The USA-based Raw Symphonic Black Metal duo Deogen has now released the follow-up to 2020’s debut full-length ‘The Endless Black Shadows of Abyss’. This duo’s debut painted them as purveyors of a harsh and uncompromisingly raw but also intriguingly catchy blend of smaller-scale symphonic Black Metal. Album number two entitled ‘The Graves and Ghosts of Yore’ sees Deogen taking their raw symphonic approach and striding with it into new lands of Tolkien-esque atmosphere and at times ventures into something equivalent to the eerie cosmic sadness akin to acts such as Odium or Obsidian Gate.
I mentioned a ‘smaller-scale’ symphonic style because Deogen do not indulge in the sort of ‘Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk’ stylings of absolute grandeur when considering the scale of their instrumentation. Deogen makes use of various hallmarks of Symphonic Black Metal whilst maintaining a sense of deliberate restraint. The small living room scale piano parts that were present on the debut are also apparent here. Synth keyboard progressions courtesy of member Maelström guide the chordal structures of the instruments whilst his vocals on a track such as ‘Desolation Bestowed’ are powerful but never detract from the distinctly catchy nature of the raw playing.
Deogen has a particular knack for allowing their songs to display a blatant sense of individualistic mood, case in point; the hopelessness present during the opening of track four ‘Nightfall Premonition’. I mention this because I feel that all too often within raw Black Metal many artists will saturate the focus of the intent of a project with pure unpolished abrasiveness… and forget to apply it to actual songs. Deogen has a clear ability to not just summon their raw abrasion, but also smelt it together with songs that are fun, catchy and emotionally charged. Later on in the tracklist ‘Spectral Winds Rise’ takes on a level of epic guitar intensity I cannot recall having heard from Deogen before, and structurally speaking it feels akin to some older staple Emperor tracks. The vocal performance on this song (amongst other moments on the album) also features moments of throaty chanting spoken word narration that serves to bolster the album’s gloomy atmospherics.
Whilst still very much a raw Black Metal album, The Graves and Ghosts of Yore shows Deogen reaching for something more expansive and theatrical, whilst respecting the subtle Symphonic approach of their debut. This is quite a traditional-sounding release and it’s not exactly the most instantly memorable Black Metal album that I can recall sinking my teeth into in recent months. That said, Deogen are striking successfully in many areas of songcraft that contemporary artists making music in this style all too often neglect and have forged a rather fun release that will ensure that I return to their morbid astral realm for any new music in the future.
