Deathspell Omega

Fas - Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum

Ajna Offensive/NED 2007

France's cutting edge black metal band returns with their most intricate and ambitious album to date.  Ina  way Fas - Ite... is a faster and more brutal album than DSO's last several releases but they have not reverted to their roots.  They have sort of combined their early and later stages of their career but continued to update their sound all the while.  Though Fas-ite is a more detailed and involved album than anything they have ever done, it is also a more subtle album than either Kenose or Si Monumentum.  It doesn't use the blatant weirdness of some of their previous material like Diabolus Absconditus from the Crushing the Holy Trinity comp.  There is virtually no repetition on this album lending a very schizophrenic feel to it and it has an almost stream-of-conscious experience as each songs progresses into a rhythmic madness.  The characteristic disharmonic guitar squeals arise in abundance on each of the 4 non-instrumental tracks.  The guitar wizardry of Hasjarl is unleashed in all its glary as demented riffs and melodies pour endlessly from his strings.  Even though Fas-Ite is 46 minutes in length it still feels as if it is not long enough.  The lengthy, near silent pauses between each song serve to shock the listener when the music of the next track bursts forth from the speakers.  This happens most prominently on A Chore for the Lost as the lengthy silence is destroyed by a sudden crushing guitar riff.  It's this attention to detail that reveals the true genius of DSO.  Fas-Ite is a very hard album to absorb in its entirety due to its complexity and many layers.  This album is so dense that it'll be years before every facet is fully explored.  These musicians have obviously invested their blackened hearts into every miniscule detail of this album as it exudes a sense of deep thought and intense artistic devotion from its every note.  DSO have completed a work of true satanic art and in today's underground they have no equal.  Everything about this album, and indeed Deathspell Omega in general, is so far ahead of what everyone else is doing these days it can only be considered an unparalleled work of art, a masterpiece.