Diabolical Masquerade - Death's Design: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2001)

As a fan of the first three Diabolical Masquerade albums waiting for Blakkheim to finally unleash some inevitable masterpiece, I admit that I found and continue to find Death's Design an obnoxious chore, even if it ultimately has enough to offer that I'll spin it infrequently. At 61 tracks, split into 20 'movements' over just 43 minutes, and a pseudo-score to some nonexistent horror film, one could argue it's the most ambitious thing he's ever produced with this project, and from a technical angle I don't know that I'd disagree. However, the means of its presentation in so many little snippets of what might be better fleshed out tracks, this comes across to me like a dumping ground for all the ideas he couldn't work into any proper successors to the great 1998 album Nightwork.

That's probably not the case, and perhaps this is all planned out exactly like it is, but considering how the different sections of the album might be presumed to stay thematically consistent, a lot of the individual pieces feel jarring and don't flow well as a whole. It's a shame, because the riffing here is fucking fantastic, it just never lasts long enough, and how he integrates the soundtrack components, acoustics, clean and harsh vocals, and symphonics are seamless...just across such short spaces. It doesn't much surprise me that Dan Swanö had a lot to do with this record, because he'd also later put out his Crimson II record for Edge of Sanity which was more of a solo thing, and suffers from a lot of the same issues I had with this...snippets of ideas that deserved far more, generally less than a minute long, and while the flow isn't terrible between them, it just lacks the impact these good riffs would have in full tracks. It certainly sounds like one of his more mature recordings of that time, super clear across all the varied instrumentation, accessible but still capturing a punch to the lower guitars, and the evil rasps of Blakkheim which are admittedly formidably throughout this.

You'll even hear Dan's clean vocals, which are unmistakable if you've heard his myriad other projects. There are a few moments where the drum programming gets a little too obvious and dull, and some ill choices like the clean vocal in "The Inverted Dream: No Sleep in Peace" which I can't quite place, but sounds like the melody is ripped off from a James Bond theme or sci-fi film or something. The roots are still cinematic black metal, but Diabolical Masquerade reaches further away from the structures of Ravendusk in My Heart of The Phantom Lodge. The individual tracks can't reach the creepy majesty and atmosphere of "Astray Within the Coffinwood Mill" because they're never given the space to, and there are plenty of tunes like "Spinning Back the Clocks", "A Bad Case of Nerves" or a few dozen more which could have been developed into stunning evolutions upon the Nightwork style. Had this been condensed together, with a lot of the scraps tossed out and the better riffs expanded into full length tunes, it would easily have been the most progressive and symphonic stuff Blakkheim had put out here, itself a natural successor to the first three albums, but the fragmentation just doesn't work for me.

That goes even deeper into the themes...obviously they cover such a vast array of supernatural and Gothic subjects and images that there's no way this was the real soundtrack to anything, and there too I feel like it comes across as a big jumbled mess of ideas. So many great song titles, too, like "Soaring Over Dead Rooms", "A Hurricane of Rotten Air", "The Remains of Galactic Expulsions", as if Anders was just emptying out a notebook of stuff he had lying around (kind of like the songs themselves). I realize the guy was busy with his other, more successful bands like Katatonia or Bloodbath and this one had to take a back seat, but I can't help but feel a little spurned that this was where it all ended, and in over two decades we haven't heard a peep. It just doesn't seem like a strong note to end off on, and I realize I'm in the minority as some seem to hold this up as a bastion of progressive black metal genius, which I simply cannot agree with as the presentation is so frustrating, even when I play it all straight through and try to blend the components into my imagination as a cohesive whole.

