Talk about a busy 2019 for the legendary but seemingly overlooked Danish Black Metal outfit Denial of God. Churning out an EP along with a full length, you know these guys have been writing the hell out of some music. And just in time for spooky season. Okay that was lame but I love this time of year so fuck off, K? We are of course talking about, “The Hollow Mass“. Only the third full length from these guys which is in itself surprising considering the bands storied history.
The whole thing feels like a horror opera without the operatic vocals. The interludes full of ominous synths on the opener, “Hollowmass” does paint the perfect picture of what these guys are trying to do here. This fourteen minute song is full of melodic, melancholy tones being produced with the guitar or synth, along with the fierce vocals by Ustumallagam. Wouldn’t say it kept my attention the whole time as some of it felt forced and kind of droned along until the end.
Songs like, “The Shapeless Mass“, and “The Transylvanian Dream” give us the folk feel on both songs sounding a lot like pirates drinking at a pub, and get a little further away from the dark sounding stuff like in the first song. If that’s your thing then you would definitely dig it, but I couldn’t find myself getting the ‘Jim Halpert look’ off my face the whole time. it just feels forced and repetitive.
All in all I did like some of the riffs here and think the vocals are fierce and evil. It just came up flat for me in the end and felt like a B – grade horror movie. If you’re into more of the epic side of Black metal like, new Dimmu Borgir, or Carach Angren, then I would highly recommend this to you. Just not totally my thing although I did get some enjoyment out of it.
Rating – 2/5
See what you think.
https://denial-of-god.bandcamp.com/album/the-hallow-mass
The Metal Wanderlust 