It’s Christmas time. There’s no need to be afraid. Well, I wouldn’t go that far, especially as a fella with more than a passing resemblance to Saint Nick. “Oh thanks for the Father Christmas shout random stranger – original!”. However one thing that this season offers in snow covered abundance is schmaltz and Death on a Pale Horse is full on pant . Oh no it isn’t shout the label – Oh yes it is! -says I.
Opera Diabolicus is the labour of love for David Grimoire and Adrian De Crow who released 1614 back in 2012. Now some 9 years later the Swedes have roped in some famous pals to join them in this pomp and ceremony – just like the panto at your local rep theatre. . The cast list for this performance does not feature D list celebs from soap operas but rather King Diamond and Candlemass alumni. Snowy Shaw, Mats Leven, Andy Le Rocque and Michael Denner are all names well known for providing drama and killer tunes.
There is certainly drama throughout the 9 tracks here but killer tunes? Hmmm those days are BEHIND YOU! (how many panto gags can I shoehorn into this review?)
Now I am not a total Krampus there is stuff to be appreciated here. So let the curtains fall open and the spotlight fall upon our merry band.
The album opens with “Listen Everyone” which sounds like the intro to a Terry Pratchett adaptation on Sky One. Dramatic voiceover backed by bombastic orchestral wibbling introducing a world ending concept before “Bring Out Your Dead” hoofs it in from stage left. Musically this takes a little from the box marked Cradle of Filth and some from Blind Guardian with Mats Leven sounding a lot more shrill than I remember him. Fans of musical theatre may dig this – this is not a metal song as such – more story telling in a metal form along with heavy music. The music barrels along at a fair pace – “Second Coming” starts ala Sonata Arctica before hitting a Rush style snow drift. LeRocque and Denner trade lead guitars on this track and their signature styles are unmistakable. Leven seems more at home here and his vocals are calmer and more epic. It’s kinda fun. Cheesy but fun. Siren’s Call is more of the same with some flourishes of Alice Cooper in there and Leven able to drop some of the Candlemass stylings he gave to Leif Edling’s mob a few years back.
“Darkest Doom on the Brightest Days” starts with an Abigail style flurry and I await a certain Kim Bendix Petersen announcing his entrance via a glass shattering falsetto. Leven actually gives it a go here mixing up a throaty rasp, a higher shriek and his usual vocal style to make a pretty good attempt at mimicking the man that this track was so blatantly written for.
Snowy Shaw gets a go on the microphone as well as the drums on “A Song of Detestation”. It has keyboards straight out of Buck Rogers and is stuffed turkey like with thigh slapping pomp but with not much in the way of hooks or chances to tap one’s toes.
“Little Sister” that follows is like Tenacious D Wonder Boy without JB’s tongue in cheek mixed with Fiddler on the Roof. My ears! My ears! In fact- I take that back Topol was a genius – the mix of strings and awful keyboards here makes me wish I was a rich man and could pay the Ed to make it stop.
“Night Demon” is a more straight-forward affair – it opens like modern Cradle of Filth – full of orchestration and choral voices. Still it is 8 minutes of mediocre Scooby Doo power metal filled with a hundred different ideas, none of which are fully fleshed. By the time the final act of this tale “At Nighttime” rolls around I am immune to the bad rhyming couplets dull riffs.
Opera Diabolicus have gathered a fantastic team of musicians, compiled a witch’s spell book of musical and lyrical ideas which to these ears, never escape the jumble in which they were placed.
(5/10 Matt Mason)
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