Now, having voiced these complaints, I will say that there is enough ear candy to explore here that I'll still give it a pass. A positive. I try and think of it like the little samples you get on a pre-programmed keyboard or some recording software...short, catchy, showing the range and potential of the technology but not the depth of emotion and composition. Bite-sized morbid bliss, like a grind album of fractured horror metal where you just wish this or that riff would repeat or transform into something more explosive and memorable. It's just all over the place, and at least a few dozen of the tracks could be tossed out and I would never know the difference. I wanted more of what I so enjoyed about the first three albums, and I get it, just in such tiny spurts that the greatness is forever evaded. Once every couple Halloweens, I might loop a few tracks from this, but it's one of the most 'could have been' albums in my entire collection. Blakkheim's Woolgathering Exit From A Fascinating And Underrated Band Which Best Manifest His Individual Personality. Cue the curtain.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

Diabolical Masquerade - Nightwork (1998)

By the time Nightwork came along, Diabolical Masquerade was already this underappreciated, quality Swedish black metal export, especially when you took into consideration that it was the work of just one man. Wait, does Blakkheim even qualify as a man? I've always fancied him as more of an immortal vampire prince who wrote some catchy Goth metal tunes and retro-death metal on the side as a day job; his is a rather singular genius across the genre borders and I doubt there's a metal niche he couldn't dig into with his considerable fangs and entertain us with. Each of the albums he wrote under this moniker had a nice degree of variation from the last, and Nightwork is no exception.

This is a bit more theatrical than The Phantom Lodge, more like something you'd heard in the background at some dark carnival with all its creepy pianos, and of course that cinematic nature would be honed in even further on the fourth record, and not necessarily for the better. But here, Blakkheim strikes just the right aesthetic between haunted house hysterics and worthy, varied riff patterns that are excellent at complimenting the spectral synthesizers and his awesome rasped vocals, which can be shifted around much like a Dani Filth but not quite so much a caricature. There's a refined, progressive nature to the writing here which often focuses on sinister chugging patterns interchanged with a dual narrative between vocal and keys, for example in "Dreadventurouz" which is a far cry from the more symphonic, thundering overtures he's written on previous albums. Those might have howled at you beautifully from a mountainside or castle, but here you're getting into the winding, nightmarish corridors of some fun house or museum. There are still sequences which bridge between the two extremes, yet Nightwork sounds tighter, more personal.

The use of the 'z' in song titles rather than an 's' seems goofy at first, but actually adds quite a lot to the charisma of the album, and the song titles are fucking great anyway: "The Eerie Obzidian Circuz", "Thiz Ghoultimate Omen", and of course "Rider on the Bonez" all convey the themes and moods set by the music, as well as the idea that Blakkheim is not taking it all so seriously. He's the rock star at the Halloween party, but he won't just flick his cape like a snob and ignore you, he'll have a few laughs with you and participate in the usual masquerade games. But that's not to undersell Nightwork's competence, this is an engaging, spooky and sometimes phantasmally beautiful black metal piece which was quite unique in its day, and holds up extremely well almost a quarter of a century later. What else really sounded like this? Maybe Entombed in the Midnight Hour from Dead Silent Slumber? Maybe bits and pieces of Emperor, Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir, but this was every measure as interesting and worthy in the late 90s.

In fact, while there might be individual tracks on the albums before it that I hold in higher regard, I think this is quite clearly his strongest work with this project, and frankly I hope he himself will come back to Diabolical Masquerade one day, ignore the Death's Design, and pick up where this one left off. I love some Katatonia and earlier Bloodbath, but my October evenings are all the weaker for lack of new Blakkheim adventures.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

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Diabolical Masquerade - The Phantom Lodge (1997)

The Phantom Lodge is another of those 90s curiosities which begs of the listener: just how serious do you need to take your black metal? For at least the first three records, Anders 'Blakkheim' Nyström was clearly taking the piss with Diabolical Masquerade... first with the personal and ludicrous Ravendusk in My Heart, an introspective journey of this silly alter ego he created, which straddled the dangerous line between symphonic, Gothic bombast and genre parody. Next, he puts out The Phantom Lodge, which seems like some fairly adept caricature haunted house black metal with a few strange choices, namely various examples of overt idol worship and then a few more bare-bones riffing tracks that lack the cheesy eloquence of others. Don't get me wrong, I have a very soft spot for this band and others like it (Gloomy Grim, Cradle of Filth, Hecate Enthroned, etc), and once enjoyed this even more than the debut, but I've shifted opinions in recent years since The Phantom Lodge just seems to suffer ever so slightly from an identity crisis, a lack of consistent direction...so now I think they're equivalent quality.

