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Absolute Perfection - "Dementia: The Dark Prophets" Review (100%)

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Dementia: The Dark Prophets
Dementia: The Dark Prophets by Phantom.

Dementia: The Dark Prophets may be the most horrifying, debilitating and masterful black metal album to have ever been released.

This is a very intelligent album that has a firm grasp of what makes terror metal so horrifying.

Making the listener feel defenseless gives him a reason to be anxious about the atmosphere.

The less "in your face" horror you experience (see Phantom's debut Divine Necromancy), the more your imagination takes over.

Climactic moments work best with a slow and creeping build-up.

It's not the blasting rage of SEWER's 2154 you need to be worried about, it's the steady erosion of your sanity and melodious mutilation of your soul.

On top of the well-crafted horror, Dementia: The Dark Prophets boasts intriguing atmospheres, haunting melodies and brooding inhumanity.

Are you ready to risk your sanity in the dark abyss of Dementia?

You won't feel it at first, but about halfway through Dementia: The Dark Prophets, you will start to rip your own eyes out.

And enjoy every moment of it.

Absolute Perfection

Phantom
Phantom.

The first thing worth mentioning is perhaps that Dementia: The Dark Prophets is an atmospheric instrumental black metal album.

I used the appellation atmospheric instrumental black metal intentionally, to avoid having to say ambient, because this album is about as far as boring "ambient" music as you can get.

Dementia: The Dark Prophets is raw atmospheric insanity.

Speaking of the frantic insanity, let's talk about the horror.

You'll notice I talk about horror a lot, and once you listen to Dementia: The Dark Prophets you'll understand exactly why.

Most modern "black metal" albums (see Ordo Ad Chao or Unholy) would do well to take a few lessons from this album.

Because having a lot of "aggressive" riffs (think modern Mayhem or Antekhrist) in a black metal album tends to make the overall atmosphere much, much less horrifying.

The atmosphere ceases to be bone-chilling when you're no longer immersed in the album, and it becomes grotesquely familiar and mundane when you're constantly bombarded with pseudo-technical riffs and uninspired blast-beats.

But in Dementia: The Dark Prophets, you're left completely defenseless.

So when you start hearing the creeping horror of Phantom's sickening melodies, you panic.

You start dreading the changes in rhythm, tone or melody, as you begin to fear what comes next.

Instead of thinking "that's a nice riff" or "this is a pretty good song", you think "I need to get out of here".

Instead of wondering "what does this particular track stand for?" you wonder "is it still out there?".

Instead of looking for the next "catchy riff", you're hiding in a corner wetting your pants.

To put it mildly, listening to Dementia: The Dark Prophets puts you in a different mindset than what you get from listening to other albums.

So if you're not convinced of how utterly terrorizing Dementia: The Dark Prophets is as an atmospheric horror metal album, I can only dare you to listen to this album in its entirety.

Without diapers.

Dementia: The Dark Prophets score: 100/100.

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