Satyricon

Now, Diabolical

Century Media 2006

I would say that my period of waiting to see if Satyricon would become great or even good has finally passed.  Now, Diabolical seems to me to further establish them as a band who lost the ability to create music that I can somehow enjoy.  I have so many problems with this album so where to start?  I think I will first mention the fact that there are almost no interesting riffs.  On the title track during the chorus it gets slightly catchy with its rocking bounce.  Also there is a hint of a somewhat Katatonia-esque clean guitar hovering in the background of A New Enemy.  That was for me the one evocative and engaging moment of this entire album.  Satyricon attempts to hearken to the past by punishing our ears with the blasting song Storm(of the Destroyer) but it suffers from uninteresting riffs that end up sounding like a whirlwind with no redeemable substance.  The guitar tone is sterile in much the same way that Cadaver Inc's was on Discipline.  In other words, not in a good way.  The drumming throughout seems oddly produced with it slightly muffled and fuzzed out sections and its crystal clear parts at other times.  It also feels intentionally restrained but not in the regressively primitive way that Darkthrone does it.  More in a stripped down and clinical approach that doesn't feel sincere for a drummer like Frost.  I really wanted to give this album a chance and somehow it just fell flat for me.  I had pushed all the scene's anti-Satyr and sell-out rhetoric from my mind and judged this based solely on its own merits and it was found wanting.  I highly doubt I will purchase the next Satyricon album.