As one of Austria’s oldest Black Metal bands ASMODEUS have been around since more then seven years now and slowly their efforts seem to yield fruit. With the release of their second album Imperium Damnatum on Twilight Production there came along a bunch of tour dates with Dark Funeral and Naglfar and that is what many other bands of the same style can dream of.
The musical direction didn’t change much, because ASMODEUS are still dedicated to absolutely uncompromising supersonic Black Metal. They really don’t miss out any blastbeat or up-tempo part, tempered parts are scarce goods. Although this is mentioned as one of ASMODEUS’ main points of criticism, I’m of a different opinion. There are enough bands which try to put a maximum of diversity in their songs and then don’t sound originally in the end but leave an inconsequent and disrupted impression because of the complete ornateness of their compositions. So it can’t be bad that there are still bands like ASMODEUS that focus on their true strengths and live them out excessively. In that case this means to play really fast and use slower and smoother parts more because of the atmosphere. Of course one must expect that the comparisons with Dark Funeral won’t stop, but honestly I think that there are worse things than this.
What makes songs like Decretum Executionis or Inciting The Rebellion something special, are their extremely grim and frightening vibes, which partly result from the production. Indeed it can be a bit difficult to follow the riffs and melodies within all the speed mania, but in return the thick sound supports the complete effect of the album.
Furthermore ASMODEUS seem to have the right touch for little details, which makes the songs exciting in spite of their similarity. Morbid lead melodies here, non-distorted guitars there and thereon a layer of raging blackness. No fan of this genre can do something wrong buying this CD.