Die Entweihung - Despair Divison, A Tribute to Joy Division Review

Musicians that play black metal draw influences from thousands of different places.  Sounds around them, the beauty of nature, their hatred towards religion, anything and everything could be used as an influence on one’s music.  Obviously, other music is usually the main influence to a musicians sound.  However, within black metal, punk music is not a typical influence unless you’re Die Entweihung.  Their unique blend of black metal sounds with punk aesthetics is quite intriguing and unique.  The latest release, Despair Division, is a tribute to Joy Division.  Joy Division is a punk band that was formed in England in 1976 and broke up a mere 4 years later.  While their career was short lived, they did impact the music scene back then.  Die Entweihung took a collection of Joy Division songs and made them into his own, adding a raw black metal sound to punk songs, creating a very strange blend of two genres. 

The drumming as very punk-oriented.  Most of the beats are standard for that era’s music with a few little twists of extreme metal drumming thrown in for good measure.  The two different styles of drumming fit surprisingly well together and you barely notice the transitions in between them.  The sound of the kit is what you would expect for a raw black metal release.  The cymbals sound very distant and the kick is right up front blasting away.  The guitarist took the old Joy Division riffs and added quite a bit of distortion on them.  They have a lot more melody than black metal usually does and just like the drums, switch between styles.  The tone of the guitar is quite good and it stands out on most songs.  There are some keys that present themselves in a few tracks which add a nice touch to the atmosphere of the music.  Vocal wise, this release is quite weak.  Typically, the vocals are hidden in the mix and are inaudible.  At the points where they stand out, they just aren’t as strong as they should be.  Sometimes, I praise releases that aren’t too vocal oriented because it gives the music more chance to speak for itself but in this case, the music is quite simple and gets boring after a while. 

Die Entweihung is a band I have followed for a bit now and I must say, this was my least favorite release that they’ve put out.  That is by no means saying that this release is bad, but I am not a huge fan of punk in any form and I think that their original material stands out more than this does.  I do commend them for paying tribute to a band that has had an influence on them because that is not an easy thing to do.  If you are looking for a unique release and a different approach to black metal, check this album out and see what you think!

7/10

http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Die_Entweihung/117318