Had it all been in the vein of the first track, "Astray Within the Coffinwood Mill", bearing one of my favorite song titles in history, I'd praise this one to the rafters, but in reality there are only 3-4 tunes showcasing the symphonic, cheesy and superficially spooky synthesizers. Anders actually takes the subtle approach with his key pads, honing in on just one sound of electrified strings of choirs rather than crafting entire orchestras that offset the guitars and vocals. This is primarily a guitar album, just an atmospheric one. Riff-wise, there's a tremendous influence from the classics here: Darkthrone, Bathory, Celtic Frost all form the foundation from which Blakkheim has built this experience, and he utilizes a lot of slow, grooving chord progressions as opposed to endless tirades of blasting and tremolo picking. I actually really dug the drums at points on this, especially the warlike fills that transform into double bass thunder on the first cut, where you even gets some To Mega Therion-like timpani thumping along in the background to the evil ass grooves. That said, I did get the impression that a lot of transitions were just pulled out of nowhere. They're generally interesting and even catchy, sometimes an excuse for Anders to throw on some narration in a manly, deep voice, but they can feel a little patchwork in structure and that persists throughout most of the tunes.

I'm also not so sure how I feel about the 'hero worship' segments of the album. For instance, for "Upon the Salty Wall of the Broody Gargoyle" (told you it was ridiculous), he spends most of the song vocalizing his Tom G. Warrior impression, and a pretty decent one at that...to the extent that I actually thought it was the genuine article on a guest spot. But then the goofy chorus riff where he starts rasping the song title in a malicious black metal imp voice totally takes you back out of it. It's...unusual. In the latter half of the tune "Ravenclaw", he uses this grating inflection reminiscent of Quorthon on the 90s Bathory material, though a bit nastier. Another quirky decision, not only for the change in vocals but also because the pagan/Viking theme of this song doesn't seem to fit the campy horror implied by the titles of "Astray Within the Coffinwood Mill", "Cloaked by the Moonshine Mist" or "The Walk of the Hunchbacked". That's not to say these stranger tracks lack some decent riffs and compelling atmospheres, but they create an unevenness that makes The Phantom Lodge feel more like an EP with some experiments thrown on, despite its 43 minute duration. "Hater" is arguably another oddball, since it seems like a more straightforward black/thrash tune with some screaming...

Anyway, the other 5-6 tracks are all pretty damn solid, often excellent, and themselves contain a lot of variation, like the woozy dissonant chord patterns woven like twisted thread through "The Blazing Demondome of Murmurs and Secrecy" or the glimmering, warmer melodies used in the chorus and bridge for "Hunchbacked". The drumming is generally great, with a few exceptions like "Hater" where it feels too thin in the chorus. Vocals are also a highlight, Blakkheim attempting to sound as delightfully wretched as possible, and as I said, even pulling off some excellent productions. The bass is audible but doesn't add a lot as far as interesting note selections, and the guitar chords (picked fast or slow) have a thin but effective tone to them which permits the kick drum and vocal barking to steer the experience along. Lyrically it doesn't seem to center so much around the assumed persona of the 'Blakkheim' character, though I still got the impression that a number of them were from that character's point of view (certainly in "Demondome"). A lot of the tunes have a fixation on occult horror, though they don't always match up very well with what you think the song will be about from its title. Considering that most people probably think of Diabolical Masquerade as a joke, though, they're well enough scripted, but I definitely wanted "...Hunchbacked" to be more about Quasimodo, or "...Coffinwood Mill" about some creepy undead, and the lyrics are not really that...

