9/10 Review from Lunar Hypnosis: DODSFERD "Desecrating..." CD!

* An Online Review of DODSFERD "Desecrating the Spirit of Life" CD found at:

http://cp05.ionhosting.com/~joelh/dodsferdreviews.htm#spirit

" It seems that there is a trend to be a one person black metal band (or project), and I can appreciate the pros and cons. One of the biggest pros would be that there are no scheduling conflicts with other band members, as well as no problems with ideology and direction of the music. The biggest con in my opinion is the timing, since it is going to be up to the single performer to record all instruments and be responsible for all other aspects of the production. However, the experience has to be much more rewarding, don't you think?

" Reading carefully though, there is a footnote on the promo which states that the drum tracks on some songs were actually performed by Skylephtis, as well as some of the guitar parts and bass tracks recorded by Saevus. But since the only band member is listed as Wrath, we will leave it there...

" So yes! This seems to be a one man black metal band from Greece. Not to be confused with the 'Dodsfard' album from Manegarm, DODSFERD offers here a collection of very good black metal that were recorded in "his own haven of sorrow'. Interestingly enough, this music comes across as far from being sorrowful. It has a much more aggressive tone and you can easily distinguish a more raw and hateful character down to all the track titles.

" Although this is DODSFERD's full length debut, it seems that this recording has actually been made up with tracks from the first demo in 2004 as well from other tracks recorded in 2005. For the more discriminating black metal fan, 'Desecrating The Spirit Of Life' was recorded under a moon of hatred and disgust in august of 2005 so this should give you a hint of the overall character surrounding the music on this CD.

"One thing I found very interesting is that even when the whole CD is more than 50 minutes long it kept me interested all along the way. In my opinion, some forms of black metal can sometimes be pretty tiring to the listener. I don't know if this is due to the desired sound production the artist chooses (which makes the recording monotonous), or simply due to the actual song structure. Whatever the case, this CD didn't suffer from those problems and keeps me involved every time I listen to it.

"So, what does this sound like? Blackmetal.com states that this is 'Nordic-Influenced' black metal. I am not about to argue with a record label, but I guess it really depends on what era of 'Nordic' we are talking about here. For fans of say, Emperor, better move on because this does NOT sound like Emperor. Nor Dimmu Borgir, this music is not symphonic or even gothic in nature. I do agree with the 'Katharsis' parallels and although not as hypnotic as Xasthur, I see some hints.

"Finally, I think it was great for DODSFERD to make a recording where the songs have actually pretty good sound production which allowed me to have a full perception of the raw and at times very cathartic nature of this recording. This is a CD that I like to listen to while I am alone and that speaks volumes in my book."
* Score: 9 out of 10
REVIEWED by Carlos (April 17, 2006)