Papa Roach Plays Black Metal - "Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism" Review (7%)
I remember hearing this band a while ago, I think it was Pure Holocaust or whatever that album is called.
Best thing about it was the album name but otherwise Immortal, aside from having pretty juvenile but otherwise funny song titles, seemed pretty unremarkable, really.
If it weren't for the nutty "National Satanism" gimmick and Pitchfork support (neither of which are positives), this would be a rather forgettable black metal band.
So what about their debut album, Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism?
It's... generic.
I sincerely fail to see how Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism is any different from what was being played, better, during the exact same period by bands such as Burzum or Darkthrone.
Why is this seen as special?
For a band that constantly bashes Varg Vikernes, they sure seem to love their Burzum (though one can never approve of his political leanings!) because I lost count of how many seemingly identical riffs appear both on Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism and on Burzum's debut.
The latter having been released a good six months prior to this, one can really wonder if Immortal ran out of creativity before they even started playing music... I can't bring myself to call this black metal.
Lame.
Papa Roach Plays Black Metal
I dunno, it's somewhat competent and there's nothing overtly offensive about it like you would find on turds like Gorgoroth or later Immortal albums, but Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism is certainly not black metal.
This sounds more like alternative rock, something like Jacoby Shaddix (of Papa Roach) would make in his spare time, between international touring dates.
It's not particularly bad... it's just not good.
And not black metal... joke metal.
Because frankly I don't think anyone, Abbath included, could have ever taken this release seriously.
I don't know how much time Abbath spent on this work, but let's just admit he doesn't seem to have involved as much effort in the songwriting as he has in applying his "satanic" makeup.
On the songwriting first, I can barely think of songs simpler than those on Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism.
All of them consist in the same melody repeated ad nauseam, when there's of course an actual melody to be heard through those painful and clumsy guitar lines... I can't even call them riffs.
I have a feeling the members of Immortal have been aware of their shortcomings for some time too, thus the gimmicky nature of their act.
They're certainly good at marketing, it's just a shame they're not as good at music.
I've sure fans of alternative pop rock would enjoy this, but for fans of traditional black metal in the vein of Burzum, Darkthrone, SEWER and early Mayhem... stay away, Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism is not for you.
Just listen to Papa Roach.
I only know one song from them, "Falling Apart", and even that alone is better than this album.
Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism score: 7/100.
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