The Phantom Lodge is not without its flaws, and it remains a little puzzling even 16 years later, but there's a good chunk of this disc which has become a bit of a staple for me around Halloween. I'll marathon it with the first Gloomy Grim, Cradle's Midian, Dusk and Her Embrace and a ton of King Diamond, Mercyful Fate and 80s Ozzy solo records, and people seem to enjoy the mix. Nothing here is super-serious sounding and it's not likely to please anyone whose universe begins and ends with De Mysteriis dom Sathanas and Det Som Engang Var, but if you're not opposed to a 'lighter' approach to black metal as conceived by someone of the Count's mentality (from Sesame Street), I can't recommend this enough. Atmospheric and dreamy, or downright carnal at other times, it's just another one of those divisive reminders that at one point, a lot of people explored black metal because it was 'fun', instead of using it as a precursor to suicide or shooting someone. Not welcomed by the People Living Under their Parents' Stairs, but, hey, it's all good, folks. If nothing else, we can take away from this that Blakkheim could have done a straight 80s Celtic Frost copycat band and I would have paid to hear it.

Verdict: Win [8/10] (nightshade serenade, diabolical masquerade)

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Diabolical Masquerade - Ravendusk in My Heart (1995)

Anders Nyström is known to most as the brilliant guitarist and composer of Katatonia's melodic doom, or perhaps for his work with all-stars Bloodbath; but for a period, he was also the enigmatic Blakkheim of Diabolical Masquerade, his solo vehicle. And quite the vehicle, for it rode through four albums of quality that are much beloved across the underground. Ravendusk in My Heart is the first of these, a collaboration with Dan Swanö and a great window into the gothic and symphonic black metal of the mid 90s.

The theme of the album is the central character Blackheim's voyage into many black metal/gothic 'tropes', and the song titles reflect this. We have "Blackheim's Quest to Bring Back the Stolen Autumn", "Blackheim's Forest Kept the Season Forever", "The Sphere in Blackheim's Shrine", and who could forget "Blackheim's Hunt for Nocturnal Grace". The thing is, I'm not sure just how tongue in cheek this was meant to be. It's funny, but at the same time it's actually quite graceful, you can really close your eyes and venture forth the imagery of this titular character, some vampiric black metal baron living in these lonely gothic landscapes as he tries to divine meaning from the natural world around him. It ends up quite an endearing album, with some good tunes to boot, and absurd Swenglish lyrics like:

In dewy fields of an autumnal yet springful age
A forest was seen yet impossible to gaze through
Within only a few trees all sound devoured
Even the open skies outside would lose its light
Once the darkness could escape it´s soulflight
Winter crawled away from earth to keep the forest one seasoned

The best songs are the more epic pieces like opener "The Castle of Blackheim" or the sweeping "The Darkblue Seajourneys of the Sentinel", but the album stops to have fun on the shorter "Under the Banner of the Sentinel" with its cheesy King Diamond-like shrill vocal work and raging heavy metal themes. The instrumental "Beyond the Spiritual Moon" is a lovely little interlude, as is the closing and haunting title track with its pumping bass line beneath synthesized ambience and the gothic spoken word of Blackheim. The Dan Swanö production was fantastic for its time (like so many of his efforts) and still sounds good today, though it's been remastered as well.

TThis is the type of album which I initially had a mixed reaction too but has never quite left me during all these years. In fact my appreciation has only grown. It does have a little of that quirkiness to it (most Diabolical Masquerade albums do), but not to the level of a Gloomy Grim or Rakün. I once had a preference for The Phantom Lodge and Nightwork over this album, but I've gone a fraction dry on those, so this still provides his best, eerie trip down memory lane.

Verdict: Win [8/10] (the mercy is for the wisdom and the slayer is our reward)

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