Dynamic And Charming – 76%
DanielG06, February 21st, 2022
I’ve never really given a DSBM record a full listen before. I have this pre-conceived notion of the subgenre containing mostly obnoxious production with bloated song-lengths and pretentious subject matter. However, this album has given me a very good impression of what DSBM can be. Firstly, I think that the moniker itself of this style of music being “depressive” and “suicidal” is misleading and may unfortunately turn people away from giving it a chance. Sure, the music generally may be emotional and dark, and this may be subjective, but I personally have never felt that records like these make me want to commit suicide or do harm to myself or other people.
Instead, I’ve realised that DSBM (when it’s done right) is a very volatile style of music that can be healing when the listener is in a negative mood, and meditative when the listener is in a positive mood. What I mean by this is that in most cases, the subgenre doesn’t impose negativity, but instead suggests it, which can be very evocative and addicting, and possibly the main reason as to why this genre is slowly growing on me. Why am I detailing this on this specific release? Because; I feel that Subliminal Genocide is at least the most obvious example of my point about DSBM, and that this album specifically presents this very well.
As for the songwriting itself, it is very characteristic of one-man black metal; extremely repetitive, melancholy, sinister and lengthy. However, Malefic does this better than most; and the riffs that he presents in Subliminal Genocide for the most part is very emotional. He utilises synths and distorted arpeggios to contribute to the unhinged and chaotic sound, which results in the songs being very dynamic and charming. The intro is particularly interesting, as the haunting synth choir slowly crescendos into the epic opener that is The Prison of Mirrors, an exceptional example of how to create drawn-out black metal that entices the listener with only a single riff that is ornamented effectively.
Additionally, this track foreshadows the structure that dominates most of the album; a riff that is drawn out across an entire 6< minute song. Although this is very enjoyable and entrancing, it can be quite boring and drag on sometimes. With that being said, there is a nice mixture of distorted, esoteric parts and clean, unsettling sections which again contribute to the atmosphere and improve the experience. Of course, the nature of the music is very solitary and misanthropic, but never one-dimensional or overblown like a lot of similar records. The clean guitars mixed with the layer of noise and distortion makes the music very typical of the genre, but instead of being generic, this actually enhances the mixture of aggression and emotion of the music, which is what makes this album so memorable.
The production is something that needs to be brought up. As I stated earlier, a lot of DSBM suffers from compressed, static-heavy production that is grating on the ears and ruins an otherwise extremely compelling atmosphere. Subliminal Genocide defies this, as the production oddly sounds cold and simultaneously warm; the heavy use of noise never overpowers the music, but instead makes tracks such as Beauty Is Only Razor Deep and Arcane And Misanthropic Projection more powerful. Overall, Subliminal Genocide is an interesting release, and one that I would recommend as an introduction to this category of black metal. While the music itself is not spectacular, there is a melancholy and alluring sense of ambiance that makes this album a very good listen.
rafazardly 