The band name Dumal apparently is derived from Baudelaire’s “Les Fleurs du Mal” (The Flowers of Evil), which I failed to make any sense of while studying it many years ago. I realise most people won’t have this connection and it’s an appropriate enough name for a black metal band, which is what this US trio are. “The Confessor” is their second album to go with a couple of eps and splits.
A familiar relentless fog rises and envelops us as the basis for some vigorous and uncompromising black metal. It’s sharp, tightly played and has energy. As for whether it distinguishes itself in the sphere of black metal, I’m not so sure about that. The riff is withering and contemptuous. The echoing vocals are effective. Breaks and tempo changes are there. “Devour the Child” ends with a stripped-down passage in the Norwegian style before the atmosphere is ramped up with the rapid-fire and ferocious “Some Ritual”. The fire and brimstone and heaviness continue unabated, barring the odd grainy passage of gloom such as we get on “Through Fields of Peasant Graves”. The build-up after this passage is tense and explosive.
Dumal know how to create dark atmospheres. The drum patters at a fair lick and pulls us along as the fire and even melodic riffs surround us. “Through Fields of Peasant Graves” was a highlight for me. It is monstrous and well constructed. The album blasts on in a similarly dark and atmospheric vein. The lyrics are duly bombastic: “Consume his flesh, as though it were your own, see here not the divine, and feel but the cancer of time”. The deathly assault culminates with “Amalgamation: Time, Space and Circumstance”. It is a bit different – dark at the core still and highly atmospheric but stylistically more measured in its melodic delivery. Along with “Through Fields of Peasant Graves”, this was a standout and memorable track.
“The Confessor” is a highly competent album. If this doesn’t sound like the pinnacle of praise, it’s just that I found that much of it was like black metal from a template. This said, the structures and musicianship are good, and I enjoyed its fiery energy.
(7/10 Andrew Doherty)
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