member voluntarily lives homeless and grows weed. There is light at the end of the tunnel (and joint), however – the band recently updated said Facebook page with photos showing them bashing away in the studio.
Dimmu Borgir
Last release: Abrahadabra (released September 24, 2010)
5 years, 3 months and 8 days ago (and counting…)
Given how thoroughly underwhelming 2010’s Abrahadabra was, I’m almost inclined to say that I’m quite fine with the idea of the band taking another five years before releasing new material. That said, the abovementioned album did feature two of the finest songs ever released under the Dimmu Borgir banner (“Dimmu Borgir” and “Endings and Continuations”), so perhaps the band deserves the benefit of the doubt. Side-projects and family responsibilities have forced the band into an extended hiatus–something they readily acknowledge–but a new album is in the works. If it drops in 2016, and is at least on par with the quality of something like Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia, yours truly will be content.
Disillusion
Last release: Gloria (released October 20, 2006)
9 years, 2 months and 11 days (and counting…)
Aside from Canada’s Quo Vadis and Into Eternity there weren’t many bands doing interesting things with the more progressive end of melodic death metal back in the early to mid 2000s. Enter Germany’s Disillusion, who blew the lid of this particular style wide open with 2004’s stunning Back to Times of Splendor. As richly textured and versatile as any melodic death metal album you’ll ever hear, the album proved a revelation. The band realized that there would be no point in trying to up the creative ante, and thus wisely decided to scale things back on 2006’s Gloria, an album that saw the band merging their earlier style with more avant-garde rock, string instruments, choirs, funk and industrial flourishes. It was a risky move that paid of handsomely… and then the band fell into silence for the better part of a decade. OK, they continued to play the odd live gig or two but there’s been a dearth of information regarding a possible follow-up to Gloria (unconfirmed rumors have it that an as yet untitled album is tentatively slated for a March 2016 release, but this remains to be seen). Don’t you just hate it when bands kicks your ass and then disappear back into the ether from whence they came?
Gallowbraid
Last release: Ashen Eidolon (released September 17, 2010)
5 years, 3 months and 15 days ago (and counting…)
A project seemingly destined for the great one-hit-wonder metal scrapheap, Gallowbraid is the on again/off again brainchild of Visigoth frontman Jake Rogers, who handled all instruments on the brilliant Ashen Eidolon EP. Quite possibly one of the greatest EPs in the black/folk metal genre, it is right up there with the one and only Agalloch (whom Rogers takes a lot of musical cues from). Epic, energetic, superbly paced and quite melancholy, Gallowbraid had so much to offer. Sadly the band’s Facebook page hasn’t been updated since 2013 and there is currently no indication that new material is in the works.
More on the next page.
