Album Review : Dødsmaskin - Herremoral | Slavemoral (2022)
Industrial music isn't for everybody. It isn't that it's necessarily only for smart people either, but people who are dissatisfied with the obvious answers tend to gravitate towards it. Sonic pilgrims looking to explore uncharted territory if you will. I don't know how you end up discovering a band like Norwegian industrialists Dødsmaskin. They would've forever existed in a reality parallel to mine if they never contacted me for a review. But they did and I'm glad. I never quite heard anything like their new record Herremoral | Slavemoral.
Dødsmaskin have been around since 2014 and have a respectful amount of releases under their belt, but Herremoral | Slavemoral is the only thing I've ever heard from them. They sound like if classic era Skinny Puppy had been violently colonized by death industrial freaks. Although danceable rhythmic patterns are a staple of Herremoral | Slavemoral, they are constantly attacked with fuzz, distortion and a plethora of other effects that makes them sounds like hostile roar of factory machine more than actual beats.
A lot of ideas and craftsmanship are loaded into every song on Herremoral | Slavemoral, but the songs aren't as important as the overall sound and atmosphere of the record. For example, the use of echo in songs like Selvordsetikk and Offerkultur give them a cavernous and menacing edge, like they were recorded in abandoned buildings. The latter was particularly interesting to me because it veers closer to power electronics with the harsh feedbacks than it does to electro-industrial.
Imperium is probably the song that is closest to classic electro-industrial in terms of sound, but even then it's loaded with interesting effects that sound like hydraulic pistons and gradually work in fuzz to a point you don't kno whether you should hit the dance floor or run for your life. Virkeligheten flips this notion of rhythm prevalent to the album on its head and uses it to create more or a predatory like pace that is almost impossible to dance to, but evokes terrifying images almost subliminally.
The clash between the theoretical danceability and the fuzzy, grimy coating of the music is really what makes Herremoral | Slavemoral’s charm. On Fordømte Svin!, it feels like two songs are playing: that a party is going on next door, but that you're caught with a power electronics weirdo giving you a private performance in the living room. The ruthless rhythmic thud and the squealing effects (that sounds like iron grating on iron, to be honest) are so at odds, it feels blissfully schizophrenic.
What does that even mean, huh? Feeling blissfully schizophrenic? Pad Chennington explained it better than I could in his video on Merzbow: Harsh music like Dødsmaskin is so overwhelming, it demands so much from your senses that it offers a blissful oblivion for its duration. The act of listening to it (at least the first time) can be challenging and off-putting, but having listened to it enriches the silence up to a point it'll make you want to press play again. Knowing such extremes enriches your perception of what's possible.
Do I have anything bad to say about Herremoral | Slavemoral? Not really and my only real criticism is somewhat conceptual. When you're going for such a sonic hybrid of extremes, you kind of have to create your own extreme to strive for and I don't think Dødsmaskin did yet. At least on this record. Yes, their sound is really unique and weird but it never quite leaves the shades of known territory.
In the sense that I'd probably listen to electro-industrial if I wanted danceable songs and to death industrial or power electronics if I wanted some nightmare sounds. Not sure what in-between Herremoral | Slavemoral would satisfy. It's a problem most artists struggle with. There's nothing inherently wrong with Dødsmaskin. They are clever and interesting when given your full attention. But there's nothing yet to make you say: "I can't wait for the new Dødsmaskin. These guys are crazy."
*
I've enjoyed every spin I've given to Herremoral | Slavemoral. It's packed with cool atmospheric details that often clash with one another to create exciting soundscapes. It was also very much outside my comfort zone as a I don't have much experience with danceable music. I'm not sure how much the challenge and the novelty factor played into it, but Peter Vindel, Kjetil Ottersen, consider yourselves on my radar. You guys are building towards something. I don’t know what yet, but you got something going.
