Review of Destinity - In Excelsis Dementia

So, according to the press release, Destinity has been around since 1996, playing symphonic black metal. Why is it, then, that In Excelsis Dementia, the band's third release, reeks to high hell of death metal? Given most of the black metal that's come out of France lately, hearing this album the entire way through was somewhat of a shock.

Now, whenever anyone brings up the term "symphonic black metal", there's always some jerkoff to throw out a Dimmu Borgir comparison. Well, sometimes that comparison is founded. Although they're similar in concept, their execution is far different. Destinity have certainly taken a more unique and modern approach to the style, lacing their symphonic black metal with a mechanical death metal spin. Occasionally intertwining clean-sung and majestic vocals with heavily keyboard-laden melodies, Destinity pretty much do everything the proper way. Hell, they even begin "Gloria In Excelsis Eccla" with a short choir passage. Imagine Dimmu Borgir with quirky and squawking death metal riffs and the occasional chaotic solo, combined with the boisterous playfulness of Finntroll and some needless experimentation. I actually like this, somewhat, considering what it is. There's so much variety in the instrumentation as well as the vocals - effectively exploring the operatic realm and belching some excellent death metal sounds, while also producing some incredibly solid blackened rasps.

There's definitely a few boring tracks here and there, like the mid-paced gallop of "Divine Extase", which thumps along before introducing a flamboyant synth line and something that sounds like a rejected riff off a Melechesh album. Not horrible, mind you, just tiring. At 8 minutes long, the song takes a break to showcase some sort of stringwork and drunken French chanting. The production obviously works in Destinity's favor, always providing a stable and teeming atmosphere. There's a bit of industrial sound added in for good measure and on the whole, everything meshes very well throughout the entire album. At times, and this is mainly due to the songwriting, the songs are a bit overwhelming and hard to listen to, due to the density of the song structures. There's a bit of the drumming that sounds like someone beating a beer keg.

It's fairly obvious that Destinity's going to upset a lot of die-hard fans of black metal. After seeing a black and white photo of six men clad in bullet belts and corpsepaint, I'm really astonished at what I've heard on "Gloria In Excelsis Eccla". Not out of quality, necessarily, more out of boldness. Running through a tedious 54 minutes, musically speaking, there's nothing new being brought to the table on In Excelsis Dementia. However, Destinity are able to take these tired sounds and almost make you believe they're newly conceived. I'm confident they'll find their way home with anyone looking for their latest fix of satisfying and overproduced black metal.

Release Details

Destinity

In Excelsis Dementia

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