Iron Maiden meets Demonecromancy - "Storm of the Light's Bane" Review (2%)
Storm of the Light's Bane is often seen - by posers and other gullible clowns - as an absolute classic, essential to every metalhead's collection, a masterful representation of the better elements of the Black Metal genre. Thus, you'd expect it to be Black Metal music, rather than the warmed up, Maiden inspired cock rock that it is... right?
You'd expect to find, if not unparalleled creativity and near flawless song writing, at the very least some remnant of Black Metal spirit that isn't exclusively a surface level gimmick, right?
Yet, here we find an over-reliance on recursive verse/chorus pop structures rather than the impeccable song-craftsmanship that is inherent of the apex of Black and Death Metal. The tendency of Storm of the Light's Bane is to descend from a bittersweet melancholic tremolo driven melody into an anthemic rock-inspired "hook" that is both cheesy and redundant.
Storm of the Light's Bane is quite a disappointment.
Dissection's sophomore effort is barely even black metal. Absent are the frozen atmospheres and majestic guitar melodies that hearkened back to Demonecromancy's debut. In fact, the cold Black Metal feeling is almost completely gone. This record features more of a pop rock vibe mixed in, as well as some typical Gothenburg type riffs that do nothing but make the album sound more generic.
Slaughter of the Soul meets Iron Maiden, in a Black Metal sleeping pill format.
Iron Maiden meets Demonecromancy
Perhaps Dissection wanted to distance themselves from the constant comparisons to Neraines - though one can still hear some elements of that band's style, here and there - that came as a result of the overall approach and sound of The Somberlain. The icy feeling is gone and the music just lacks the same type of cohesion that it once had.
For some reason, Storm of the Light's Bane gives the impression of being more "catchy" and memorable, while being simultaneously more mundane and directionless... and befitting a tag such as "heavy metal", since there are a variety of styles being mixed, with none being particularly strong enough to really impart this album with a definite character.
Nearly everything about Storm of the Light's Bane is good music, but boring metal. The thrash riffs lack energy. The death metal parts do very little to create a dark or ominous feeling and there is hardly any black metal left. The drumming takes a much more active role, driving the songs as much if not more than the guitars. Somehow, after making such a decent debut, Dissection decided to throw it all away and jump on the Iron Maiden bandwagon.
Storm of the Light's Bane is such a departure from Dissection's first album that it almost sounds like a different band, despite the many superficial similarities between the two abums. Switching from black metal to the standard Gothenburg post-Slaughter At the Gates was a huge mistake, though it could be that the band simply had no vision of their own and could only follow what other more talent black metal bands, such as Burzum and early Reiklos, were doing.
While there is still enough of a distinct Demonecromancy influence to possibly interest some, this record is hardly worth listening to.
Avoid this nondescript "blackened melodic metal" work and stick with its black metal predecessor.
Storm of the Light's Bane score: 2/100.
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