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DAGOBA
www.facebook.com/dagoba13
Press blurb boldly refers to Dagoba as "France's premiere metal act". Hmmm... in terms of global recognition, I would've thought that's a description more applicable to Gojira considering they were established first and their ever increasing, mammoth popularity. Still, Dagoba have experienced their own share of widespread success with their brand of industrial/groove-infused extreme metal, and here we have their fifth full-length studio album, 'Post Mortem Nihil Est'. And it's a groovy, epic, atmospheric, extreme metal beast of a record. Over particular parts, guitars adhere to palm-muted thrash riffing interposed with post-Pantera grooves. Other passages are characterised by bursts of down-tuned, rhythmic precision where drums, bass and guitar combine to blast through the mix in perfect unison. And then there are moments of prog-tinged melodies sporadically introduced into the mix (such as the outro of 'The Realm Black'). Top all that off with Shawter's gutturally growled vocal delivery and a smattering of clean singing, it all makes for a pretty riveting album. Key to its conviction, though, is the quite wonderful production by ex-Machine Head axeman and renowned knob twiddler, Logan Mader - the general sound of 'Post Mortem Nihil Est' is massive. During the rhythmically up-tempo moments, this provides a perfectly hard-hitting sonic artillery from which Dagoba assault the senses with guitars, bass and drums firing down-tuned blasts of heaviness in tight unity. And the resonant production during the down/mid-tempo passages lends the songs an aurally epic bombast with some grand, sweeping melodies awash with atmospherically layered and perfectly captured instruments. This is music that demands your attention through its accessible immediacy as well as its colossal sound. Dagoba might not yet be "France's premiere metal act", even though marketing peeps would have you believe otherwise, but they sure give Gojira's Franco-metal hegemony a run for its money with 'Post Mortem Nihil Est'.
LABEL:
FORMAT:
earMUSIC
Album
POST MORTEM NIHIL EST
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Review by Mark Holmes
RUNNING TIME:
50:59
RELEASE DATE:
14th June 2013
TRACK LISTING
1) When Winter...
2) The Realm Black
3) I, Reptile
4) Yes, We Die
5) Kiss Me, Kraken
6) Nevada
7) The Great Wonder
8) The Day After the Apocalypse
9) Son of a Ghost
10) Oblivion is for the Living
11) By the Sword
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
France
"...a groovy, epic, atmospheric, extreme metal beast of a record."
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