I must say I made a rather excited yelp pulling this out the envelope of new Peaceville reissues, as the earlier works of Dødheimsgard have been eluding me for some time, partly due to being constantly outbid on well known auction sites. So I think it is fair to say that there is certainly a demand for this welcome re-release. Formed in 1994 this hard to pronounce band (whose name very loosely translates to mansion / realm of the dead) have during their existence had the very cream of the Norwegian black and avant weird metal crop pass through their ranks. At the time of this their third album which came out in 1999, the band included amongst other collaborators Aldrahn (Old Mans Child, Thorns, Zyklon B) on vocals, Apollyon (Aura Noir, Cadaver Inc, Immortal, Gorgoroth) bass, Crzal aka Carl-Michael Eide (some of the above and Fluerety, Ved Buens Ende, Virus) etc on drums and guitar and Vicotnik (Code, VBE, Manes etc) guitars. With this combination you would be right in assuming that ‘666 International’ is one head-stew of an album.
Zweizz another Fleurety member gets first voice with a weird keyboard passage and the drums pile in behind them as the nine minute ‘Shiva-Interfere’ unfolds. Suddenly the track slows and spiky guitars and clean but barking mad vocals shine through. It’s a really bewildering and not quite right number that throws the listener all over the place as it moves unconventionally from one progressive point to another. The somewhat bewildering opener may well have lost a few listeners and it sure as hell is no crowd pleaser as it clanks away sounding a bit like a mix of Thorns, VBE and Fleurety out of everything listed above; I guess you could add a splash of Satyricon too as it suddenly takes a black n roll pitch. However you should perhaps be more at home with the fantastic second number ‘Ion Storm.’ Indeed you could well have heard this before on the fantastic Moonfog 2000 compilation. With a bellow this whips you off on an electronic futuristic tumult, bristling away and ploughing into an incredibly fast and blizzard etched hellstorm. It’s a fantastic exercise in obliteration and one of my favourite anthems from the era, listen and let it literally take your head clean off. By complete contrast to both this and its title ‘Carpet Bombing’ is simply a piece of maudlin classical piano music; perhaps nothing here is what it seems?
Like a jigsaw puzzle where the pieces are never going to fit the album continues. There are jagged metal attacks around lunatic vocal clamours, there are skewed drum n bass breaks and moments of jazzy disruption; rational thought and music is destroyed and I absolutely love the bi-polar extremes it all takes you to. The devil is a madman here! Although still chaotic, occasionally more linear song craft like the chugging start of ‘Final Conquest’ gets its hooks in but even this is prone to down tools and go all abstract and potty on us before it is done and we move into the minute long piano piece ‘Logic’ on an album where that very word couldn’t be in shorter supply. The eclectic keyboard work on ‘Sonar Bliss’ is incredibly strange and delirious at times and a very interesting comparison to what I caught seeing Zweizz on stage the other night. Shrill guitar cadences, rasped vocals and a stop start skewed instrumental assault see the album move to ‘Completion’ but even this title is a misnomer as the counter moves to track 66 and a touch of extra strangeness.
This new version of the album is still not done with us as there are a couple of bonus tracks. First is the techno futuristic rave of ‘Haemorrhage-Era One Reconstructed,’ another cut from Moonfog 2000 and a track that should get the glo-sticks and chemicals out and a crowd bouncing around on any dancefloor. Finally there is a mix of the Ulver, Manes esque ‘Proton Navigator’ (nope it’s not a car but it kind of drives like one) courtesy of Vicotnik.
If you missed this the first time round and you like the out there manic, maniac output of all the excellent bands mentioned at the start of this review, this is an essential release. Now if Peaceville follow it with the other two earlier albums ‘Kronet Til Konge’ and ‘Monumental Possession’ I am going to be even happier. Well not completely a new album would also be welcome as well as some live dates, essential viewing for anyone attending Hellfest this year.
http://www.peaceville.com
