Album Review

Opera Diabolicus - 1614Opera Diabolicus – 1614

I wasn’t aware when I first obtained the CD in the post that it was actually quite an interesting collaboration project, I thought it was another unsigned british act but on further research found that the band contain members and ex-members of King Diamond, Mercyful Fate, Therion, Krux, Dream Evil and Amaranthe, this information has engaged my interest in the release and raised my excitement. There are only 8 tracks on the record but what the album lacks in individual songs it makes up for with their durations with many being over the 9 minute mark, this furthers my interest because if you’re going to have extremely long songs you need to keep it fresh and entertaining, this just gets more and more intriguing by the minute.

The lyrical themes and concept for the album are quite interesting; the concept was this was to be a dark metal musical version of the stage play based on Umberto Eco’s book “The Name of the Rose”, right there that to me is an extremely different approach to a metal album which again further excites me. Let’s start with 10 minute long “The Gates”; what I’m hearing here is a thick mix of symphonic black metal, atmospheric progressive metal, heavy as hell drum rolls and chunky guitar riffs, all topped off with a range of gritty vocals, clean vocals and gorgeous harmonies. The time also flies by, they include that many different tempo changes and interludes and breakdowns that you barely notice how long the songs are because you find yourself so engrossed in the music.

It also never gets stale within the track or between each other as they don’t all sound the same, each lengthy track brings its own distinctive attributes to the table; “Blood Countess Bathory” for example has some truly demonic riffs and breakneck heavy metal sections, “The 13th Guest” is less brutal and more of a sinister gothic style, “Mythos Lamia” is slower paced and a bit more technical then there’s “Stone By Stone” which seems to put all previous styles of work together in one epic album conclusion. It’s left me feeling that this is one of the first albums in a long time to be so long yet so enjoyable in my personally opinion.

To bring this review to an end, I believe that if you’re a fan of any kind of metal you may not like this album but you will definitely appreciate it. It’s not for everyone’s taste but the technicality and the swirling combination of musical attributes drawn in from various different styles of metal are enough to excite any enthusiastic metal head, especially if you’re a fan of any of the bands these guys originally came from.

4.5/5

Review by James Webb

 Band Members

Coming Soon
 Track Listing
1. Overture
2. The Gates
3. Blood Countess Bathory
4. The 13th Guest
5. In Memoriam
6. Mythos Lamia
7. Forbidden
8. Stone By Stone
 Band Related Links
Opera Diabolicus Facebook
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?