Search - Siebenburgen :: Delictum

Zero stars would be more fitting

w.l.g. | here | 08/24/2003

(1 out of 5 stars)

"One of the disadvantages to previewing albums with mp3s is that you don't know what the album cover looks like. Delictum features a gothic female with blood flowing from the mouth, an amsusingly serious expression on her face. Had I picked up Delictum through a stack of used cds instead of downloading it, I would have laughed, put it back into the pile, and listened to something else. Since I can't get the hour of my life back that I wasted listening to Delictum, I may as well vent my rage about it here.The album begins with a one minute intro. Like a bad omen of what's to come, it's a pseudo evil, pseudo atmospheric, pseudo operatic synth fest of stinky gothic cheese.The first few seconds of the first real song, "Majesties Infernal," are incredibly generic but show some promise for a solid album. Unfortunately, its all downhill from there. Within the first minute of this song, the album has lost my interest.The last track, Oculus Malus, features an acoustic guitar accompanied by cheap sounding synths, but it works. Unfortunately, instead of continuing in this fashion, Oculus Malus takes an abrupt turn for the worst. It is interesting that while the first half of this song is easily the best moment to be found on the album, the latter half is flat out embarrassing. After the acoustic guitar, the music stops for a few seconds, then some distorted guitar comes in, accompanied by a pornographic sample. By now Siebenburgen has bored the hell out of their audience, so i suppose that a sample of a moaning girl is appropriate to wake everyone up. After the sample has awoken the audience from their deep slumber, the male and the female vocalist sing together like never before on Delictum. The last portion of Oculus Malus sounds like a bad 80s radio-rock male female duet, with exceptionally horrific male vocals. Siebenburgen, saving the worst for last in order to leave everyone with a sour taste in their mouths.It seems a little odd to describe the first two tracks then skip to the last. However, apart from the aforementioned tracks, the band could be playing the same 3 songs in rotation up until track 10 and I wouldn't have noticed. Hardly any of the songs have a distinct "personality," almost all of them sound the same. Unless you're paying close attention, you wont notice when a song starts and when it ends. Only the most diehard Siebenburgen fans (are there any?) could tell the difference between the various songs.Not only are the songs formulaic, the music is also incredibly bland as it is generic. It is not surprising that reviewers here harken comparisons to commerical acts such as Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth. "Gothic metal" is a fairly limited genre, with more than enough goths willing to eat it up, and not enough bands selling the product. Enter Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth and... Siebenburgen to cash in on this marketing opportunity. Integrity aside, at least Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth demonstrate some level of talent.Unlike DB and COF, Siebenburgen's talents clearly aren't found in metal. The band is best when they stop their pseudo black metal guitar-driven music and focus on acoustic passages instead. Although sporadic, the acoustic interludes on songs such as Levande Bergavd, Dream of Scarlet Night, Blessed by Night are highlights of the album. The transition of soft to heavy parts is for the most part poorly done, so i would suggest that for now they stick almost exclusively to the acoustic guitar. If they must play heavier music, however, guitar solos would do well to spice the songs up. As demonstrated on Levande Bergavd, the guitarist is capable.The vocals also leave much to be desired. As mentioned earlier, Siebenburgen has two vocalists, one of each gender. The male vocals are below average black metal growls that are almost unlistenable at times, but the female vocalist clearly has some level of talent. That said, while there are cases where I wish the male vocalist would shut up and let the female vocalist sing solo (i.e., Ram-zet). In this case, the female vocals don't even fit the music. Her constant "aaahs" and "ooohs" on the album are useless; perhaps using her a different way would yield some desirable results.My final criticism of the band is that repeatedly attempts 8 minute songs but don't have the songwriting skills to hold the listener's interest for that long. Siebenburgen would be better off offering a 4 track EP with songs ranging from 2-3 minutes because clearly, anything more is beyond this band's capabilities.To be fair, Delictum is the only Siebenburgen release I've heard. It's possible that the band's other albums are indeed quite solid, and that Delictum was a bad choice on my part. I'll give at least one of Sibenburgen's other albums a listen. But for now, I'm just happy to get Delictum off of my computer."

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dargillos_rivothead | The Ninth Plane of Lake Orion | 12/28/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Just when you thought the black metal market was saturated, the better bands emerge. It seems to fit the death metal mold as well. Where after 5 years or so of death metal, the better bands lasted or emerged. Besides this band, the Kovenant, Children of Bodom, and Old Man's Child are decent examples as well. But never-the-less getting back to Siebenburgen, they rock! They have a female vocalist unlike any other. She's totally captivating and enthralling. My cat is spellbound by it, and my mom's bird sings along. But worry not, this album will still rip your lungs out, or I wouldn't put my good name upon it. Still plenty of thrashing drums, raspy vocals, and buzzing guitars. However, it doesn't wallow in endless lawnmower mode. Plus there's a hidden cover of the Wasp number "(ef werd) Like a Beast". Because this is top flight black metal (and my current favorite), I suggest you click add to shopping cart. Regards, Dargillos Rivothead. Up the Irons!"

Good stuff

iscariot | massachusetts | 07/20/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"this is a really good album, mainly because the other vampyric black metal bands are over. if you think about it the newest cradle of filth isn't great, the newer dimmu borgir isn't good, but this is a bright light from sweden, a country plagued by the same satanic black metal for years. my favorite track is "thou be blessed by night" but, the whole album is really good. the only bad thing i can say is that the female vocals may be a little overused, but they're better than ancient. if you're into this type of music i also recommend Opera IX."